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Christmas

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AGE: Infants and Juniors (especially Juniors)

THEME: Christmas

PREPARATION:
Gather together:
  1. Wrapped in Christmas paper: a toy sword, a crown, a cymbal, a bundle of play money or junk jewellery, a baby's toy, a handful of nails.
  2. A handful of straw.
  3. The word 'IMMANUEL' written on cardboard.
  4. A child prepared to read the Bible story.

DEVELOPMENT:
Begin by informing the children that they are still in the season of Advent and, thoroughout the world, Christians are waiting to celebrate the birth of Jesus on Christmas Day: Are the children waiting for Christmas Day as well? What is it about Christmas that they are most looking forward to? Christmas dinner? Christmas crackers? A stocking? Opening their presents?

Discuss presents with the children: Who knows what they are getting? Who is in for a surprise?

For many hundreds of years before Jesus was born, people had been expecting God to send someone special, someone who would help them. Inform the children that you have wrapped up three items which are clues to the type of person whom it was believed that God was going to send.

Ask for volunteers to unwrap the sword, the crown and the play money/jewellery, one at a time. Allow each volunteer to guess what the wrapped item might be. When each item is unwrapped, comment briefly on its significance:
  1. The sword: people were expecting God to send a great warrior who would fight against all their enemies.
  2. The crown: people were expecting that this great warrior would also be a king; he would destroy all their enemies and then rule over the whole world.
  3. Play money/jewellery: people were also expecting this warrior king to be really rich and that he would share his money with them.
That's the person they were expecting - a rich and powerful warrior king. But Christians believe that God had prepared a big surprise.

Ask for three more volunteers to unwrap the baby's toy, the nails and the straw. Briefly comment on the significance of each of them.
  1. The toy: God sent a baby.
  2. The nails: a baby born into an ordinary working family.
  3. The straw: a baby born in a stable. Most babies of that time were born in a very humble place.
So were people disappointed that God had sent a baby rather than a warrior king? Some people must have been disappointed, but other people were delighted. At Christmas, Christians tell the story of the very first people who visited the baby. They weren't kings or warriors or millionaires. They were shepherds. Some wise men also came, but it certainly wasn't like visiting a royal prince in a palace!

Invite a child to read the passage from the Bible.

In the same way that the shepherds sang praises to God for the baby, Christians today also sing songs of celebration...

Sing the Calypso Carol.

Feign surprise at the discovery of the final wrapped item - the word 'Immanuel'. Invite a volunteer to unwrap it. Do any of the children know what the word means? It means 'God with us'. This was God's biggest surprise for the people. The baby was none other than God Himself come down to earth to live amongst them as an ordinary human being.

End with the prayer and a reprise of the carol.

READING:
Luke 2: 8-20 (The shepherds visit the baby Jesus).

PRAYER / REFLECTION:
Dear God,
Thank you for becoming an ordinary person. On Christmas morning and after, help us not to be disappointed by what we have been given. Help us to remember the shepherds, who delighted in the surprising sight of an ordinary baby sent by God.

MUSIC:
'Calypso Carol' by Michael Perry/Jubilate Hymns in Mission Praise.

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Copyright © Culham Institute 2000-2012