Year B
First Sunday in Advent
Images
Stay awake waiting
Points to note
This is the season of Advent, the season of waiting
for the coming of Jesus. All readings
for this season would revolve around the same theme.
As the first Sunday of Advent, you would need to
explain the significance of Advent before the reading and as such, the
discussions will be a little shortened.
Today’s reading is easy for the children to follow –
how many of us have seen children dozing off when trying to stay awake for an
event they really wanted to be present for?
This is rich material for discussion but we will need to link it up with
waiting for Jesus.
I once asked some children how long does Advent last
and a little girl replied without hesitation “Forever”. There is a lesson there for all of us. Whatever we learn and do in Advent is meant
for all of us throughout out lives.
Liturgy
Acclamation before the Gospel
Alleluia, alleluia!
Let us see, O Lord, your mercy
and give us your saving help.
Alleluia!
Gospel
Discuss with the children
about the new season of the Christian calendar that we are entering. This is available in the end panel of this
leaflet & for a more complete explanation, at http://childrenlivingthesundayword.blogspot.com/2013/09/soundbites-about-advent-christmas.html.
The Lord be with you.
All: And also with your spirit.
A Reading from the Holy
Gospel according to St Matthew
All: Glory to you O Lord
(Mk 13:33-37)
Jesus said to his disciples,
‘Be on your guard, stay awake, because you never know when the time will come.
It is like a man travelling abroad: he has gone from home, and left his
servants in charge, each with his own task; and he has told the doorkeeper to
stay awake. So stay awake, because you do not know when the master of the house
is coming, evening, midnight, cockcrow, dawn; if he comes unexpectedly, he must
not find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake!’
This is the Good News of the Lord
Dialogue
Have you ever had to stay up for something? Maybe, it was to greet someone “Happy
Birthday” at the stroke of midnight.
Maybe, it was to watch the World Cup or Olympics in a different time
zone in a faraway country. What did you
do to stay awake so that you will not be sleeping at that actual time? Maybe they had hot chocolate to drink, games to
play or things to do. Maybe they had to
sleep earlier in the day so that they will not be sleepy.
What would have happened if instead to staying awake,
you were asleep at that actual time? Talk
about the disappointment that they feel, and also the disappointment that
others will feel. What about all the
effort at staying awake – wouldn’t all that be wasted if we do not stay awake
at all despite having tried our best to stay awake? Discuss if any of the children
tried to do anything to undo the fact that they failed to stay awake? Did any of those efforts work?
Discuss that the season of
Advent teaches us about waiting for Jesus.
Discuss how in the same way we stay awake for an event, we also have to
be awake spiritually (not necessarily physically) for when Jesus will
come. Discuss what we do to be ready –
pray, doing all the good things that Jesus wants us to do.
Discuss also how we would
feel if we missed Jesus’ coming. Would
we be able to turn back the clock if we missed it? No, if we missed it, it is gone and all our
efforts will be wasted. So, we have to
stay awake until the very end and let’s not end up with a disappointment.
BEING
IN ADVENT
This is the period of preparation for
the arrival of Jesus at Christmas. The word Advent comes from the
Latin for coming. It means a period of prayer and penitence before
we are allowed to celebrate the birth of Christ. Advent is also the new year for the church
calendar and the First Sunday in Advent is our New Year's Day.
Being a preparation season, the
liturgical colour is purple, meaning the priest wears purple vestments at mass
- only the stole (piece of cloth around his neck and down his chest), chasuble
(the robe on the outside) or any other decor; the basic vestments underneath
remain white. The church may also be decorated with purple flowers,
purple buntings and the like. Purple is deemed the colour of penitence
(It is also the colour of mourning - which is why the priest wears purple at
funerals).
There is an exception, though: the colour for the third
Sunday of Advent is pink (or rose). That Sunday is called Gaudate Sunday
(Latin for Rejoice): to give us a little break after we pass the
mid-point of a penitential season.
It runs for the four Sundays before
Christmas day and so the last day is always Christmas eve. It can be as
long as a full four weeks starting from Nov 27 (if Christmas Day is a Sunday)
or as short as three weeks and one day starting from Dec 3 (if Christmas Day is
a Monday).
The Advent Wreath, with its four
candles fixed on a circle of evergreens, has its roots in pagan northern
Europe, which the Lutherans first adopted as a Christian symbol. The
circle represents the never-ending cycle of seasons while the evergreens symbolise
the persistence of life even during winter. Christian symbolism differ
slightly: the circle represents the the eternity of God while the evergreens
tells of Jesus, who death could not conquer. The four candles are lit one
every Sunday, causing all candles to be of different heights by the end of the
season. There are three purple candles and a pink/rose one for the Third
Sunday of Advent. Sometimes, there is a fifth white candle in the middle
to symbolise Christ, and is lit on Christmas Day or Christmas eve.
The Advent Calendar that we have
today seems to be a combination of two separate customs. The original
advent calendar notes the goals for personal prayer and penitence for the
different days in this period of penitence. This calendar is now merged
with the Jesse Tree, named after King David's father and unfortunately a dying
custom. Symbols of saints and Old Testament prophets & patriarchs are
hung on the Jesse Tree, one on each day of Advent.
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