Festivals
Many thanks to Revd Mary Hawes for many of the links and much of the information here. Check out the information below on some of the resources and information on festivals. Do let us know of more.
Advent
The New Year for the Church starts on Advent Sunday, the fourth Sunday before Christmas. Advent is the time when the Church gets ready for the coming of Jesus, celebrated at Christmas. Themes of Advent are hope, darkness & light, repentance, watchfulness, preparation, expectation, & anticipation.
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Advent resources
Excellent pinterest board on Advent & Christmas by Mary Hawes
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Advent in 2 minutes - Excellent youtube resource on advent
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Re:Quest has Advent information & resources, click on the Festivals icon at the top and scroll down
Advent resources from BRF - downloadable, tried and tested
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All-Age Advent Service from ROOTS in four parts. Starting with creation, it moves to the Old Testament promise of justice, the coming of the Saviour and finally the expression of hope in Revelation.
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The Real Advent Calendar - The Real Advent Calendar is a Fairtrade Advent calendar with a free 24 page Christmas story-activity book.
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Story books for Christmas and Advent
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Gifts for the Christ Child
Christmas
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Christmas resources
Excellent pinterest board on Advent & Christmas by Mary Hawes
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Advent resources from BRF - downloadable, tried and tested
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Re:Quest has Advent information & resources, click on the Festivals icon at the top and scroll down
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Lent
Lent is a season of forty days beginning with Ash Wednesday and ending on Holy Saturday. It is a time of reflection, repentance and preparation before the celebrations of Easter. The length of the season, 40 days, reflects the time Jesus spent fasting in the wilderness before he began his ministry. Each Sunday in lent is counted as a feast day, and so the 6 Sundays in Lent are excluded from the 40 days.
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Excellent Pinterest Board for Lent, Holy Week and Easter from Mary Hawes
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Lent & Holy Week resources from BRF
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Ash Wednesday and Lent in two minutes: a video resource from Busted Halo
Holy Week in two minutes: a video resource from Busted Halo
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A wide range of Lent ideas
An Intergenerational event for Lent
Lent resources from the Children's Society
Lent & Holy Week photos to prompt discussion & creative ideas
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Mothering Sunday
Mothering Sunday, the 4th Sunday in Lent, often called Mother’s Day, sometimes called Laetare (joyful) Sunday. It's a day when all aspects of Mothering is celebrated - the mothering of Mothers, extended family, carers, significant people whose love has shaped our lives and of the Mother Church.
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The Children's Society
Round the clock care - celebrating carers on Mothering Sunday, a children's session from ROOTS on the Web
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Excellent Mothering Sunday Pinterest board packed with ideas and links, from Mary Hawes
Some great downloadable ideas from BRF
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Easter
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Excellent Pinterest Board for Lent, Holy Week and Easter from Mary Hawes
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Lent & Holy Week resources from BRF
Pentecost
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The festival of Pentecost comes 50 days after Easter and marks the time when the first disciples received the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2).
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Pentecost ideas from BRF
A dramatic reading for Pentecost from ROOTS
A Pinterest Board for Ascension, Pentecost and Trinity
Harvest
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An early Harvest Festival used to be celebrated at the beginning of the Harvest season on 1 August and was called Lammas, meaning 'loaf Mass'. Farmers made loaves of bread from the fresh wheat crop. These were given to the local church as the Communion bread during a special service thanking God for the harvest.
The modern British tradition of celebrating Harvest Festival in churches began in 1843, when the Revd Robert Hawker invited parishioners to a special thanksgiving service at his church in Cornwall. Victorian hymns such as We plough the fields and scatter, Come ye thankful people, come and All things bright and beautiful helped popularise his idea of harvest festival and spread the annual custom of decorating churches with home-grown produce for the Harvest Festival service.
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As British people have come to rely less heavily on home-grown produce, there has been a shift in emphasis in many Harvest Festival celebrations. Increasingly, churches have linked Harvest with an awareness of and concern for people in the developing world for whom growing crops of sufficient quality and quantity remains a struggle. Development and Relief organisations often produce resources for use in churches at harvest time which promote their own concerns for those in need across the globe.
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Download a Harvest themed Bible Chat Mat that Bath & Wells have produced.
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List of downloadable ideas from BRF
Youtube video from caritas about sharing food
Early Years Harvest celebration from Care for the Family
Pinterest board on Harvest from Mary Hawes
List of Harvest links from the Evangelical Alliance
Together in the Harvest - A-Rocha
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