Choosing a quiet hallelujah: Ideas for Advent

Choosing a quiet hallelujah: Ideas for Advent

 

When we decided to title this year’s winter collection “A Quiet Hallelujah”, our intention was to get reflective on Jesus’ humble entrance into this world… the idea that the Lord and Savior of this world would choose to be born in a barn and placed in feeding trough deserves a little thought and contemplation, after all. We began to ask ourselves, how does our own Christmas celebrating align with the quiet, simple, meager birth that Jesus chose for himself? Are our busy, fast-paced lives aligning with quiet and humble birth that we are celebrating? The glitter and twinkling lights have their place in our celebrations, but let’s not let this season pass us by without some quiet and heartfelt reflection. This year, let’s get intentional to include some quiet hallelujah moments in the midst of our more bright, colorful, and noisy celebrations.

Leaning into Advent

Christian tradition has already come up with a beautiful way to reflect on the birth of Christ, through the season we call Advent. During this four week time period leading up to Christmas, there are countless ideas and methods designed to help us focus our hearts and minds on the reason for the season. However, it can get a tiny bit (ok, maybe a lot bit) intimidating on what plan to choose, what method of advent to focus on, what tradition you want to include. 

So, let’s get back to heart of this post- simplicity. Jesus doesn’t require anything fancy, so let’s let go of the temptation to create something elaborate and just start there. I did a little bit of digging around to uncover the most common forms of celebrating advent, and I’ve rounded up a few ideas to create those quiet hallelujah moments this Christmas- both for yourself, and maybe even for your family as well! 

Option 1: Daily Scripture Reading

This one is fairly self explanatory, but could perhaps be the most impactful. Digging right into God’s Word is never a bad idea , and since He promises that it will never return void, we can be  rest assured that time spent this way will always be time well spent. After looking around at various resources, we have compiled this free downloadable plan that you can follow, specifically geared toward preparing your heart for the celebration of Jesus’ birth and His future return.

Option 2: Weekly Advent Candle Lighting

A second simple and reflective practice you could incorporate into your home this year is the lighting of advent candles. Growing up in a more traditional church setting, I remember this practice each Sunday during the four weeks leading up to Christmas Day. While I probably didn’t appreciate it’s significance as much as a young girl, this would be a beautiful and simple practice to introduce within your home. Start by creating your candle arrangement- you can purchase an advent wreath, made specifically to hold the five advent candles. Or, you can craft your own setup. Perhaps you place a large wreath in the center of your table and fill it with 5 candles of varying sizes. The middle candle is reserved for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, while the four outer candles represent hope, peace, joy, and love. Each Sunday, simply gather your family and share the reading for that week, and ceremoniously light the corresponding candle. This special time set aside to reflect on Christ is a beautiful way to instill meaning and build anticipation leading up to Christmas Day. Crosswalk.com offers weekly advent reading resources to accompany your candle lighting practice- here is their resource for the first Sunday of advent this year! 

Option 3: Family Jesse Tree

Stemming back to the verse in Isaiah that says “A shoot will come up out of the stump of Jesse, then a branch will grow up out from its root” (Isaiah 11:1), a family Jesse tree is a symbolic way to journey through the stories of the bible, particularly as they relate to Jesus’ birth. Simply put, each day of advent families gather around their Jesse tree and and spend time reflecting on the story for that day and adding a decoration to the tree that pertains to the story. In doing so, you’ll be taking time together to reflect on God’s word and His promises that have come true. To get started, you’ll need three things: a tree (can be any tree, but traditionally a small evergreen type of tree is used since it fits with Christmas!), a reading plan (there are many specific Jesse Tree plan options online for various purposes- families, individuals, churches, etc), and ornaments. You can opt to create your own or purchase a set off of Etsy or other websites. This year, we are offering this simple kit to help begin this beautiful tradition with your family easily and affordably.

Choosing A Quiet Hallelujah

The last thing we want you to do is read this post and feel overwhelmed, or even defeated, that this all sounds like one more thing to check off of a to-do list. Instead, consider choosing just one option, and giving it your best this year. Even if you miss a day here or there, taking the time to intentionally choose to reflect on the birth of Jesus and what that means for you will always be fruitful, and you will get to Christmas Day not feeling like you “missed it” this year. 

This special time of year can draw us closer to our Savior, or it can leave us feeling defeated. We pray that intentionally building some “quiet hallelujah” moments into your calendar will be just the thing you need to create a Christmas season that connects you more deeply with Christ and leaves you feeling refreshed for the next season ahead.

Let us know- which of these options sounds most appealing to you? Which one do you think you might actually put into practice this year?! We’d love to hear from you!

With joy,

Chelsea (Founder + Owner)


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