WEEKLY ADVENT PRACTICES

Simple practices to help you explore themes of each week in Advent

For the week of December 3rd


Disrupt Advent: make a surprising or ugly Advent wreath with household items. Incorporate the traditional theme words: hope, peace, joy, love. What does this wreath say for you about the meaning of Advent this year?

ADVENT FILM FESTIVAL

  • Week 1 Hope  |  A Boy Called Christmas (2021)

    Week of December 3rd    |   84% on Rotten Tomatoes

    A BOY CALLED CHRISTMAS is a creative, fantastical origin story for Father Christmas. It puts an emphasis on hope, trust and family. It demonstrates the power of hope and how it enables us to sacrifice, even at great cost, for the betterment of others.


    This movie is available on Netflix here  |  84% on Rotten Tomatoes

  • Week 2 Peace  |  Christmas Carols (various)

    Week of December 10th    |   

    Sometimes, well almost all of the time, peace has to be found, made and fought for!  Often that means wrestling with our past so that we can live peacefully in our present and lay a foundation peace for our future.  As followers of Jesus we have experienced the peace that Jesus brought when he entered the world nearly 2000 years ago and the peace he brought we entered our hearts.  Now we wait for the ultimate peace he will bring when he comes again.


    Dickens' classic tale, no matter how it's told, tells the story of a man making peace with who he was so that he may be someone different.  There are almost too many versions of this story to count, but here are some of our favorites starting with a newer entry that's about the writing of the story.


    The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017)  |  79% on Rotten Tomatoes

    Stream for free on Prime Video or rent everywhere else


    Others We Recommend

    The Muppet's Christmas Carol (1992)  |  77% on Rotten Tomatoes

    Stream on Disney+ or rent everywhere else


    A Christmas Carol (1984)  |  The classic George C Scott version

    Stream for free on Tubi or Roku


    Scrooged (1988) PG-13  |  71% on Rotten Tomatoes

    Stream for free on PlutoTV and Prime Video

  • Week 3 Joy  |  Elf  (2003)

    Week of December 17th    |   86% on Rotten Tomatoes

    20 Years after it's release its hard to find a movie that better captures the spirit of pure JOY quite like Elf.  Buddy has a heart as big as the arctic north. There’s not a mean streak anywhere within him.  This Fall in worship we talked about JOY being a discipline... to look for actions of God around us.  Buddy is constantly on the lookout for happiness and cheer.... and even SANTA!!!  He embodies that discipline to be active in filling the world around us with good things.


    Available to stream for free on Hulu and Max

    Available to rent everywhere else

  • Week 4 LOVE: The Grinch (2018)

    Week of -or- leading up to December 24th

    Ezekiel 36:26 – I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove your stony heart  from your body and replace it with a living one. 


    This is a delightful 2018 update of the Dr Seuss classic from Illumination Studios (Despicable Me, Sing) starring Benedict Cumberbatch as the voice of the Grinch.


    Available for free to Peacock or FXNOW subscribers.

    Available to rent everywhere else