Have you tried those? Which are your favourites so far?
Thursday, 7 July 2016
Christian Today top picks
Christian Today have chosen four of the prayer experiment ideas as their favourites.
Have you tried those? Which are your favourites so far?
Have you tried those? Which are your favourites so far?
Little Book of Prayer Experiments published!
The Teenage Prayer Experiment has a new big sister!
So many grown ups, it turns out, were pinching their teenagers' copies of the Prayer Experiment Notebook, that SPCK have published a new version specially for grown ups: The Little Book of Prayer Experiments
So many grown ups, it turns out, were pinching their teenagers' copies of the Prayer Experiment Notebook, that SPCK have published a new version specially for grown ups: The Little Book of Prayer Experiments
Monday, 4 January 2016
The 12 Days of Christmas
Musing on the idea of Christmas season - the 12 days between Christmas and Epiphany.
Is 'and a partridge in a pear tree...' the only thing that comes to mind when you hear the phrase The Twelve Days of Christmas?
It's a truism now that Advent has largely replaced the 12 days of Christmas as 'Christmas Season' in the popular imagination. Chocolate Advent calendars, celebrating treats for 24 days rather than the fasting and anticipation of 'old money' Advent, are the prime example. But even some churchgoers will telly you happily that they have taken their decorations down the day after boxing day!
I've written elsewhere that I don't think there's much mileage in the church attempting to resist the Christmassification of Advent. And in many ways, it's good: it certainly helps build the excitement around one of our major festivals.
But I would quite like to keep the Twelve Days of Christmas special too.
It's too late for this year, but next year I intend to make a Twelve Days of Christmas Calendar. Our permanent 'Advent Calendar' at home is a string of stocking bunting, each stocking numbered and ready to receive a sweet (or three, in my case, one for each child per day). I am thinking of making something similar for the Twelve Days of Christmas: maybe star bunting?
I found these images in a quick search of pinterest and google images - the paper one would be dead easy and you could make them into pockets by stapling two stars together at the bottom and sides. The fabric one has a free pattern here, and I'm sure it could easily be adapted to include a pocket.
What I'd really like is for someone to make an Advent calendar that DIDN'T have chocolates for the first 24 days, but then carried on for the 12 days of Christmas and DID have chocolates in those windows! Or (perhaps more commercially) had small chocs for Advent and big ones for the 12 Days. But my own stocking and star bunting combo could do the trick just as well!
Making the star bunting could be a great Advent activity for a youth group, don't you think?
Is 'and a partridge in a pear tree...' the only thing that comes to mind when you hear the phrase The Twelve Days of Christmas?
It's a truism now that Advent has largely replaced the 12 days of Christmas as 'Christmas Season' in the popular imagination. Chocolate Advent calendars, celebrating treats for 24 days rather than the fasting and anticipation of 'old money' Advent, are the prime example. But even some churchgoers will telly you happily that they have taken their decorations down the day after boxing day!
I've written elsewhere that I don't think there's much mileage in the church attempting to resist the Christmassification of Advent. And in many ways, it's good: it certainly helps build the excitement around one of our major festivals.
But I would quite like to keep the Twelve Days of Christmas special too.
It's too late for this year, but next year I intend to make a Twelve Days of Christmas Calendar. Our permanent 'Advent Calendar' at home is a string of stocking bunting, each stocking numbered and ready to receive a sweet (or three, in my case, one for each child per day). I am thinking of making something similar for the Twelve Days of Christmas: maybe star bunting?
I found these images in a quick search of pinterest and google images - the paper one would be dead easy and you could make them into pockets by stapling two stars together at the bottom and sides. The fabric one has a free pattern here, and I'm sure it could easily be adapted to include a pocket.
What I'd really like is for someone to make an Advent calendar that DIDN'T have chocolates for the first 24 days, but then carried on for the 12 days of Christmas and DID have chocolates in those windows! Or (perhaps more commercially) had small chocs for Advent and big ones for the 12 Days. But my own stocking and star bunting combo could do the trick just as well!
Making the star bunting could be a great Advent activity for a youth group, don't you think?
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