Furtak's Advent Wreath Tradition

Over the years the Furtak Family has taken Sunday afternoon/evening as a time to get together for family fun and worship. There are no rules but to have fun learning about the Lord and growing as a family. A few years ago, as Jason was thinking about ways to celebrate the Christmas season, Jason decided to start an Advent Wreath tradition which would be celebrated during the regular family fun night in December. Jason enjoyed this tradition when he was a part of the Methodist church and missed it when participating in the Calvary and Baptist congregations.

When trying to create a new tradition for the family to participate in, it was important for Jason to learn from the existing tradition while at the same time creating a tradition that was distinctly Furtak. Jason was comforted to know that this tradition, although distinctly Lutheran, started in homes and so the fact that the Furtak's would be celebrating at home was an interesting correlation.

Jason used the description of the Advent Wreath from Ken Collins as a general guideline for how he would be making the Furtak Family Advent Wreath. Here's the general tradition and guidelines for how the Furtak's have done the wreath. It's important to note that each year the tradition grows with new aspects and new additions or changes to what was done in years previous.

General Furtak Guidelines for the Tradition (many of these are deviations from the Lutheran/Christian Church tradition):

• Any colored candles can be used. This year the Furtak's wanted to use 5 different colors. The Furtak's have reserved a white candle to represent the Christ child candle.
• One candle is lit per Sunday and on Christmas eve the Christ candle is lit. Each week the candle from the previous week(s) is lit in addition to the new candle.
• Candles are placed in candle stands either on or in the wreath.
• The Furtak's have decided that the manager scene is to be included with the wreath which has been a tradition since they started doing so.
• Each candle represents a seasonal word. Traditionally they have been peace, hope, love and joy but the Furtak family is open to change in the coming years if they feel the season warrants it.
• Each seasonal word is supported by a Bible verse. The verse will be chosen each year and the Furtak's will avoid selecting verses to be carried year after year as a tradition although they recognize that some versus maybe repeated or even enjoyed each year. As the kids get older each kid will select a verse for us to use each Sunday to represent the seasonal word.
• After the candle is lit, a prayer is done to celebrate the time together.

Some things that were done this year and may or may not be done in the future:

• This year the Furtak's, through their church, adopted two officers to pray for. The officers cards were included with the wreath so that the family remembered to pray for them each time they got together. The Furtak's will add this to their tradition and each year someone will be prayed for during this time.
• The Furtak's also placed the advent wreath on the dining table as a reminder of the season throughout the week.
• Candles, seasonal words and verses for this year: Hope :Maroon: Romans 5:5; Love: Red: 1 Corinthians 13; Peace: Purple: Luke 2:14; Joy; Green: Luke 2:9-11; Christ Child Candle: White: John 1:1-14;
• This year we ate Candy Canes during our time. This started because Jason bought candy canes to hang on the tree but rather than hanging them on the tree Jason decided to have them at the candle lighting wreath time.
• In addition to reading the Bible verse Jason also added other activities. When Jason brought out the candy canes he also pulled out a children's book that he bought this season called, "J is for Jesus: The Sweetest Story Ever Told". We ate the candy canes and read the story. On other days we also built a manager scene, read a story about a Christmas' Tree journey from the forest to the home and added window stickers of a manager scene to our window. We like this tradition and plan on adding similar activities in the years to come.
• Finally, we used another candle for each child to light the candles each week. Since we have four children they each got to light a candle.