sustain:if:able kiwi

creationary: the journey of the magi

A creationary: a space to be creative with the lectionary. For more resources go here.

Yes, I know. Lectionary wise the journey of the Magi in Matthew 2 occurs after Christmas. But they must have been travelling before Christmas, and thus they can provide a focus in Advent.

Some creationary ideas on the theme of Magi:

• Question on large screen for people to consider as they arrive: Ponder this … To get to church today, did you travel from the North or South, East or West.

• Sing O Come O Come emmanuel and use different languages for the first line of each verse. We used English, Korean, Tagalog and Maori. Make a verbal link to the Magi story, people who no doubt spoke a different language in their “coming” to Jesus.

• Make stars in four different colours. Display again the opening question (Ponder this … To get to church today, did you travel from the North or South, East or West). Get the kids to give out the stars, a different colour for each direction. It takes a bit of time, but the kids love it.

• Invite people to write on the stars something that might distract them from their journey toward Jesus this Christmas.

• Place four Christmas trees at the compass points around the church. Have an appropriate coloured star on each one to help people’s direction finder. Invite people to place their stars on the tree in the direction of which they are heading home after church, as a way of asking for God’s people to stay focused on the Christ-star during this Christmas. Sing some carols while people do this. This allows space for lots of people to mingle and move.

• If you have a younger, more culturally aware crowd, then U2’s new song, North star would work well.

• For the benediction, invite people to face “their” tree as they are blessed into their week of journeying toward Christmas.

For a potential sermon that might be woven in among these ideas, check out my recent advent reflection: are you travelling well?

Note: Some of these ideas emerge from an interactive all-age service done at Opawa in 2005.