Advent: Coming Home

Advent can be a hard thing to prepare for sometimes in school because everyone is so focused on Christmas and we almost don't have time for Advent with break, Christmas programs, parties, and all sorts of gift giving. I'm definitely not complaining about all of that, instead, I want to offer some of the ways that I have helped keep my students and myself focused on Advent BEFORE Christmas takes over.

First, I have them watch this video by Busted Halo and we discuss their impressions.

Second, I use this worksheet below. (I'm not a huge fan of worksheets so I use it more as a journal and discussion piece. Use it however you wish).

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WHAT IS ADVENT?

BY MARK HART

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Hide-an-seek was my favorite game growing up. The strategy of securing the perfect hiding place, the frantic scurry to hide, the thrill of the count, holding my breath as I heard the seeker getting closer … it was almost too much pressure for my little heart to take.

The lessons learned in hide-and-seek are lessons we can carry with us throughout life: the ability to think under pressure, the integrity to not look while counting, the self-control in remaining silent for long periods of time as well as the pure joy of playing a game with friends, just to name a few.

Too often, however, I treat my relationship with God like a game of hide-and-seek. I run and try to hide from Him (as if He cannot see me!). At times I even hold my breath and don't talk to Him. I figure that if He can't find me, He can't ask me to change.

There's just one problem with that thought process: We can't hide from God.

To God everything is exposed: all of our faults, imperfections, personal secrets but also all of our talents, traits, successes and achievements … that's the good news. The even better news is that God is always seeking you and me.

'For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost' (Luke 19:10).

That is one of reasons why the Church gives us the season of Advent. Over the four weeks preceding Christmas, we prepare not just for Jesus' coming as a baby in a manger but also for His Second Coming. The word Advent means 'to come,' and the Church, with great wisdom, nudges us with a 'wake-up call' to ensure that we are honest with our God and in right relationship with Him before He comes again.

God is seeking you. Are you hiding from Him? If not, good. If so, stop. You have no reason to hide yourself from Him.

He loves us even more than we love ourselves, so let Him. He's coming back at some point. The fact is only scary if we're not where we need to be in our relationship to God. A relationship with Jesus is all fun without any of the games.

Advent is a beautiful gift, so seek God and make the season one of depth and of honesty. Expose your soul before God and allow Him to love you for who you truly are: a sinner in need of His mercy, a work in progress.

As hide-and-seek reminds us, 'Ready or not, here He comes.'

'Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?'Psalm 139:7

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1.    What are ways you prepare for Christmas during Advent?

2.    Is there anything new you can do this year to be sure that you are preparing for Jesus’s birth in a personal way?

3.    When you think of Jesus’s second coming what you do you feel?

4.    What are ways this advent you can prepare for Jesus to come again?

5.    Do you ever hide from God? Why?

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Third, we discuss the second coming using some of the questions from the above worksheet. Most of the time kids will be honest about how the concept of the second coming scares them. A lot of time that fear comes from the unknown. Both the unknown of what the end of the world will be like and also the unknown of meeting Jesus. They forget that Jesus is the one they will encounter in that moment. The same Jesus that is with us at Mass, in confession, in prayer, and in our hearts. Here's where things start to hit home. To help them to imagine and get comfortable with the idea of a second coming and being brought home I show them images they have seen before using this video, and this video. Both are videos of soldiers coming home unexpectedly and surprising their children. In both videos the children are overwhelmed with joy. After watching the two videos we discuss a couple of things.

1. How did the children react?

2. Did any of them say, "Wait a minute!? Come back in a month when I get my room cleaned or my math grade up?" Here is where we discuss and drive home the point that when Jesus comes both at Christmas and at the second coming we want to throw ourselves on His love and mercy, not shy away from Him. This comes from building up a relationship with Him that will build up trust and confidence. I do not use this as a guilt trip for students to think that it's just because those kids already were perfect when their parents came back, because we know they probably were not. I also like to focus on the boy who was in ROTC and how he was hoping to follow in his dad's footsteps as an analogy for us following in Christ's footsteps too. I use all of this more as an image of where we want to be in our relationship with Christ. A lot of times this brings kids to tears imagining this and viewing the love between the children and their fathers or mothers. It definitely plants a seed in their hearts of desire for a relationship like that with Christ.

3. Finally, I ask how their view of advent has changed. Usually this brings up a lot of awesome reflection and new desire for what they want to do to be ready for Christ. They usually seem to "get it" a little bit better and the pressure to have a good advent has now been converted to a desire to have a good relationship with Christ.

Finally, we make advent chains to carry this lesson throughout the rest of advent up to Christmas break. You can view my post on advent chains here.

Sometimes I add the Jesse tree lessons, or advent calendar lessons but I don't want to overwhelm them or leave no time for our other lessons.

Grace was here!