Advent Links: the Lent & Beyond Advent Resources Compilation

Note as of 17 November 2014:  The listing of Advent resources below was first posted in 2008 (updated from previous compilations we’d done in 2004 – 2006).  We last checked the links to make sure they worked in 2012.  Obviously that’s an eternity ago in internet time, and there will be many obsolete links now.  We’ll try to create a new similar listing for 2014 very soon if at all possible.

For our latest posts of good advent resources, check out our Advent Resources category, our Advent 2014 index, or our Advent 2013 index.

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(Links were last verified to be working as of mid-November 2012)

Last updated: December 1, 2008

Update: Here’s the 2008 Advent Carnival post at A Ten O’Clock Scholar. Head over there for some links to nice Advent meditations and ideas about how to celebrate Advent as a family. Don’t miss also Kerry’s posts on Celebrating Saint Nicholas Day, or Advent Book Ideas

Wishing all of our readers a truly blessed Advent! — KB

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Some new links for 2008:

I’ll soon be adding more links and putting them in proper categories, but this is a start. Most of these are not new sites, just new to me.

TeachingMom’s Advent Calendar you MUST-VISIT!

Reformed Church in America’s Advent, Christmas & Epiphany Page — includes Daily Jesse Tree Family Devotions

An online Jesse Tree Advent calendar

O Night Divine blog, see especially the Preparing for Advent & Christmas post and the Celebrate with Crafts page

Center for Excellence in Preaching: Advent 2008 Resources

Prayer & Worship Resources for Advent

Holiday Cookie Recipes – over 600 cookie recipes! Scary… (for one’s waistline, that is!)

Subversive Influence blog – had a special Advent 2007 blog series. Some of the material looks like it might be very good, but I’ve not yet checked it out too carefully. Nor do I know if there will be a 2008 Advent series.

Our Grace Journey: Inductive Bible Studies for Advent (looks very good!)

American Bible Society Advent Resources page (includes short Advent devotional series for Matthew, Mark & Luke)

Full Homely Divinity: Advent

Advent 2008 blog — the entries will be focused on Isaiah

The Story-Formed calendar blog (Advent entries). I just discovered this blog devoted to resources for the liturgical year. There are some lovely Advent meditations and resources. Very worth a visit!

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Here are some new L&B compilations posts that link to excellent Advent resources:

New Advent Links for 2008 #1 (this includes a number of the links above, plus some others)

Creative Advent Calendars

Advent Links & Resources: All About Jesse Trees

A Cool Family Advent Idea: An Advent Chain

David Ould’s meditations on Handel’s Messiah

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ADVENT LINKS: the Lent & Beyond Advent Resources Compilation

This is a compilation of some of the best online Advent resources I’ve found in the past three years as well as some new discoveries in recent days. Enjoy! Please leave a comment or send an e-mail (AnglicanPrayer@gmail.com) to let us know what you find helpful (or not), or especially if you have other resources to suggest.

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Table of Contents

1. Lent & Beyond Links

2. Lectionary Resources, Advent Prayers & Liturgies

3. Online Advent Calendars

4. Advent Worship Resources and Online Devotionals

5. The Advent Antiphons

6. Other Advent Resource Compilations (lots more lists of links!)

7. Advent Resources for Children and Families

8. Articles about Advent

9. Blogs and Bloggers

10. Miscellaneous (especially music and art links)

(clicking on each heading above will take you to that specific section)

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1. LENT & BEYOND LINKS:

We’ve now compiled and posted an index of all our Advent entries from 2004 – 2006 from our old blog. In each case the links below should take you either to an archived version of the post at the web archive site, or to the Google Cache version. There are about 200 entries included in the indexes for the three years! Enjoy! (See also: 2004 index, 2005 index, 2006 index)

We’re also busy creating Advent categories and writing posts to fill them here on this new blog! Here are the links to the Advent categories here. (Note one or two of these categories may currently show no posts. They will become active during Advent itself — we’ve already got 20 posts queued up!)

All Advent posts

Advent Devotionals, Advent Favorites, Advent Prayers, Advent Quotes

Advent Resources, including Advent Crafts; Advent: Family & Children

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2. LECTIONARY RESOURCES, ADVENT PRAYERS & LITURGIES:

Advent 2008 Scripture Readings Table A handy one-page table with all the readings for each day. (Based on the BCP 1979 Daily Office)

Episcopal/RCL Sunday Lectionary links (Satucket.com) (includes links to read each day’s lessons online in the RSV translation). The 2008 -2009 church year is Year B in the Sunday lectionary calendar.

