Advent Without Candles: What To Do?
The church plant I am involved with made the decision to switch our location from a local church to a local school "cafetorium" back in the early summer. The transition went well, and it has been a good one for the church’s presence in the community.
However, we are not allowed to use candles in the school for obvious health and safety code reasons. This certainly isn’t a make or break issue for the church, but it leaves us with an Advent conundrum:
What do we do about Advent candles?
I am really hoping that the Everyday Liturgy community can kick into high gear and give some good ideas because I have a few ideas but don’t think they are really good. How can we as a community mark Advent in a non-flammable yet meaningful way? Please share your ideas and we’ll get some discussion going.
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Is there a way that you could piece something together marking progression, anticipation, and waiting for fulfillment? I heard of a family set up a stripped down creche with only Mary and Joseph. The family made a daily adventure slowly moving the shepherds, the animals and the magi closer to the creche. Then, on Christmas eve the shepherds came. On Christmas morning Jesus was placed in the manger. Then, at Epiphany the wise men came.
What if you took a large section of cardboard (say a refrigerator box) and flattened it out and covered it in black paint and supported the creases so that it is one flat surface. You could divide the space into four quadrants. Using strings of lights (Christmas tree lights) you could spell out each theme for the four weeks of Advent. Purple isn’t a color found on most light strings but perhaps you could use blue. You could trace the letter and then poke holes through the cardboard so that the light bulb pokes through from the back to the front, hiding the string. As each week progresses you plug in the next strand(s) of light. It symbolically represents the dawning of the Light of the world. The closer to Christmastide the more light is received (This also works in the Season of Epiphany in learning who this Jesus is–the Light of the world. This also sets up the contrast of the darkness of Lent).
If you have a Christmas day (or even a Christ mass) you could have as the Christ candle a cross marked in white light that marks the the four quadrants. Or, you could tweak it so that it looks like a four point star (having it widen in the middle “crosshairs” — I’ve forgotten the technical term for it) with the vertical axis longer than the cross line. The star could be light representing the Light has come.
I also just did a search and found a set of four votive LED advent candles here: http://bit.ly/23kF7E
Just an idea or two…
Michael,
These ideas are fantastic! There is a stage in the auditorium that is a backdrop that could facilitate the creche idea well. The congregation could mark time through the movement of the characters in the story, and it would be good for the kids as well.
I also like the idea of adding more and more light, maybe playing with the lighting we already have (which is accentual and very minimal—definitely not a rock show).