Lifebridge Kids – Advent
During this season of Advent, our Lifebridge Kids will be learning about Hope, Peace, Joy and Love – just as parents will be learning in the main aud during throughout the Christmas season.
Lifebridge Kids meets every Sunday during regular Gathering Times – 8:30a, 10a or 11:30a
Sunday, December 15
Week Three – Angels Tell the Shepherds the Joyous News of Jesus’ Birth
Christmas is not only my favorite holiday, it’s my favorite day of the entire year. my whole family gets together to exchange gifts, laugh, joe, eat.. it doesn’t get better than that!
December 26th is a different story. The presents have all been unwrapped, most of the pie has been eaten, and I have to start thinking about packing away the decorations and going back to work. Every year, I’m amazed that I can go from so happy to so bummed out just one day after all that “joy to the world”. I think the problem could be that I was celebrating Christmas without experiencing christmas. What’s the difference? For the answer to that, let’s look at some of the first folks to celebrate and experience Christmas – the shepherds.
Today, if you’re in advertising and you want to get the word out about something, you try to get the right people talking about it. If an Olympic Athlete or chart-topping singer mentions your product or event, people pay attention. When God wanted to get the news out about Jesus’s birth, he used angels to send a press release to a select group of people.
By today’s rules, those people should have been influential, popular, and well respected so that when they started talking about this new baby, people would listen. Instead, God leaked the news to shepherds – people on one of the lowest rungs of the social ladder. Uneducated, unskilled, and usually unwashed, Shepherds weren’t even allowed to testify in court because their word wasn’t considered trustworthy. When they got the news about the Savior, however, these rough, dirty rejects celebrated in a way that set an example for all of us.
These guys experienced Christmas firsthand. They were there that night and saw the stable, smelled the animals, and heard the baby cry. After their experience, they told anyone who would listen about what they had seen and heard. Once we’ve experienced firsthand the reality of God made flesh, once we’ve seen the baby for who he is, we, like the shepherds, can’t stay silent. Our witness should be the first element of our celebration. The reason for all the cookie baking and carol singing should be our desire to break the news to the whole world that God has come to earth.
Our experience of Christmas changes the heart behind our celebration. The joy we have because of this news and our desire to share it doesn’t fade when the cookies have all been eaten. The ways we witness after Christmas might change, but the joy behind our message is unfading.
The shepherds celebrated Christmas not only by sharing the news but also by worshiping. God is just as worthy of our worship on December 26th, March 3rd, and July 12th as he is on December 25th. We don’t keep the nativity scene up year-round, but the memory of the baby in the manger should kindle in us the spark of worship even after the decorations have been packed away. In the end, if we celebrate Christmas as the shepherds did, we’ll find that even among the crumbs and crumpled paper of December 26th, our reason to celebrate, to witness, and to worship is with us every day of the year.
_____
Taken from: The 25 Days of Christmas by James Merritt, Copyright © 2001 Published by Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, Oregon 97408
www.harvesthousepublishers.com
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14
1. Who came to the shepherds in the field?
Angels (Luke :8-14)
2. What was the angel’s message to the shepherds?
The Savior had been born in Bethlehem (Luke 2:10-12)
3. When did the shepherds look for Jesus
Immediately (Luke 2:15)
4. How did the shepherds act after they found the Lord Jesus?
Praised God and shared the Good News (Luke 2:16-18)
5. What is the Good News from Jesus’ later life that we can tell others?
Jesus died on the cross for our sins, was buried and raised to life three days later. (John 3:16)
6. Who can you share the good news with?
Take time with this question. Some students will give generic responses like “everyone”. Have them try to think of one person they know that is not saved. Remind them that it is important to pray and ask God for His help as they go and share the Good News with those God has put in their path.
+ Hand out candy canes to your family as you tell the legend of how the candy cane came to be…
+ The Story of the Candy Cane:
The word we focused on in church this week is “joy”. Candy canes are said to be shaped like a shepherd’s crook, or even a “j” for Jesus. We can think of them as a ‘j” for joy this week, like the craft we did in our lesson!
According to legend, there was a candy maker who wanted to invent a candy that was witness to Christ. First, he used a hard candy because Christ is the Rock of Ages. This hard candy was shaped so it would resemble a “J” for Jesus or, turned upside down, a shepherd’s staff. He made it white to represent the purity of Christ.
Finally, a red stripe was added to represent the blood Christ shed for the sins of the world, and three thinner red stripes for the stripes He received on our behalf when the Roman soldiers whipped Him. Sometimes a green stripe is added as a reminder Jesus is a gift from God.
So, every time you see a candy cane, remember the message of the candy maker: Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, is the sinless rock of ages who suffered and died for our sins.
