A list of Advent art that can be used liturgically during Advent. [PDF download]

A Religious Christmas in Art

Books

Interested in what's available in print related to Advent? You might try searching Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or one of the other online bookshops. Out of curiosity we did a subject search for 'Advent' at Amazon and were rewarded with 1004 mostly relevant titles.

Calendars

Advent Art calendar. 'Advent Art is an online advent calendar showcasing the work of 24 Gloucestershire artists. The diversity of each of these digital treats reflects the creativity of the arts community in our area. We have put this calendar together as a tribute to the arts, the artists and the audiences that give meaning to our work. There is no theme, it is simply art for art's sake.'

Advent Calendar: A good one.

Advent Calendar for Kids: From a homeschooling site comes a rich resource for children.

Full Homely Divinity Advent calendar

History of the Advent Calendar: To some, advent calendars may seem like either an excuse to eat chocolate or just another thing that companies can sell to us in the run-up to Christmas. However, the humble advent calendar has a long history and was in fact invented by the same people who brought us Christmas cookies and the practice of decorating Christmas trees.

Love Blooms Bright: An Advent blog from the Scottish Episcopal Church. [2007-2008] 'This blog 'begins' on 2 December 2007. There will be daily posts throughout Advent including poems, quotations, reflections and photographs. Contributors include Episcopal clergy and lay people from around Scotland.'

Paperless Christmas Advent calendar

A Bach Christmas Calendar. BBC Radio 3 provides this attractive online calendar for the month of December, which approximates Advent closely enough that we've listed it here.

The Diocese of Washington (DC) has released its 2007 online Advent calendar. Visit each day for a meditation based on pieces from the crèche exhibit at Washington National Cathedral. This diocesan site also offers Advent features for kids.

A simple 'click the date' Advent calendar, which leads to attractive art and graphics, along with a prayer and additional links.

Beliefnet.com has a nondenominational Advent calendar.

Free Advent Calendar you can download [Windows only]. From St Macartin's Cathedral, Enniskillen, Northern Ireland.

St Margaret Mary Parish, a Roman Catholic church in suburban Chicago, has a good Advent calendar.

A Jesse Tree calendar.

A stained-glass window Advent calendar from Grace Cathedral (San Francisco) with audio clips, articles and books.

Walking our Partners Through Advent. An Advent Calendar with links to ministries supported by the Anglican Appeal from the National Church of Canada.

See also Sellmer-Verlag's 'History of the Advent Calendar' including that company's online museum of past Advent calendars.

Online Interactive World Advent calendar. This is an eductional calendar and site from the Woodlands Junior School in Tonbridge, Kent, UK.

Candles, Wreaths (also see the young people sites below)

How to make and use an Advent wreath. The site is much fuller than just the 'how-to' make and use Advent wreaths.

Children and young people

Advent paper chain. This year try an advent calendar with a difference - an advent paper chain. It is fun for the kids to make themselves and is an economical - as well as decorative, alternative to the shop-bought advent calendars.

Celebrating Advent with Kids - How Make and Advent Candle Wreath. A craft oriented site for holidays.

St Luke's Church (North Carolina, USA) 'Advent Traditions' web pages seem to be written with youth in mind. Many good resources, including how to make an Advent wreath, an Advent calendar, and how to print pages with line drawings to colour.

Faith at Home: Advent ideas and resources for families and church school teachers

Fridge Art: fun family-centred activities designed to bring liturgical life of church into the home, and teach children about living the Catholic faith. [ Note: Heavily Roman Catholic in its emphasis.]

General

Advent jigsaw puzzles from the website of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington.

Advent links from St Andrew's Episcopal Church in Arlington, Virginia (USA) includes services, traditions and celebrating at home, individually or as a family. Well-done graphics.

An Advent page from King of Peace Episcopal Church (Georgia, USA) with explanations, dates, traditions, the text of a wreath service, and so forth. A fine page.

Advent Sermons 1885, by Richard William Church (1901 edition). R.W. Church, dean of St Paul's from 1871-1890, preached these four sermons on 'Faith amid Changes,' 'The Kingdom of God' and 'Hope' on the four Sundays of Advent, 1885.

The BBC's splendid collection of Advent resources, from radio and telly to special programmes.

Blue Christmas: 'Christmas time can be a very lonely, depressing, "blue" time for those grieving the loss of loved ones or other losses or for those who are all alone when others are partying and gathering with family members. Several parishes in the Diocese of Ottawa have over the past few years been offering a service in the week before Christmas for those who "just can't celebrate Christmas this year"'. On the diocesan web site you'll find two quite different orders of service.

