December 1, 2022
Advent for All - Waiting for Peace
Week 2
Dare we venture to let our feeble thought attempt to search matters which the angels desired to look into? Perhaps we may, because it is the purpose of our God to reveal Himself to men, and it is only to open minds and willing hearts that such revelation is possible.
~Charlotte Mason, "The Nativity," Parents Review 21 p.884
Holidays can be challenging and hectic. So this weekly series of Advent and Christmas inspiration features readings from the Bible, music, poetry, picture books, art, handicrafts, recipes, and more to help us savor the season. Our hope is that every member of the family will find something for them and that the various resources would help families, neighborhoods, classes, and other communities carve out spaces for joy, reverence, wonder, and expectation this season as we focus attention on the birth at Bethlehem and beyond.
Bible Reading
Malachi 3:1-5, Isaiah 9:1-7, and Jeremiah 31:1-15, 31-40 and 33:14-26
Listen
O Come, O Come Emmanuel, But Who May Abide (Patti Austin), But Who May Abide (Handel) and Silent Night. Enjoy the entire playlist of Christmas music throughout the month.
View
Belle-Verrière Window in the Chartres Cathedral. Notice the colors and all the details you can. Ponder the reality that the story of Christ’s coming has been painted and told and foretold for thousands of years. Read more about the stained glass at the Chartres Cathedral here if interested.
Read
Prayer by George Herbert. Read the poem aloud a few times. Focus on imagining the word pictures and savoring the sounds — poems are like paintings and should be absorbed as a whole. What lines particularly confuse or delight you? Why? Sonnets often have a shift of thought in their ending sentences. Is there a shift in Herbert’s poem? Where?
Activities
Choose a few activities to enjoy this week:
- Spend extra time outside. Consider taking a walk at night by the light of December’s full moon on the 7th, sometimes called the Cold Moon.
- Try cutting and folding paper bag stars.
- Try more Christmas foods from around the world. Suggestion: pick a few different Argentinian Christmas foods from this list.
- Extra free-read or read-aloud time. Choose from the Alveary member list of favorite Christmas books or enjoy these suggestions for this week: Probity Jones and the Fear Not Angel (free audio), St. Nicholas and the 9 Gold Coins, The Miracle of Saint Nicholas, Christmas is Coming, Papa Panov’s Special Day, A Merry Christmas.
"The peace of God is an active principle, ever-flowing, ever-going, ever-nourishing, ever-fertilising,––and not a passive state, a quiet creek, where we may stagnate at our ease."
~Charlotte Mason, Formation of Character, p.416
Week 2
