Peg doll nativities? Advent Collaborative? This list will help answer your questions if you're wondering why we offer these opportunities or why we are encouraging you to join us!

1. You could use your nativity set at home to recall the story of Jesus' incarnation. As a family, sometimes we wait until Christmas Eve to add Jesus to the nativity scene. You could also put the figures out in parts and just read that part of the story each night. Another idea is to scatter all of the pieces through the room but then move them closer with each reading of the story as you lead up to Christmas day. You could continue moving the Wise Men until Epiphany (January 6).

2. You could gift your painted set to a niece or nephew, godchild or friend to play with. You might include a copy of a book that retells the story of the Nativity. For ages 0-3, I recommend the board book Christmas in the Manger. For ages 3+, I recommend either The Story of Christmas by Pamela Dalton or The Christmas Story by Concordia Publishing House.

3. It could be that your main goal is the actual time spent crafting! There are numerous scientific studies proving that time spent doing creative things, like painting, are goodfor your health. The benefits are innumerable! Some of the benefits to painting are: oPainting Fosters Creative Growth.

• Painting Strengthens Memory.

• Builds Problem-Solving and Motor Skills.

• Painting Provides Stress Relief.

• Promotes an Optimistic Attitude.

• Painting Nurtures Emotional Growth.

Here’s an article I saw recently about this very thing!

4. Crafting is a meditative work. This year, we will be painting the shepherds and sheep and an angel. You could also paint Mary, Joseph & Jesus if you'd like. The time spent pondering these holy mysteries is so valuable. Take a moment to sit and wonder: why were these Jesus’ first visitors? What was the message of the angels and what is the relevance for us today? What message did the shepherds have to share that caused all who heard it to be amazed? Doing this work together gives us time to consider these things.

So, grab a cup of coffee anda biscuit from the Muhoza's, pull up a comfy seat next to another church friend –young or old –and start painting! Tell yourself what we tell the kids: process not product! The reasons we are making our own materials to use in our observation of Advent (and the same reason we handmake the materials for the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd atria) are so that we can absorb the content more deeply; in this way we can combat hurry, consumerism, and even excessive “efficiency”; and to pace ourselves to a slower rhythm and thus also, or so we believe, to the working of the Holy Spirit. We begin to see what it can be to integrate the hand, mind, and heart.

I hope to see you Sunday after the service in the Greenhouse!

Registration still available here!

Leah Wall - Lead Catechist