Welcome to your Virtual Advent Workshop!

On the following pages, you’ll find an exploration of our Christmas theme - “What Child Is This? “ through the eyes of some children who changed the world in which they lived.

Our Advent “Stations” are: What Child is This? A Child of Hope! Learn about Ruby Bridges, a child who had an important role bringing hope for equal rights in this country. You can also read Paul’s words about hope, and say a prayer for hope in our world.

What Child is This? A Child of Peace! Learn about the teenagers from Parkland, Florida, who won the 2018 International Children’s Peace Prize for their activism about creating safe and peaceful schools. You can read several biblical passages about peace, and say a prayer for peace in our world.

What Child is This? A Child of Joy! Learn about Stevie Wonder, who brought joy to so many through his music. You can also read Mary’s joyful song of praise - the Magnificat - from the Gospel of Luke, and say a prayer asking for joy.

What Child is This? A Child of Love! Learn about Alex Scott, who spent her life raising money for children with cancer with a lemonade stand. You can also read Paul’s famous words about love from 1 Corinthians, and pray a prayer for love based on that passage.

What Child is This? A Child who is God With Us! Read the Nativity story from the Bible, as well as Isaiah’s words of prophecy about the child. End with a prayer of Thanksgiving.

If you would like to hear stories about these children, we will have recordings of five children’s books about Ruby Bridges, peacemaking, Stevie Wonder, Alex Scott, and the Christmas Story on our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd8Ck-m7J3wOoq8TdbO947w/playlists ​

Each Station has an ornament for you to make! They’re at the end of this document. Here are instructions for building the ornaments: 1. Cut out the three circles. 2. Write your answer to the question in the blank space. 3. Fold each circle in half vertically. 4. Stick the back of the right half of one circle to the back of the left half of another using tape or glue. 5. Fold a piece of yarn or string - or even a pipe cleaner! - to make a loop. 6. Stick the yarn loop in the center of the two halves using tape or glue. 7. Take the final circle and stick the back halves to the open backs

to finish the ornament.

Happy Crafting!

Ruby Bridges - A Child of Hope

At the tender age of six, Ruby Bridges advanced the cause of civil rights in November 1960 when she became the first African American student to integrate an elementary school in the South.

Born on September 8, 1954, Bridges was the oldest of five children for Lucille and Abon Bridges, farmers in Tylertown, Mississippi. When Ruby was two years old, her parents moved their family to New Orleans, Louisiana in search of better work opportunities. Ruby’s birth year coincided with the US Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka Kansas, which ended racial segregation in public schools.

Nonetheless, southern states continued to resist integration, and in 1959, Ruby attended a segregated New Orleans kindergarten. A year later, however, a federal court ordered Louisiana to desegregate. The school district created entrance exams for African American students to see whether they could compete academically at the all-white school. Ruby and five other students passed the exam.

Her parents were torn about whether to let her attend the all-white William Frantz Elementary School, a few blocks from their home. Her father resisted, fearing for his daughter’s safety; her mother, however, wanted Ruby to have the educational opportunities that her parents had been denied. Meanwhile, the school district dragged its feet, delaying her admittance until November 14. Two of the other students decided not to leave their school at all; the other three were sent to the all-white McDonough Elementary School.

Ruby and her mother were escorted by four federal marshals to the school every day that year. She walked past crowds screaming vicious slurs at her. Undeterred, she later said she only became frightened when she saw a woman holding a black baby doll in a coffin. She spent her first day in the principal’s office due to the chaos created as angry white parents pulled their children from school. Ardent segregationists withdrew their children permanently. Barbara Henry, a white Boston native, was the only teacher willing to accept Ruby, and all year, she was a class of one. Ruby ate lunch alone and sometimes played with her teacher at recess, but she never missed a day of school that year. While some families supported her bravery—and some northerners sent money to aid her family—others protested throughout the city. The Bridges family suffered for their courage: Abon lost his job, and grocery stores refused to sell to Lucille. Her share-cropping grandparents were evicted from the farm where they had lived for a quarter-century. Over time, other African American students enrolled; many years later, Ruby’s four nieces would also attend. In 1964, artist Norman Rockwell celebrated her courage with a painting of that first day entitled, “The Problem We All Live With.”

