Adult & All Age
Advent God, who gathers us as your people
Advent God, who gathers us as your people,
gather us today around this flame.
We acknowledge before you all our doubts and anxieties,
together with the good things you have given us to share.
Call us to hope, O God,
to place our faith in you,
the source of all light.
Amen.
A way to begin worship when all ages are present.
Keep looking
Display a selection of images of Christmas card scenes. Show the first image and allow people a brief moment to look at it without comment. Remove the image (or blank the screen), then ask a question about it – e.g. How many sheep were in the picture? It is hard to find the answer when you didn’t know the question beforehand! Congratulate anyone who got it right. Repeat this with a few more images (you could make the question harder each time). End with an image of Christmas shoppers; this time leave it on display and ask: Where is Jesus? How hard it must be for people who don’t know about the good news of the Christmas story even to know what they are looking for in response to the question. Today we will be thinking about ways we can share the good news with people who may be looking for hope and peace in their lives, and how we too can discover fresh God’s promise of ‘I am with you’.
Children & Young People
Jesus, Lord and King,
just as John’s disciples came to meet you,
we have come to meet you today.
Help us to recognise who you really are.
Amen.
A quiet way to begin your session.
Display several pictures of optical illusions.
Ask the children: What do you see? Discuss how some might see something different from someone else.
An active way to begin your session.
Wrap up something that all the children can share, e.g. stickers or sweets, together with a label that says ‘When we receive good things, God wants us to share them’.
Make sure the parcel has many layers to unwrap. Play some music and, when it stops, the child who is holding the parcel unwraps a layer. Keep going until the child who opens the final layer reads the label aloud. Then share the gift among the group.