Here is the devotion page for the Second Sunday in Christmas, January 5, 2013
Note – Clicking on the picture will download the insert to your computer or device in PDF format
Did you miss a week? Go to the Weekly Devotion page to download past weeks!
Prepare: Bring a beautifully wrapped box. There doesn’t need to be anything in it, it is just a visual aid. However, if you wanted to you could have a small baptismal remembrance in the box for each child. Maybe a small shell, or a dove. It would be a fun addition, but it is not necessary.
Welcome the children with a big “Merry Christmas!” You may get a few strange looks or “Christmas is over” comments, but that is exactly what you want.
What do you mean Christmas is over? We still have one more day, today! This is the last day of the Christmas season – it is the twelfth day of Christmas, just like that song, The Twelve Days of Christmas. Do you know that song? I can’t always remember all the gifts that were given in the song, but I do remember that a gift was given for each day of Christmas. (This is where you would have the gift box out.) I have a box here all wrapped up like a Christmas gift. Maybe you got gifts on Christmas, I know that I got a few.
Maybe you are wondering why we are talking about Christmas gifts here? Well, it’s because all of the readings from the Bible today talk about an amazing gift that God gives to each of us. God adopts each one of us as God’s children. Each of us are loved, forgiven, given God’s mercy, accepted by God for who we are. God sets aside any and all bad things that we have done and loves us more than any of us could imagine.
Wow! What a gift! Now, what are you going to do with that gift? Think about it – What did you do with your other Christmas gifts? I, for example, got some new pants (ok, insert a gift that you got here) and I am going to wear them! I might even point them out to people, “Hey, check out these great new pants!” Well . . . maybe I won’t point them out to everybody, that might be a little weird . . .
Some of you might have gotten Legos, and I bet you will build them and show them to your parents and friends and aunts and uncles. Some of you might have a new doll or toy truck – I bet you will play with that and take it with you friends houses. Or maybe you got a new game or a bike! You will probably play with all of them.
So, what will you do with God’s gift? Will you keep it a secret? Will you hide it and not let anyone know that God loves you? Or will you share God’s amazing love and forgiveness with others?
(If you did bring a reminder for each child hand it out now)
Here is a little reminder that you are loved by God. Take this with you and share God’s love with everyone you meet!
Loving God, we praise you for your generous gift of love and forgiveness. We thank you for the grace that gives us another chance when we don’t get things right, and we thank you for the love that surrounds us when we are sad or afraid. Help us to share your love and grace throughout our lives. Amen
May God’s Word shine a light into your life today and always.
~GB
Permission to use for nonprofit. When printing give credit to Faith Formation Journeys. Intellectual property rights apply.
Here is the devotion page for the First Sunday in Christmas, December 29, 2013
Note – Clicking on the picture will download the insert to your computer or device in PDF format
Did you miss a week? Go to the Weekly Devotion page to download past weeks!
Prepare: Bring a pillow, you are going to talk about dreams!
Welcome the children and then tell them that you are going to take a little nap. Make a big show of getting the pillow just right and talk about how you are trying to figure out what to do next with a big project, or wondering about what advice to give to a friend, and you are hoping for a good dream to help you out. This might get a reaction of “no, that’s silly” or it might not. Work with whatever you get to start talking about dreams.
So, you don’t think that I will figure out what to do by waiting for a dream? Maybe you’re right. I mean, dreams don’t usually mean too much. It seems like most of the time they are just our brains replaying some of the things that happened during the day. I mean, even dogs dream! Or at least they seem to. Have you ever seen a dog dream? Sometimes they bark a little, or they look like they are running. Maybe they are dreaming about chasing a squirrel or cat that they saw. I know that most of my dreams seem to be about the things I did during the day. (Tell a quick dream story here. I will give an example) I remember I always used to have dreams about work when I used to be a waiter at a restaurant, especially after a really busy night. I would have dreams that I was running around the restaurant trying to keep up with all the people. I would wake up more tired than when I went to sleep!
Ok, so if dreams are usually about things that we did during the day, why would I think that I could go to bed to figure out how to help my friend? In the story we hear from the Gospel today that is exactly what happens! When Jesus was born there was a king named Herod who heard about a powerful king being born in Bethlehem – that’s was Jesus. He thought that Jesus was going to take over his kingdom and he didn’t want that to happen. He was willing to do anything to make sure that Jesus would never get old enough to be king. Mary and Joseph had no idea what was being planned, until one night when Joseph had a dream where an angel told him to get up and take Mary and Jesus to Egypt, far away from Herod and danger. That was a pretty special dream. What’s even more amazing is that Joseph had another dream when it was safe to bring Jesus back home!
