Advent and Christmas 2020

Resources are available for Advent and Christmas 2020, including the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, and those from Action for Children, CAFOD, Christian Aid, the Church of England, the Church of Scotland, Christian Aid Scotland, the Church in Wales, Hope and the Methodist Church. Plus there is material from previous years: A World in Waiting – Advent hope in an economic crisis, ALTERnativity and Advent Journey with the Magi.

Advent and Christmas 2020.

Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols

Download Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols (PDF)

 

 

 

CAFOD

CAFOD has an Advent Calendar of daily reflection and prayer for 2020.

 

 

 

CAFOD has also produced an Advent calendar and resources for young people and also an Advent calendar for children.

 

 

 

Church of England

Resources from the Church of England reflect that the Church’s role this year, both nationally and locally, may be to provide consolation, rather than assume everyone will be ready to join in jubilation. The campaign, ‘Comfort and Joy‘, aims to ‘rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep’.

 

 

 

Christian Aid

This year’s appeal from Christian Aid aims to build hope for communities in crisis this Christmas. Resources are available including an Advent and Christmas online service guide, a prayer sheet, a carol (When out of poverty is born) with video download and lyric sheets (English and Welsh version), and an Advent and Christmas sermon with video and text, with English (by Dr Paula Gooder) and Welsh (contributed by Diarmuid Mitchell) versions.

 

 

 

Church of Scotland / Christian Aid Scotland

Christian Aid Scotland has joined the Church of Scotland in a Christmas campaign to bring hope to the people of Ethiopia, which is being threatened by a plague of locusts. Resources include a conversation between the head of Christian Aid Scotland, Sally Foster-Fulton, and the Moderator of the Church of Scotland, Rev Dr Martin Fair. See Love builds hope.

 

 

 

Church in Wales

The Church in Wales has launched an Advent campaign ‘Darkness Into Light‘. It includes a call to prayer every evening at 6pm from Advent Sunday and the revival of an old Welsh tradition of singing carols from outside our homes.

 

 

 

Hope

Hope has again produced a glossy give-away Christmas magazine packed with topical features to get people talking about Jesus. There is also an associated website, Christmas Hope, with videos linked to features in the magazine.

 

 

 

 

 

Hope has also teamed up with Sports Chaplaincy UK to run virtual carol services.

Methodist Church

The Methodist Church Christmas campaign for 2020, #GodIsWithUs, seeks to share the good news through twenty-four stories of individuals and their experiences of the past year. As well as for Methodist churches, it is intended for other denominations and non-Christians. Resources include a video, postcards with reflective questions, worship at home service sheets, a worship at home Christmas CD and a weekly prayer and reflection (produced by JPIT). A dedicated website will be live on 1 December 2020.

 

 

Roots

Roots is offering two resources for Advent and Christmas: Now – and then, Reflecting on 2020 through the Christmas story; and a Jesse tree to decorate through Advent.

 

 

SCIAF

Advent resources from the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF) include an Advent calendar (Powerpoint), a parish talk and bidding prayers.

 

 

 

Resources from local groups and churches

Peachcroft Christian Centre

Peachcroft Christian Centre has filmed the Christmas story in 24 episodes using small world figures with narration and is making it freely available for families, churches, schools and other groups to use and link to. The videos will be available each day of December on an interactive advent calendar. The whole 24 episodes showing the full Christmas story is also available.

 

 

 

Previous years

CTBI’s Advent course from 2009 A World in Waiting – Advent hope in an economic crisis is still available to download.

 

 

 

Mission Theology Advisory Group (MTAG)

‘Advent Journey with the Magi‘ provides a reflective spiritual journey into the mystery of the Incarnation which travels towards Jesus through the eyes of the Magi. It includes sections on Stars, Travels, Gifts, Meeting Herod and Meeting Jesus.

 

 

 

ALTERnativity

This resource aims to encourage people to get back to the heart of the Christmas message. It was created as a collaboration between the charity ALTERnativity, Action of Churches Together in Scotland (ACTS), the Church of Scotland World Mission Council and the Church of Scotland Guild.