ADVENT FROM A CHILD'S POINT OF VIEW

The church year officially begins with a very adult season—Advent. During Advent we await and get ready for One who has already come—a rather strange thing to do, from a child's point of view.

As adults we can speak of God's kingdom which came in Christ and is yet to come in its fullness. We can celebrate the coming of the Child in the manger and ask how fully we welcome Jesus and his message into our hearts today. But those who study child development tell us that until the age of eight or nine, children have great difficulty in comprehending time. So to talk about a king who came, who is coming, and who will come is talking nonsense.

It is tempting to avoid such difficulties and have the children simply count down the days until Christmas, make decorations, and prepare gifts. But this passes over the real meaning of the season, some of which can be presented to children.

Children can hear the stories of people who waited for Jesus. They can celebrate Ruth, the outsider who was an ancestor of Jesus. They can hear John's insistence that all people work together to make the world a more loving place while they wait for Jesus. They can bask in the prophetic promises that God will always love and care for them—will even come to live with them. Each of the lections for the season has a message children can appreciate when it is appropriately presented to them.

In addition, the candles, evergreens, flowers, and special music of Advent can speak to children in the language of feelings and senses. These things will speak more clearly if we shape them with the children's presence in mind.

We can include the children actively in lighting an Advent wreath during worship. In more formal churches, members of an older children's class can take turns being acolytes (complete with robes) to light the candles, while a teenager or adult reads an appropriate Scripture or meditation. Families can also light the Advent wreath, the entire family coming forward to light the candles and make the statement. (If you use families, be sure to include single-parent families and families of all shapes and sizes.) We can further increase the significance of the Advent wreath by helping families create wreaths to light in their homes. (Many religious bookstores provide orders of family worship for lighting the Advent wreath.)

We can help the children recall the story of biblical waiting and preparation by moving crêche pieces around the sanctuary toward the manger. The pieces can be moved before worship each week, and their movement mentioned in the sermon or Scriptures of the day. Or the pieces can be moved during worship—perhaps as part of a children's sermon.

We can decorate trees with Chrismons. If the congregation already has a Chrismon tree, we can help children learn the meaning of the symbols. We can use the ornaments to make points in sermons, or we can make one ornament the center of attention each week in worship. We can even hang some simple child-made Chrismons on the tree.

We can include the children in the special music of the season. Young instrumentalists can play a carol as the prelude. A children's class can become a one-Sunday choir—even if you do not usually have a children's choir. In a day when religious carols are not taught in many schools, we in the church need to make an extra effort to pass on our musical heritage. The quoting or exploring of verses of carols within the sermon, or the carefully planned introductions to hymns can make congregational singing prime teaching opportunities.

Think about each of the Advent traditions of your church. Which are child-accessible? How could they be more so? The answers to these questions can more often lead to honing what is already being done, than to adding new programming to an already hectic season.

FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT

Old Testament: Jeremiah 33:14-16. The child's cry, "But, it's not fair!" reminds us that justice and fairness are big concerns for children. They yearn for teachers, parents, and playmates who are fair. They want just rules for the groups in which they participate and the games they play. They protest vehemently when they sense injustice—especially when it affects them. Therefore Jeremiah's Advent promise—that when God's kingdom comes fully, there will be justice for everyone and a leader who deals with people fairly—is good news for children.

The words of the promise, however, need to be decoded for children. Before the passage is read, Children need to hear that "house of Judah" and "house of Israel" are names for God's people; and that when God made this promise, God's people, being ruled by cruel foreigners, felt as hopeful as an old dead stump. It also helps them to see, or hear described, the possibility of a fresh branch growing from a stump.

Psalm: 25:1-10. This passage is a personal prayer, asking God that I be treated well by others, that God teach me how to live, and that God not remember all my...