Ruby graduated from a desegregated high school, became a travel agent, married and had four sons. She was reunited with her first teacher, Henry, in the mid 1990s, and for a time the pair did speaking engagements together. Ruby later wrote about her early experiences in two books and received the Carter G. Woodson Book Award.

A lifelong activist for racial equality, in 1999, Ruby established The Ruby Bridges Foundation to promote tolerance and create change through education. In 2000, she was made an honorary deputy marshal in a ceremony in Washington, DC.

- By Debra Michals, PhD.

What Paul wrote to the church in Rome about Hope (Romans 5:1-5):

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

A Prayer of Hope for a Better World For the people whose lives have touched ours, for the love they show, the burdens they lift, the hopes we share. Compassionate God, we ask you: to fill us with your love, to place in our hearts a spirit of courage, to move us to reach out to others in need. And lead us to play our part, so that now and in generations to come all your children may share in our hope for a better world. We ask this through Christ our Lord, Amen. - Catherine Gorman

The Parkland Activists - Children of Peace

March for Our Lives Founders awarded 2018 International Children’s Peace Prize

After 17 of their peers were gunned down in the classrooms and hallways of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, a group of teenagers from the Parkland school banded together to work to change the nation’s gun laws and offer a platform for students who worry their school will be next.

They rallied outside a local courthouse, appeared on Sunday news shows and motivated hundreds of thousands of people to march on Washington and in cities nationwide as part of an unprecedented day of action.

On Tuesday, [November 20, 2018] the college-bound activists realized the global reach of their anti-gun violence movement as they were awarded the 2018 International Children’s Peace Prize, joining the likes of Pakistani education-rights advocate Malala Yousafzai as winners of the annual prize.

March For Our Lives leaders David Hogg, Emma González, Jaclyn Corin and Matt Deitsch received the award during a ceremony in Cape Town, South Africa. Anti-apartheid leader Desmond Tutu, the winner of the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize, presented the group with the award and said he considered the movement to be one of the most significant instances of youth-led activism in recent memory.

“The peaceful campaign to demand safe schools and communities and the eradication of gun violence is reminiscent of other great peace movements in history,” said Tutu, the former general secretary of the South African Council of Churches. “I am in awe of these children, whose powerful message is amplified by their youthful energy and an unshakable belief that children can — no, must — improve their own futures. They are the true changemakers who have demonstrated most powerfully that children can move the world.” In the months since the Valentine’s Day massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas, the student leaders from Parkland have organized a nationwide voter registration tour and recruited a host of celebrities to speak on behalf of their cause. The students have emphasized from the early days of their activism that young people would remain at the core of their mission and organizational structure and that they would not be co-opted by special interests groups or wealthy backers.

Their 10-point plan of action includes banning high-capacity magazines, or those that hold more than 10 rounds, expanding the federal background check requirement to cover private sales, and ban semiautomatic assault rifles from public use. Their platform also calls for the strengthening of laws that disarm domestic abusers, funding research of gun violence as a public health issue and empowering the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to better regulate guns in America.

Since their movement began, more than 25 states have passed some form of gun violence legislation consistent with their goals, the group says.

In Florida, their high-profile efforts — along with persistent lobbying from the families of those who died in the Feb. 14 shooting — helped motivate a Republican-controlled Florida Legislature to pass statewide gun restrictions for the first time in two decades.

The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act includes a three-day waiting period for all firearms sales and raises the legal gun-purchasing age to 21. It also created risk-protection orders that can prohibit violent or mentally ill individuals from owning weapons and allow police to petition a judge to freeze someone’s rights to own firearms if they are considered a danger to themselves or others.

- By Martin Vassolo, The Miami Herald A few Bible passages about Peace and Peacemakers:

Matthew 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers; for they shall be called children of God.

James 3:17-18 But the wisdom that comes from God is like this: First, it is pure. Then it is also peaceful, gentle, and easy to please. This wisdom is always ready to help those who are troubled and to do good for others. This wisdom is always fair and honest. When people work for peace in a peaceful way, they receive the good result of their right living.

John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

A Prayer for Peace in the World Lord, we pray for the power to be gentle; the strength to be forgiving; the patience to be understanding; and the endurance to accept the consequences of holding to what we believe to be right.