For those who follow the Traditional Lectionary, CommonPrayer.Org is an excellent resource. At their Ordo Calendar for December you can find links to the 1928, 1662 English, and Scottish 1637 (basis for 1789 US) lectionaries.

For those using the 1928 Daily Office, CommonPrayer.Org’s Daily Office page is the place to go. And here’s their December Ordo Calendar with the Daily Office links.

Pray as You Go is billed as “Daily Prayer for your MP3 player”– though you can play it on your computer with software like Quicktime or RealPlayer. It is a British Jesuit site. It is an amazingly rich way to pray and meditate through the daily lessons. Each day’s audio entry is about 10 minutes long. The site operates year round, but they have a special Advent focus each year.

ChurchYear.Net Advent Prayers page ChurchYear.Net is a “must bookmark” site for anyone interested in Liturgical Seasons and related prayers. Here is their “All About Advent” page. It includes links to Advent Hymns and Canticles, Advent Wreath Prayers and Readings, How to Make an Advent Wreath, Eastern Hymns for the Pre-feast of the Nativity and so much more!

Another must-visit site is Lectionary Central (for sermons, commentary and other resources based on the traditional Anglican Lectionary). Advent 1. Advent 2. Advent 3. Advent 4.

Liturgies.Net Advent Resource page Of note: Prayers and Collects for Advent, An Order for Blessing the Advent Wreath, and “Meeting Christ in the Liturgy — Advent” (Year B’s commentary is here)

The Center for Excellence in Preachinghas put together a page of Advent sermon resources to help those preaching during Advent. This is the updated page for 2008.

Church of England Common Worship Advent Collects: Collects and Prayers

Anglican Diocese of Montreal: RCL Commentaries (these seem fairly solid short overviews of each week’s lessons.)

Silk.net’s Liturgical Seasons resource page (Catholic Religious Education Advent resources, some of the links on this site may be outdated. It does not appear to have been updated recently.)

CatholicForum.Com: Advent Liturgical Prayers

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3. ONLINE ADVENT CALENDARS or Online Daily Devotionals

BBC Advent Calendar (begins Dec. 1)
Far and away our favorite Advent calendar from 2005. Every day there is an audio link. A wonderful mix of choral music, dramatic Scripture readings, poetry, etc.

Following the Star — will begin when Advent starts.
An online daily devotional site – especially geared towards youth. This was a favorite in 2005.

Diocese of Washington (begins Dec. 1)
The Diocese of Washington has produced beautiful online Advent calendars each year since 2005. Truly excellent graphics and a nice interface. But as an editorial comment, there has been much content here we found theologically questionable. This site always gets alot of attention in Anglican circles but we cannot recommend many of the daily meditations.

EWTN: Most likely begins Dec. 1
A very nice Roman Catholic site. Very clean graphics, simple. (Simplicity is nice in Advent!) A daily Scripture, prayer, short meditation, suggested “Advent Action”

Online Advent Calendar — St. Margaret Mary Parish (begins Dec. 3rd)
(A Roman Catholic parish in Naperville, Illinois) . Each day has a picture and a Scripture passage.

Bach Advent Calendar:
In 2005 BBC had an interesting “Bach Advent Calendar.” The link still seems to work, but we’re not sure if it will still be usable for 2008 or whether BBC Radio3 will do something new this year… stay tuned.

BeliefNet has an online advent calendar, (currently not working, I don’t know if it will be reactivated).

Anglican blogger Dave Walker’s Cartoon Advent Calendar Nothing new since 2005

A website from Denmark offering a History of the Advent Calendar is here, and it includes a link to an Online Museum of Advent Calendars from various years and sources.

For the Art lover: Artcyclopedia Advent Calendar and 2004 Nativity in Renaissance Art. These date from 2003 and 2004, but are still working and quite interesting and informative – using art masterpieces to tell the story of the nativity.

The Geneology of Jesus Advent Calendar

 

Some international Advent calendars — especially geared towards kids:

Advent and Christmas traditions from around the world (begins Dec 1)
This Advent calendar from the UK is a fun way to learn about Advent and Christmas customs in other countries.

Enchanted Forest (from Norway) begins Dec 1.

