So my family has never been really good at spending time in Gods word each night. Heck I haven’t ever been very good at doing personal devotions but I know it is my responsibility to be the leader of my household and passing on faith to my children.  We as a family are not super consistent and fail to do it every day but try to be faithful. So why is advent any different…Well it isn’t but it is a great time for get you family involved in prayer and devotion.

During Advent you have some very real opportunities to get you family involved in family devotions.  It can be a time for everyone to spend time together. We have used this time because their are so many opportunities to share your faith with your family. It is a time you can get gather together to share the good news of Jesus and his coming.

So why is advent such a good time…well first you have a plethora of different devotionals put out by a number of great organizations and groups. Pick one and go for it.  It should be short and should be pointing you to Jesus and his coming.  You have advent calendars with ….chocolate! This can help  you think about the anticipation of Advent.  You also have children who after thanksgiving your children are looking forward to the eager anticipation of Christmas presents… well that is not really helpful.  Lastly and my personal favorite is the advent wreath.  It is a time to remind us of the light and anticipation for the Coming of Jesus again.  You can talk about the hope we have in Jesus.  It is just a great way for families to involve children in the devotional moment.  My children are now asking about how they can be involved in the devotions. They light and blow out the candles, say the prayers, read the devotions and preform the blessings.

This leads me to my last and final point. Get your children involved.  A few weeks ago I lead a advent devotional program at Church for school families and shared with them ways to get the kids involved.  I even gave them an outline I would like to share here. (I actually think this a variation on faith inkubators family five)

• Invocation in the name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit, (My 5 year old daughters favorite part is doing the sign of the cross over the whole family and then herself.)
• Highs and Lows for the day
• Bible reading (Kids take turns reading the short devotion or Bible verse)
• Prayers (sometime items from Highs and Lows, sometimes Lord’s prayer, apostles creed of 10 commandments)
• Blessing Anything would work but we use (The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God the Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all) Again the sign of the cross to remind us of the blessing of our baptism.