It hasn’t been all that long since we were assembling our summer Camp-In-A-Boxes to reach campers all around the country. As the summer ended, we took this look back at what that process was like for us. We took a deep breath, and a bit of a vacation, and then it’s on to what’s next.

For most of us living in a global pandemic, looking ahead to what the coming months will bring is a strange and anxiety producing experience. The uncertainty of planning, not wanting to nail anything down, uncertain when the next sharp right turn will be in the world. And yet, at the same time, there is an odd freedom in the unknown. A new chance to try something you never would have before. New circumstances that shed new light on old shadows. We’re forced into this mode of reconsidering every possibility – and all the things we could never do before because we just didn’t have the time, or that building is usually filled.

Here at Ferncliff, the Nature Preschool is now taking place in the Eco Center and the little ones are playing in areas we’d never set aside before. Our LearnCliff day program for elementary students begins next week, and will let elementary kids spend their whole day on site throughout the change in seasons. We’re utilizing our larger outdoor spaces for folks to have their meetings, their family reunions, their weekend gatherings, all while socially distanced. Ferncliff Forest Church continues to offer an option for worship outdoors while many churches are unable to open safely. And now Advent-In-A-Box.

Recognizing that we’re all in this pandemic for the long haul, we decided to build on what we did this summer for Camp-In-A-Box with a winter box focused on the holiday season of Advent. Advent is the four Sundays leading up to Christmas, and marks a time of preparation for the coming of Christ. Many churches and families usually fill the month of December with holiday gatherings, large events, carol-singing, and more. This winter, that might look a lot different.

Advent-In-A-Box will offer four sections (one for each Sunday and week of Advent) as well as a special Christmas surprise. Each section will hold that week’s scripture, prayer, discussion questions, and a whole host of activities. These activities are meant to be worked in throughout a week’s time – a really easy way to work in preparation for Christ’s coming to the busy family life.

We hope that Advent-In-A-Box provides some support for families and churches facing the uncertainty of what’s to come this winter. We could all use a little more of Christ in the world right now, and Christmas promises both God’s presence with us and Christ’s eventual return. That’s something we can hold on to in these wild and changing circumstances. That’s something we need.

Find out more and order Advent-In-A-Box online here.

 

Jocelyn Wildhack is our Camp, Events, and Forest Church Coordinator. She is soon to be ordained as a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA).