Thriving Mennonite Church

Our congregation uses the Menno Media worship resources during the season of Advent, and this year’s theme is Together on the Journey. For the first week of advent, the title is Anointing for Justice, and we explore the scriptures of Isaiah 61:1–11 and Luke 4:16–21.

We often do services on social justice themes at our congregation, so this one was again a bit challenging in terms of inspiration for me. That said, I had some good resources on diversity and inclusion on hand, so I tried to go for a mix of those and other advent-themed activities for this table.

We also choose an organization during advent to support with our congregational offerings, and this season we’ve chosen The Nazareth Center for Peace Studies. I’ve tried to integrate peace-related resources into the activity table every week because of that, with a specific focus on the conflict in Palestine. For this week, I included a few printouts of a congregational handout created by Mennonite Church Canada’s Palestine-Israel Network, a series of short meditations connecting the biblical Christmas stories with the contemporary situation in Palestine (free). 

Throughout advent, I will be including some wholesome colouring sheets that are available mostly for free from a fantastic artist, Morgan O’Brien. For this season, I drew largely on the free Matchstick Mouse Merry Little Christmas, and the Matchstick Mouse 25 Days of Kindness book.

A while back, I found this free pack of colouring sheets by Easter Seals that depicts a bunch of kids with various disabilities doing fun activities. I haven’t used it yet, and it seems lighthearted for the holiday season, so I thought I’d put it out this time. I wish it was more wintry, but the spirit of belonging is there.

Here is where I had to go back to my bookmarks folder to see what else I could find that was fresh and new! I was thrilled to find that Scribble Faith (which is free now) had a Christmas bundle – perfect to add to this week’s table.

On Bible Story Printables, I found some great names of Jesus advent colouring ornaments (free). These would be great as a cutout activity for a decorative tree in a church, too!