With snow on the ground in Minnesota today it is feeling like we are inching closer to Advent and Christmas. Getting into the spirit, here are some Advent resources to help with pageants, programs and sermon preparation:

From Church Publishing:

Skiturgies: Pageants, Plays, Rite and Rituals offers many Advent & Christmas pageants, including new additions. Whether you are looking for a traditional tableau or a story involving aliens around the manger, you’ll find it on Skiturgies!

A Thrill of Hope: The Christmas Story in Word and Art features the masterful illustrations of John August Swanson and commentary by biblical scholars from Candler University. Perfect for youth and adults, the study contains six 7-8 minute sessions, each focusing on a portion of the biblical narrative. View a portion of the DVD on YouTube.

Slow down. Quiet. It’s Advent! A 2012 Advent calendar poster with 23 days of illustrations by Jay Sidebotham with ways to keep faith with the season. A great resource for sharing with families to help them prepare for Christmas besides the typical # of shopping days left.

Journey Through Advent is a 15-page Advent version to the Lenten Stations of the Cross, this devotional offers 12 reflections on the Advent journey from to the birth of Christ. Meditations feature devotions featuring Abraham, the Prophets, the Annunciation, Joseph & Gabriel, Elizabeth, John the Baptist, the journey to Bethlehem, a full inn, angels, shepherds, wise men, and the gift we receive today.

Growing Together (Volume 1: Sacred Celebrations for Fall & Winter and Volume 3: Secular Celebrations for Fall and Winter) offer a myriad of intergenerational activities for church, school, or home for seasons and holidays such as Thanksgiving, Advent, Christmas, Los Posadas, New Years, Epiphany and more.

From Leader Resources:

The Innkeeper’s Feast is a wonderful multi-generational program to supplement or replace traditional children’s pageants. Includes complete plans and recipes for hosting a madrigal feast that puts participants into the Nativity story as guests at the Inn where Joseph & Mary seek shelter. Come experience and celebrate the excitement and drama surrounding the birth of the Christ child!

Prepare Ye the Way is a bundle of creative Advent resources to make planning Advent events simple and less time-consuming, including:

• A Children’s *No-Rehearsal* Christmas Pageant
• NEW Adult formation: “Less Hectic, More Holy”
• Advent wreath workshop plans
• Advent wreath take-home sheets
• Wassail recipes
• Blessing the Advent Wreath liturgy
• Weekly readings for Wreath-Lighting
• Children’s classes (Sun or mid-week)
• Advent artwork
• Advent sermon

My colleague, Ruth-Ann Collins, Officer for Adult Formation and Lifelong Learning, has also posted children’s Advent resources on her blog, www.EpiscopalChildren.org. You might be interested in checking those out as well.

What are your best Advent ideas? Share them here.