May we put our trust in the power of good to overcome evil and the power of love to overcome hatred.

We pray for the vision to see and the faith to believe in a world emancipated from violence, a new world where fear shall no longer lead men to commit injustice, nor selfishness make them bring suffering to others.

Help us to devote our whole life and thought and energy to the task of making peace, praying always for the inspiration and the power to fulfill the destiny for which we and all people were created.

— Unknown ​

Little Stevie Wonder - A Child of Joy

Stevland Judkins Morris Hardaway was born on May 13, 1950, in Saginaw, Michigan, to Lula Mae Hardaway. Stevie’s father was present at his son’s birth but was not around while Stevie was growing up.

Stevie was born prematurely and put in a hospital incubator to help him breathe. But the oxygen in the incubator caused blindness. Doctors have since learned more about this problem and now protect the eyes of infants who need to be in an incubator after birth.

Blindness didn’t hold Stevie back. His mother and brothers watched out for him but let him be a regular kid. His family and neighbors recognized Stevie’s musical talent when he was very young.

Stevie’s big break came when one of his friends, Gerald White, convinced his brother, Ronnie, who sang with the Miracles, to listen to Stevie sing. Ronnie White couldn’t believe Stevie’s voice. He introduced Stevie to a talent scout at the Detroit offices of Motown, a new record company that was changing the music world. The scout quickly brought Stevie to Berry Gordy, the head of Motown. When Gordy heard Stevie on the harmonica and drums and piano, he knew Stevie was something special. Stevie signed a contract with Motown when he was ten years old and was given the performing name “Little Stevie Wonder.”

When Stevie began recording and performing in Motown revues, he did his schoolwork with a tutor who traveled with him and watched over him at home and on the road.

In 1963, Stevie had his first big hit - “Fingertips, Part 2,” a live recording from a Motown revue. It was the first live concert recording ever to go to number one on the pop music charts. Soon after, Stevie’s album Little Stevie Wonder: The 12-Year-Old Genius rose to number one on the pop charts. Stevie ​ ​ went on to release singles and albums that have won nineteen Grammy Awards and an Oscar.

For more than four decades, Stevie Wonder has been a musical innovator, mixing styles and sounds and experimenting with electronic instruments before they were widely used. He has also been politically and socially active - speaking out for world peace and racial harmony; raising awareness about world hunger, AIDS, and homelessness; and supporting anti-drug and anti-drunk-driving causes and people with disabilities.

Stevie Wonder’s music is everywhere - on the radio and television, in movies, and in his influence on other musicians. His His way of seeing the world - through joy and peace - touches everyone.

- Quincy Troupe Mary’s Song of Joyful Praise (Luke 1: 46-55) And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”

The Prayer for Joy Holy God, We praise your name and give you glory! You are with us and mighty to save. We need you now, right in the middle of our life’s stuff, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Let us rest in you as you quiet our hearts and doubts. You are good and your kindness and mercy is forever. May you be so very real to us in this moment and let us hear your song for us. As you delight in us, we delight in you and know joy.

Joy is your gift to us, to carry us through the sorrows and pains, to hold us together when we face our darkest nights. You are our joy and we rejoice because of who you are. We love you and give you glory and honor and all praise.

In Jesus’ name, Amen. - Jessica Van Roekel Alexandra “Alex” Scott - A Child of Love

Shortly before her first birthday, Alex was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a type of childhood cancer. In the year 2000, when Alex was just four years old, she told her parents that she wanted to have a lemonade stand in her front yard. She surprised everyone when she announced her plan - to donate the money from her stand to “her hospital to help the doctors find a cure for all kids with cancer. Even though Alex continued to bravely battle her own cancer, she also continued to hold yearly lemonade stands in her front yard to benefit childhood cancer research. News of Alex, a sick child, helping other sick children has spread far and wide. People from all over the world have been inspired by her story and decided to help Alex in her quest to find a cure. In August of 2004, Alex passed away at the age of eight, knowing that, with the help of others, she had raised over $1 million to help find a cure for all kids with cancer. Through Alex’s Lemonade Stand, Alex’s family and supporters are enthusiastically carrying on her efforts to find a cure for childhood cancer, one step at a time.

