(Author's Note: The following description of an Advent worship experience is written by Sherri Van Houten (M.Div., STM), one of my students in a course I teach at Drew on worship and evangelism. While this makes an ideal Sunday before Christmas worship experience, which is how we are presenting it here, it could also be used the Sunday after Christmas. Your people will have opened one set of boxes with presents inside on Christmas Day. On this day they will open another set of boxes - with presence inside.)

In an Advent Worship Service at Drew University chapel in 2003 offered by Professor Sweet's "Ministry and Mission in Advent and Christmastide" class, the gifts of memories were made visible in the following fashion.

As each person walked into the chapel, they were given a paper cross …