We hope you’ve spotted our daily Advent images (on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook). The images are designed to inspire us to #mlmlg* this Advent. (We’re really grateful to Ruth for tweeting us a picture of her wreath with our Silent Stars decoration in it.)
But there are loads of great Christmas ideas, inspirations and resources out there. We thought we’d gather just a handful of starters here – to help you watch, wait and prepare for Christmas. Please share other sources of Advent and Christmas inspiration with us on social media.
Our partners Christian Aid are urging us to #LightTheWay for the more than 65 million people who are fleeing from conflict and crises this Christmas. Read more about their Christmas appeal here.
Our associates Embrace the Middle East have produced a bunch of free Christmas resources, all available to download on their website here. You will also find stories from the modernday Middle East to help you illustrate your Christmas events. And, of course, they still also produce their world famous Bethlehem carol sheets, which are also free and come with a resource pack.
Meanwhile, our associates SCM have put together a set of Advent material with the help of festival friend Padraig O’Tuama. You can dig into them here.
In collaboration with others, our associates the URC have produced a short film designed to get people to think about what type of welcome Mary and Joseph would be offered if they sought somewhere safe to stay in the UK this Christmas. It’s called A Very British Nativity and the hashtag to use when you share it is #averybritishnativity. The startling facts behind the film can be found online here.
Trust Greenbelt supported the making of the Open Bethlehem film, which we are really pleased to say is now available to buy. It shows film director Leila Sansour returning to Bethlehem to make a film about her home town as the wall begins to be built. She left the city as a teenager thinking that Bethlehem was too small and provincial – never wanting to return, but this time she is making an exception. What she discovers inspires her to tell a new story of the little town encouraging people to visit an Open Bethlehem. Read more and buy the film here.
You can also check out the Make Apartheid History Advent Calendar produced with support from Trust Greenbelt – full of great videos, interview and info-graphics.
MAH is an initiative of Tipping Point Film Fund and is a project in support of BDS.
Longterm former Greenbelt trustee and writer Martin Wroe has been offering some Advent Thought for the Days on Radio 4 the last few Saturdays. Check them out here:
Make it straight … even when it zig zags. Advent and the age of uncertainty.
The narratives of faith remember wisdom that is elsewhere forgotten.
He’s also crowdfunding for a great new book, together with Greenbelters Malcom Doney, called The 95. We’ve blogged about that and how you can support it here.
Trustee Kate Bottley is busy tweeting to her digital parish using the hashtag #JoyToTheWorld. You can follow her on Twitter here.
There’s some great stuff on the High Profiles website you might want to check out and subscribe to this Christmas – including the most recent piece with Kate Tempest, which we’ve blogged about here.
Also, for the soundtrack to the festive season, we have updated our Greenbelt Christmas Spotify Playlist. One particular highlight from the new additions is Fairytale of New York performed by Ben Caplan (Greenbelt debutante this summer), Katzenjammer and the Trondheim Soloists.
And finally, don’t forget that you can give the gift of Greenbelt itself this Christmas – by buying festival tickets for your friends and families as gifts. There are some great deals for 18-25s, young people and children available though our online Box Office.
You can follow and interact with Greenbelt here:
Instagram: instagram.com/greenbeltfestival/
Facebook: facebook.com/GreenbeltFestival/
Twitter: twitter.com/greenbelt
YouTube: youtube.com/greenbeltfestival
* #mlmlg = Make Life More Like Greenbelt