Paul’s words to the Corinthians about Love: (1 Corinthians 13: 4-8a)

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous, it does not brag, and it is not proud. Love is not rude, is not selfish, and does not become angry easily. Love does not remember wrongs done against it. Love takes no pleasure in evil, but rejoices over the truth. Love patiently accepts all things. It always trusts, always hopes, and always continues strong. Love never ends.

A Prayer of Love from 1 Corinthians 13 Dear God, Thank you that you are a loving, gracious God. Thank you that you’ve offered us forgiveness and the gift of new life in you. Thank you that your love is perfect, it never fails, and that nothing can separate us from your love. We pray that our lives would be filled and overflowing with the power of your love so we can make a difference in this world and bring honor to you. We ask for your help in reminding us that the most important things are not what we do outwardly, it’s not based on any talent or gift, but the most significant thing we can do in this life is simply to love you and to choose to love others. Thank you that your love is patient. Help us show patience with those around us. Thank you that your love is kind. Help us to extend kindness to others. Thank you that true love is not jealous. Help us cast aside feelings of jealousy or hatred towards others. Thank you that your love does not brag and is not arrogant. Help us not to live with pride or arrogance, but to choose to walk with humility and grace. Thank you that true love does not act unbecomingly. Help us to extend kindness instead of rudeness towards others. Help us to lay aside the critical tone and tearing down with our words, so that we can truly walk in peace. Thank you that true love does not seek its own. Help us not to live selfishly, looking only to our own interests. Thank you that true love is not provoked. Help us not to become easily angered. Help us not to be so quickly reactive, but instead slow to speak and slow to become angry. Thank you that your love does not take into account a wrong suffered. Help us not to hold grudges, but to choose to forgive, even when it’s difficult. Thank you that your love does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth. Help us to love your words of truth, may we walk in your freedom and wisdom. Let it be what drives our lives and choices every day. Thank you that your love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things, thank you that your love never fails. Help us to love as you love. Fill us with your Spirit so that we can choose what is best. We are weak Lord, but we know also, that even when we are weak, you are strong within us. Thank you that it’s not all up to us. Thank you that you equip us to face each day with the power of your love, your forgiveness, and your grace. We love you Lord, and we need you today, and every day, In Jesus’ Name, Amen. - Debbie McDaniel Jesus of Nazareth - The Child who is God With Us

The Birth of Jesus

In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This ​ ​ was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to ​ ​ deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

The Shepherds and the Angels

In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing ​ ​ you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a ​ ​ Savior, who is the Messiah,[a] the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child ​ ​ ​ ​ wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a ​ ​ multitude of the heavenly host,[b] praising God and saying, ​ ​ ​ ​ “Glory to God in the highest heaven,

​and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the ​ ​ manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these ​ ​ words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God ​ ​ for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

Isaiah’s Prophecy about the Child (Isaiah 9: 2-9):

Now those people live in darkness. Every uniform stained with blood will be But they will see a great light. destroyed. They live in a place that is very dark. They will be thrown into the fire. But a light will shine on them. A child will be born to us. God, you will cause the nation to grow. God will give a son to us. You will make the people happy. He will be responsible for leading the And they will show their happiness to you. people. It will be like the joy during harvest time. His name will be Wonderful Counselor, It will be like the joy of people Powerful God, taking what they have won in war. Father Who Lives Forever, Prince of Peace.

Like the time you defeated Midian, Power and peace will be in his kingdom. you will take away their heavy load. It will continue to grow. You will take away the heavy pole from their He will rule as king on David’s throne backs. and over David’s kingdom. You will take away the rod the enemy uses He will make it strong, to punish your people. by ruling with goodness and fair judgment. He will rule it forever and ever. Every boot that marched in battle will be The Lord of heaven’s armies will do this destroyed. because of his strong love for his people.

Nativity Prayer

O Lord Jesus Christ, true God from true God, you became a little child for us so the world you made would be saved.

Just as a child is born to us and a Son is given to us, may we be born again through you and always remain in the number of God’s faithful children;

We ask this through your merits, O blessed Savior, with the Father and the Holy Spirit you live and reign, one God, now and forever. Amen.

- Source: Mozarabic Collect for The Nativity of Our Lord