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Christmas

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AGE: Secondary

THEME: Christmas

PREPARATION:
Play 'I'm dreaming of a White Christmas' for entry to assembly.
Display a variety of images of 'White Christmases' from cards and picture posters of snow-scenes. [You can copy these onto OHP transparencies or scan them and project them if you have the facility to do so.]

DEVELOPMENT:
Ask what it is that seems so magical about the idea of snow at Christmas time?
The way things grind to a halt?
Snowball fights and sledging?
These happen whenever it snows in England!
But why is snow at Christmas so special?
  • Using the images on display focus attention to think about the morning after a night of snow, the stillness and peace, the unmarked sheet of white covering the ground, the simple beauty.
See how each of these can be linked to Christmas.

  • Imagine the Peace and Stillness
    Think of night time in a stable: the quiet and being away from the hustle and bustle of busy 'hotels and inns' in Bethlehem two thousand years ago as people gather for the census.
    Into this a baby is born, the sound of a child, new life, simple beauty.
  • Picture the perfect unmarked blanket of snow.
    Let us see this representing the birth of a new child.
    It provides a blank canvas.
    Jesus' birth was at the beginning of God's plan to give mankind a new start, a second chance.
    A baby has no bad thoughts, cannot lie or harm.
    That same perfection - honesty and purity - is what we find in Jesus, and we can be reminded of this by the pure blanket of white snow.
Whether it snows or not, whether or not we get a visual reminder of the blank canvas, Christmas itself can remind us of new beginnings and second chances. It is also closely followed by another, more commonly acknowledged, opportunity for fresh starts - New Year, with its tradition of resolutions.
Among our pledges to get thinner / fitter / get assignments in on time etc.; this year we might try to consider some wider issues.

We can remember the simplicity and honesty of the first Christmas and the baby Jesus.
In picturing the purity and clarity of freshly fallen snow we can think about those first footsteps (or bird tracks) which mark the clear white 'blanket'.

We can try to change something in our lives,
(or even just start with Christmas Day itself)
and think about what we might do to make a real difference to the people and the world around us.
Leaving a mark on life - like those first steps across untrodden snow.
This year think about Christmas - simple, pure and honest - and how we can keep the spirit of it alive beyond the few days of holiday.

READING:
Luke 2: 8-18

PRAYER AND REFLECTION:
On that first Christmas what a great gift was given to us,
Jesus - a simple birth and an example for life.
May we learn that our peace is the beginning of the world's peace
And let our hearts be the Bethlehem where Jesus is born again.

MUSIC:
'I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas'

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Copyright © Culham Institute 2000-2012