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4. ADVENT RESOURCES and ONLINE DEVOTIONALS

Mark D. Roberts is a Presbyterian pastor who “gets” Advent. His “Advent and the Christian Year” series is an excellent place to find an overview of what Advent means, prayers for lighting the Advent wreath candles, an explanation of liturgical colors, etc. One of the best Advent resources on the Internet. Here is his short Advent Wreath Guide with prayers and a short devotional for the lighting each week’s Advent Candle.

Christian Resource Institute: is another fantastic Advent Resource site. There are many helpful resources here, including:

— All about Jesse Trees (includes instructions to make a Jesse Tree)
— Chrismons: Make your own Christ-centered Christmas Ornaments (including patterns)
— A Service for the Hanging of the Greens at the beginning of Advent

A very worthwhile Roman Catholic site is The Passionists’ “The Advent Wreath” focusing on the Customs and Prayers of Advent. There are many excellent prayers and other resources. I’ve linked quite often to these resources in previous years for both Advent and Lent.

And another Catholic site I find myself browsing and linking to often is the Creighton University “Praying Advent” site. An excellent devotional site, very geared towards encouraging self-examination and personal spiritual growth during the major church seasons.

Don’t miss Eric’s Swensson’s (Holy Trinity, ELCA, New Rochelle, NY) Advent page with many excellent Advent meditations from the likes of Bonhoeffer, JB Phillips, etc. Some of our best Advent posts in the past two years have come from material Eric has posted or e-mailed us. He has a huge list of Christmas links. See also his Poetry Page for wonderful poetry by George Herbert, William Cowper, Christina Rossetti and many more.

My favorite “Baptist who gets Advent” is John Piper. His collection of Advent Narrative Poems from the past 15 or 20 years are an AMAZING and challenging devotional resource.

The Lutheran Hour website is once again offering a variety of Advent devotional Resources at Lutheran Advent Devotions (Devotions are available as PDF download, audio files, daily e-mails). One quite unique thing about this site is that they encourage churches to download these Advent devotional booklets and customize them and distribute them in their communities. They offer two different devotional guides – one geared for Christians and one designed as an evangelistic tool. A great idea! Here’s the blurb from their website:

“Come to the Manger” takes the believer through stories and Scripture and guides them to a rich personal time with their King! Written in a style more traditional, and perhaps, more familiar to Christians, these texts illuminate the timeless story of God’s gift to the world as given in the birth of His Son. These devotions are available in both English and Spanish.

“Christmas Conversations” is a series of challenging reflections for those considering a personal relationship with the Savior. With wit, insight, and personal observations, these meditations will lead the reader on a journey that navigates the busy holiday season to the essence of Christmas. Through thought-provoking questions and contemporary language, God’s love is revealed in Bethlehem and Jesus’ sacrifice as fulfilled on the cross.

Both “Come to the Manger” and “Christmas Conversations” have been created in a PDF format that makes it easy for you to customize them with your church information and to distribute throughout your community. Sharing Advent devotions is a great way to get people from your church involved in a meaningful outreach effort this Christmas. These devotions are available in both English and Spanish.

A blog that is now inactive, the Brinded Cow, had an Advent Hymn devotional series that we really enjoyed in 2005. Here’s the Google search link to help you find the Advent posts there.

For poetry fans, here’s a collection of Lectionary-based Sonnets

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5. THE ADVENT ANTIPHONS

Several of the best links I’ve found for background about and devotionals linked to the “O Antiphons” are the following:

http://catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0374.html

http://www.rc.net/wcc/antiphon.htm

http://www.sosj.org.au/prayer/documents/OAntiphons.pdf

Scores and Audio links

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6. OTHER ADVENT RESOURCE COMPILATIONS

If you haven’t had enough Advent links yet, here are dozens and dozens more on these sites. There is some overlap of course, but the sheer volume of Advent and Christmas material online means that each site has a lot of unique material. Some of these link compilations include links to Advent-themed artwork and graphics which are generally very helpful.

Anglicans Online Advent page:

Textweek.com Advent Resources Page

Lift Up Your Hearts: Advent, Christmas and Epiphany Resources

A Canadian Anglican site: Father Jim Irvine, Canon of Christ Church Cathedral in the Diocese of Fredericton, New Brunswick

A Religious Christmas Page (it has an Advent page linked on this page as well.)

An excellent listing of many different sites with a focus on a Christ-centered Advent and Christmas“Christmas in Cyberspace” (Their Advent page is here.)

