Our Advent Tradition
An Advent Reflection by Godly Play Trainer Anna Thomas
More than a decade ago, our family began incorporating the Advent Spiral into our time of preparation. It’s a simple enough thing to search that has its roots in the Waldorf schools and communities.
In our Parish hall, St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church
In the last decade it has been made new in several different ways depending on our family and community needs. When we lived in the mountains, the kids would simply walk around the woods surrounding our house to gather the evergreens which make up the spiral. After moving to southeast Florida we had to get a bit more creative. While we do incorporate some palm fronds, we discovered that many Christmas tree stands are happy for you to take their trimmings - fill up your trunk and head out! We have created the Advent Spiral in our front yard, in a field beside an art gallery, our parish hall and even the beach! We have created it just for our family and also as part of the beautiful Advent retreats we’ve offered for our church annually.
Our youngest wanted to add flowers last year
We left the greens and flowers for passersby to wonder about.
For our family, the gathering of the greens is just the beginning of the ritual which builds the anticipation of the season and the preparation to be present in the season of Advent before crossing the threshold into the great mystery of the Incarnation. Once it’s all gathered you can begin to build the spiral. As children native in the rituals of Godly Play, it is not lost on me that they continue to want to come back to this spiral even as teenagers, and that they take the work of building the spiral seriously, making sure to check any branches that might get in the way of the path. At the center of the spiral we place a large Christ candle. If you’re doing this inside a parish hall, it’s fun to get about a dozen or so apples and have the children core the center to add a taper candle. When doing this outside, it’s best to make sure you have tall mason jars to protect your candles from the wind unless you have a particularly still night. I like to space a few candles throughout the spiral to help light the path everyone will take.
My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning. -Psalm 130:6 - is one possible call and response as candles are being lit.
Once the sun has set (and it seems like all the light is about to go out) you are ready to begin. As people begin to gather we greet them with quiet voices and offer them a candle and invite them to cross the threshold. What happens next can look differently each year but the rhythm remains the same. Witnesses will take turns walking to the center of the spiral to light their candle and say a prayer followed by the response of the others gathered. One year I printed 4 cards and laid them around the Christ candle: the prophets, the holy family, the shepherds and angels, and of course, the Magi. People could choose which light they felt drawn to, “This is the light of the Holy Family” for example, and the circle would reply, “Let us enjoy the light.” After everyone has had the chance to receive their light and are gathered around the spiral you might say, “look at all this light. All this light came from the light, but that light didn’t get any smaller… I wonder…” It’s a beautifully still moment that opens the way for the light of Advent to guide us. The circle leaves with the light of the prophets, holy family, shepherds and angels, the magi - all the light that is needed to journey with us as we make our way through Advent, awaiting the one who was coming and still is coming, all the way to the Mystery of Christmas.
