Advent Resources - THREE Songs, Video, Creativity, Public Engagement

    This week, for the Uniting Church NSW/ACT and beyond into the ether, Mark Pierson will repeat a brilliant Advent Workshop for resourcing and ideas in this year! I share Mark's philosophy there's few original ideas (if there are they are usually over the top) but steal, beg, borrow and give credit will serve you well! I have posted two sets of Pictures, skirting what Mark will present and likewise here are some Advent/Christmas Ideas additional to what mark will point towards... I am working on one of his ideas shared, for 2020! Making flat board nativity figures painted on timber which will be placed in our Church Building front Garden (a little more stylised than the example) but the hope is they are clearly identifiable as a nativity, yet with room to imagine and to engage in conversation around the story and its meaning! A couple of us get to be in dialogue as part of the Workshop, so I am doing all this to prepare and be able to point to...

When it comes to COVID-19 I reckon we can all start with a decent list of ideas and adapt modify and ignore as needed...

Video Songs
1. “O Holy Night” Patti Smith here
2. Local Newcastle Musicians 2015 Youtube Advent Calendar 

“#1 - DEANNA, MILLI & JASMINE - Silent Night” here  
Includes “Carol of the Birds” Thomas Keily here 
3. “How to Make Gravy” Paul Kelly various youtube versions or mp3
4. “White Wine in the Sun” Tim Minchin various youtube versions or mp3
5. “Christmas Must Be Tonight” Paul Kelly cover various youtube versions or mp3

Video Story
1. “Real Christmas” here 
2. St Paul’s Auckland Arts & Media
“766 Christmases” here 
“O Little Town of Bethlehem” here 
And the series of St Paul’s Videos with kids
3. Advent Conspiracy
The Perfect Gift – 2017 here 

Visuals, Creativity and Public Engagement
1. Carols Flashmob at local shopping centre or public space
2. Collect Toys and Distribute collaborating with local services/agencies/foodbanks etc
3. Reverse Christmas Tree for food bank or other local charity, transfer to free pantry
4. Video Vox Pop ‘what Christmas Means to You’ on loop for use when open or at special Advent
5. Christmas Tree Display (Hamilton Uniting Church)
Each tree decorated by a local business or community organisation. 

A fundraiser for advertised causes, with launch event and visitor opening hours plus live music
6. Corflute Nativity, traced from data projection images
7. Si Smith Advent b&w images/booklet/walk through rear projected on large cloth screens
8. Advent Photo Challenges, picture a day, displayed in digital world or on walls
9. Southern Hemisphere Advent Wreath/Symbol – Water Jars & Food Colouring with appropriate words
10. Choose Southern Hemisphere Colours for Advent and work with landscape, water, light
11. Stations across 4 weeks leading to Christmas Eve, open to the public
12. Leunig Cartoons offer an aussie and global quirky look
13. Clothes rack of pegged Images for Advent, an installation 
14. PVC Pipe Nativity (painted floor larger than life figures) with one figure added each week
15. Alternativity Music Playlists on loop
16. Storybooks: “The Nativity” Julie Vivas; “The Fourth Wise Man” Susan Summers et al
17. "Tender: Stories That Lean Into Kindness"Julie Perrin’s stories re Carols, Christmas Lunch

18. Box of Pebbles with clipart painted on with acrylic, free play or help children work out the story

...

Culture, Context

Carols Choirs, Greetings and Visuals various languages, contextualise stories, e.g. Indigenous Christmas Yarns, Use images from around the world, Readings in peoples first languages,

Christmas around the world vox pop or pictures and invite different voices into planning, go all age

Handout available from Google Docs here