Buy Nothing Christmas: 'This Christmas we'll be swamped with offers, ads and invitations to buy more stuff. But now there's a way to say enough and join a movement dedicated to reviving the original meaning of Christmas giving'. A national initiative started by Canadian Mennonites, it's 'open to everyone with a thirst for change and a desire for action.' Buy Nothing Christmas 2007 is a breath of fresh air and enables us to feel we can actually do something about our annoyance at shops tarted up for Christmas well before All Hallows Eve. The "Information Kit" is available both as a Word file and a PDF.

The Daily Service can be heard on R4 LW at 09:45 every weekday during Advent on BBC radio.

Devo-to-Go Podcast. The Diocese of Texas provides 'daily Advent devotions produced by Casey Shobe (Christ Church Cathedral, Houston), Melody Shobe, (St Thomas, Nassau Bay) and Lonnie Lacy (chaplain at Georgia Southern University). Listen on your computer or download to your MP3 player to go. Stories are about the presence of God and a reminder of how near God is to us always.'

Full Homely Divinity is a 'website for the Anglican at the Altar and especially for the Anglican in the pew.' It has expanded its offering of Advent material, and has a new page on the Saints of Advent, as well as another called Rediscovering Advent.

The Season of Advent - Anticipation and Hope: A good overview of the of the history, spirit and celebration of Advent. It includes a variety of links to other sites.

St Nicholas: Discovering the Truth about Santa Claus. A wonderful website. 'St. Nicholas Center is a virtual center, a website, where people can learn about St. Nicholas; it provides resources for families, churches, and schools.' 'St. Nicholas, lover of the poor and patron saint of children, is a model of how Christians are meant to live. As priest and bishop, Nicholas put Jesus Christ at the center of his life and ministry. His concern for children and others in need or danger expressed a love for God which points toward Jesus, the source of true caring and compassion. Embracing St. Nicholas customs can help recover the true center of Christmas—the birth of Jesus.'

Slow Down. Quiet. It's Advent! We saw this and loved it, so thought we had to pass it on. From Morehouse Publishing this 'is a gentle—and fun to read—reminder of the true meaning of the season. Sold in packs of 25 [US$10.00] for multiple placements around church, in homes, or as gifts for the congregation. Illustrated by the Reverend Jay Sidebotham.'

Tracts for the Times: Tract 16, Advent (on the Project Canterbury web site)

YuleLoveIt. Despite the horrid title, this site claims to be the 'largest collection of free Christmas graphics on the web.' You may find these useful in your printed materials for Christmas, especially for the young.

Music

Advent at St Paul's (Washington, DC) The highly-regarded choir at this Washington parish has produced a CD.

'Annunciation Song' is a text for Advent IV and Christmastide set to the familiar tune 'Tempus Adest Floridum' by Fr Vincent Uher. [Midi attack - make sure your computer speakers are soft.]

Gradual Psalms for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphanytide of Year A. [PDF download] Full Homely Divinity and Don Kerr have produced this set of gradual psalms in a format that provides a simple congregational refrain to be sung at intervals while the verses are sung to traditional plainchant by cantors. This document uses the Coverdale Psalter and the 1979 American BCP lectionary.

The 'O' Antiphons

A devotion for the last days of Advent from Full Homely Divinity. 'We offer here another way of using the Great O’s. One may use as much or as little of this devotion as is appropriate. It could be used at any time of day, but the beginning or the end of a meal is suggested. The simplest use would be to say the antiphon, or to sing the verse of the hymn. Then, say the Lord’s Prayer and conclude the devotion with a prayer appropriate for the season. If the devotion is used before a meal, the usual mealtime grace would be said in place of, or in addition to, the seasonal prayer.'

The Crossroads Initiative O Antiphons of Advent

The Great O Antiphons from Holy Trinity Lutheran Church

Liturgy: Worship that works — spirtuality that connects: O Antiphons

Praising the Names of Jesus: The Antiphons of Advent.

The 'O' Antiphons. You can open the Antiphons in your browser or download a PDF file.

Julian of Norwich opens her Westminster Cathedral Manuscript text of the Showing of Love with a Great O, an Omega, rather than an Alpha, invoking the Great O Antiphon of Advent, 'O Sapientia', said by Mary worshiping her not-yet-born Child, tenting within her.

Sermons on the 'O' Antiphons, by JM Neale (Project Canterbury): See sermons XLV, XLVI, and XLVII.

Resource Pages
Other collections of links that somewhat parallel our own.

Advent resources page at textweek.com.

Kirkweb Advent resource page (Church of Scotland)