Parish Project: Making Advent Wreaths
Advent is a perfect season to connect church and home. Here are ideas for making Advent wreaths together at church, together with ways to use them at home.
Why Advent Wreaths?
The purpose of Advent is to prepare our hearts to celebrate the coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, both the first and second times. With its themes of penitence and expectation, Advent brings us opportunities for reflection and celebration. In the face of intense pressure to indulge in the materialism and busyness of a typical December, Christians in community support one another to focus instead on the coming of the One True Gift and to empathize with the Israelites as they weathered centuries of yearning while waiting for the Advent of the Messiah.
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Waiting is not easy, though. Waiting, that most counter-cultural of exercises, needs a community. In church, we practice waiting by giving Advent its own liturgical color (either deep blue or purple), saving the white of Christmas for the glorious day itself. We sing Advent hymns and songs of expectation, waiting to add Christmas carols later in the month. In the liturgy, our collects and prayers focus on the anticipation of His coming, and the lectionary readings reflect the cries of Israel as they waited.
Engaging in Advent: Make a Wreath!
How can we help our families practice waiting throughout the week and take the Advent theme home? One influential way is by working together as a congregation to create Advent wreaths and equipping our people to use them well in their family seasonal celebrations.
Gather together after a Sunday service, early in the season of Advent. Provide all the materials needed, throw in snacks or a light lunch, and you have created a wonderful fellowship and learning activity for all ages. You will help your families create an heirloom, a symbol of the Advent season to reappear on their table year after year.
How to Make the Advent Wreath
For each family or household, you will need three things. First, you will need a wreath form. They are usually 12 inches in diameter and made from brass or green wire (you can search for “advent wreath forms” on Amazon for examples). Second, add a short single-taper candle holder. Finally, what is an Advent wreath without candles? You will need three purple or blue, one pink or rose, and one white Christ candle, usually a 10-inch taper candle.
For a group like a church gathering, add in:
- glue guns and sticks
- light floral wire
- scissors and wire-cutters
- miscellaneous greenery, such as sprigs and small garlands
- an assortment of narrow ribbons
- small decorations, such as tiny ornaments
Assembling the wreath itself can involve all ages, especially since the finished product should be simple and elegant rather than elaborate and fussy.
Some Advent Wreath Assembly Required
While parents may want to restrict access to hot glue and scissors, even small children can participate. Add small wooden or chipboard stars or other shapes to your supply table, along with washable markers, and the kids can color the decorations and add them to the family wreath. Let’s discuss the steps to assemble the wreath.
Begin by cutting pieces of garland or greenery into lengths of about eight inches. Secure them to your wreath form using wire or glue, layering the pieces until the frame is no longer visible. If you like, you may wind a narrow ribbon through the greenery or add other decorations to personalize your wreath. Finally, place the three purple (or blue) candles and the single pink (or rose) candle into the four outer holders, and set the white candle in the center holder.
Using the Advent Wreath
Now, for the most crucial part: first, you have not made a Christmas decoration for a side table! The wreath is meant to be central to family activity in the coming weeks of Advent. Please give it a place of honor in your home: the center of the dinner table, the kitchen counter where you gather for breakfast, or the coffee table in the family room. Use it actively and often (as often as daily, but at least weekly) to light the appropriate candles, discuss their meaning, and foster meaningful exchange with one another and with God. If we are wise and pray for each other as well, celebrating all these things can make for a time of holiness that is not overlooked, a season of its own in which no one is prone to ask, “Why aren’t we singing Christmas songs yet?!”
Setting Forth a Practice of Peace in Advent
Every household at your wreath-making event should be sent home with a booklet (or similar materials) on how to use the wreath. Include the meaning of the season and the candles, of course; go deeper. Add readings and suggested songs or hymns to make the candle-lighting into a meaningful ceremony, and include activities that will appeal to all ages. Encourage your members to send pictures of their Advent activities to your church’s social media coordinator and newsletter writer. Share the ideas!
The Advent wreath is not another thing to add to the “to-do” list. Don’t heap it on top of an already overbooked life. Instead, let it be a practice of peace and calm that can set the tone for the rest. Bathe your Advent in the serene glow of the extraordinary and singular love shown to us by the very Son of God, who descended to our world to love us and give Himself up for us, that we should receive eternal life.
As it is written in Isaiah the prophet:
Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’
Mark 1:2, 3
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