Sunday marks the beginning of Advent, so here is an assembly that I used this week in school which explores Christian Advent themes.

You will need: A chocolate Advent calendar 5 candles (and an Advent wreath candle holder if you can get one!), a dove, a heart, a windmill and a glass prism.  These last 4 things are symbols I have chosen for peace, love, joy and hope but feel free to substitute your own symbols.

Ask the children what they are doing to mark Advent this year. Most of them will talk about Advent calendars so show them the chocolate one and think about the kind of pictures you get behind each window (as well as the chocolate!)  It’s most likely that answers will be things like Santa, snowman, presents etc.  Talk about the fact that all of these pictures show something about what Christmas and winter can be like.

Now show children the 5 Advent candles and say that Christians use Advent as a time not just to look forward to Christmas, but also as a time to think about what the world will be like when Jesus comes again.  We light a candle each Sunday of Advent to remember one thing that we will have so much more of when Jesus returns:

Heart- love

Dove- Peace

Windmill- Joy

Prism- Hope (when you look through it you see rainbows which are a sign of hope and promise)

Talk about the 5th candle (in the centre of the ring) which stands for Jesus the light of the world and is lit on Christmas day.

Light a candle and ask children to choose one of the 4 symbols that they would like to see more of in the coming year.

Pray: Lord God thank you that you sent Jesus to be the light of the world, to help all those who find life dark and scary.  Help us to see more of your love, joy, peace and hope in the world this coming year. Amen

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