Kirkweb.com — Of particular note their candle lighting ceremony liturgies for various number of voices. Examples here (3 voices) and here (6 voices).

Another Canadian Anglican site: Richard Fairchild’s links to Advent sermons and resources

King of Peace (ECUSA parish in Kingsland, Georgia) has some nice resources including an Advent Wreath Service and Advent resources page (including Jesse tree ornaments patterns)

The United Methodist Advent links round up is here: United Methodist Advent Worship Resources Listing

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7. ADVENT RESOURCES FOR CHILDREN & FAMILIES:

I hope to expand this section significantly for 2008, but in the meantime a few links I’ve noted:

A nice one-page guide to Advent crafts and activities for preschool children. Each week there is a Bible verse and a craft.

CatholicMom.Com — lots of Advent resources for kids and families. Note especially this page with many craft ideas for kids of all ages.

Advent Prayers for Children. The Passionist Community has some really nice children’s and family prayers for Advent. Here are their prayers tied into the O Antiphons for each week of Advent

Figures of Faith: A series of Advent messages for Children

Diocese of Washington: Advent for Kids page Online Jigsaw puzzles, etc. with an Advent theme.

Women for Faith and Family. Note especially their Family Sourcebook for Celebrating Advent and Christmas and their Advent Wreath Coloring Page.

AMIA Church of the Resurrection Tampa: Family Advent worship guide (Note this is for 2005 and only for week 1.) I’ve tried without success to find the guides for the remaining weeks of Advent. But this might be a helpful starting point.

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8. ARTICLES ABOUT ADVENT:

Christianity Today: “Advent’s Spiritual Pilgrimage”

Hearing Old Testament Advent Texts

Immanuel in Isaiah and Matthew

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9. BLOGS & BLOGGERS

Also a work in progress, but some of the blogs I would initially recommend as a source of Advent mediations and devotionals include:

Prydain (I need to link Will’s new blog… stay tuned) Will daily posts sermon excerpts s and wonderfully edifying devotional material. In years past he has put together an awesome series of posts on writings on the Incarnation by the Church Fathers. I’ll try to pull all those links together. Some of the links may be found here: http://lent.classicalanglican.net/?p=373

The Rev. Dr. Peter Toon has written many essays and devotional reflections on Advent. We’ve linked quite a number here on Lent & Beyond. (I’ll try to pull those links together as a separate entry). A few of the links to Toon’s writings include:
http://pbs1928.blogspot.com/2005/11/d-v-e-n-t.html (if the link is dead, try Google cache)
http://pbsusa.org/Articles/AdventCollect06.htm
http://pbsusa.org/Articles/AdventCollect.htm

Catholic Blogger extraordinare, Amy Welborn (her blog “Open Book” is now inactive and she has a new, but different blog) had a WONDERFUL open thread in 2005 asking her readers to share ideas about how to celebrate Advent more meaningfully without giving in to our culture’s Christmas madness.

Other blogs I read regularly which are likely to post Advent-themed material:

— Pietist (aka: Awakening). And don’t miss Eric’s Church’s (Holy Trinity, ELCA, New Rochelle, NY) Advent page with loads of wonderful links. Some of our best posts in the past two years have come from material Eric has posted or e-mailed us.

— Pat Dague’s Transfigurations. In betwixt her news aggregating, Pat finds and posts wonderful quotes, photos and artwork that make for wonderful devotional reflection.

— The Continuum

— Orthodox priest Fr. Stephen’s Glory to God in All Things

A Scottish Advent blog (a collaborative effort, organized by the same folks who put together the Scottish Lenten blog that inspired our Anglican Lenten blogging collaboration here on L&B.)

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MISCELLANEOUS:

Classic Church Music A fabulous FREE internet radio station for those looking for ADVENT music. Here’s how the site owner describes the site: Classic choral and organ works, now featuring music of the Advent season. An Christmas Free Zone until Christmas Eve! — a real rarity in a world where radio stations start playing Christmas Carols sometime around Halloween!

Don’t forget this essential music resource: The Cyber Hymnal! Advent hymns often make for great devotionals even if you don’t know the tune. (And the Cyber Hymnal has midi files so you can learn the tune.)

For wonderful Art Masterpieces (try searching on “Annunciation” or “Nativity”, etc.) The Web Gallery of Art is a must-visit resource. You’ll see us post many art masterpieces from that site here in our devotional posts because it is such an amazingly comprehensive and yet easy to use site — and it’s FREE!

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