God used something as normal and common as a dream to tell Joseph what to do to keep Jesus safe. That is pretty cool! Think about all the things that happen to you every day. All those boring normal things that you just don’t think about. Could God use those boring things to tell you something? Keep your eyes and ears ready, you never know when God will tell you something important in an unexpected place!
God of everything and everywhere, help us to be open to hearing and seeing you in every little thing that happens. Fill our days with the wonder of your love and grace. Amen
May God’s Word shine a light into your life today and always.
~GB
Permission to use for nonprofit. When printing give credit to Faith Formation Journeys. Intellectual property rights apply.
Share a high & low from 2013 or what you are looking forward to in 2014
Read Matthew 5: 13-16
MEMORY VERSE: This is the memory verse for this month. : Matthew 5:16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
Write the on paper and post it on your fridge or in your bathroom–somewhere you look every day! Memorize this verse together this month!
For children: Where are places that we see light? Look for lights around the house. What does light do? What do you think it means to let OUR light shine? How do you see God’s light in the world?
For youth/adults: What stands out to you in this passage? What is it about light/salt that would be a good image for us as Christians? Where is the promise or hope in the verses?
Pray together. Pray for places in the world that need light–look at a newspaper or get out a map and name out loud those places that need God’s light.
Make the sign of the cross on one another and say: + “God’s light is with you and shines through you”
Go around your house and count light fixtures. For every light donate .20 cents to a local charity like Habitat to help those who needs lights in their homes.
Prepare: You will need a nativity set with all the pieces!
Tell them that today we get to hear the Christmas story from the Gospel of John, then read John 1:1-5. Feel free to make the language a little more “child friendly,” like changing “testify” to “talk about,” or something like that.
Huh. That’s a funny Christmas story. Let’s see here, I brought a Nativity set to help me tell the story, but I’m not sure that any of these pieces are in the story that I just read. (Take the pieces out of the nativity scene as you mention them.) I didn’t hear about wise men, or shepherds. There wasn’t an angel, either. Mary and Joseph weren’t there. I didn’t even hear about a baby! Well, I guess I brought the wrong things to tell the story today . . . wait, let’s read a little further in the story. (Read John 1:6-14)
Did you hear that? The Word of God became flesh and lived among us! That sounds like a baby to me! Let’s put the baby back then. When we talk about the Word of God we often think of stories. Well, before we had so many books people had to remember stories so that they wouldn’t get lost. And babies need people to remember them so that they can get food and be taken care of and not get lost, so let’s put Mary and Joseph back.
What good is a story if it doesn’t get told? That’s the best way to learn a story, right? To hear someone tell it and then tell it back? Just like the angels told the story with their song! And who did they tell? A story needs to be heard, right? That’s right, they told the shepherds. So I guess we should put the angel and the shepherds back, too!
Alright, now all the people here know the story, but they all live here. What this story needs is someone to help spread it around. I wonder who we could find to come hear the story and then take it with them? The wise men! That’s it! Three people from a far away land who came to see and hear and who will take the story with them to their homes.
Look! Out Nativity set is complete again! And you thought that this wasn’t a Christmas story!
Word of God, teach us the stories of our faith, be always on lips and always burning in our hearts. Be with as we hear the story again and again, and give us the courage to tell the story again and again. Amen
May God’s Word shine a light into your life today and always.
~GB
Permission to use for nonprofit. When printing give credit to Faith Formation Journeys. Intellectual property rights apply.
Here is the devotion page for the Christmas Eve/Christmas Day, December 24 and 25, 2013
Note – Clicking on the picture will download the insert to your computer or device in PDF format
Did you miss a week? Go to the Weekly Devotion page to download past weeks!
Prepare: You will need a really good blindfold, so that whoever is wearing it is completely in the dark.
As the children gather find a volunteer to be blindfolded. They do not need to do anything other than sit and listen, they just need to wear the blindfold. Ideally this is one of the children, but if none of them are willing it can be a youth or adult helper. They will need to talk about wearing the blindfold at the end, so it should be someone who is not too shy.
I bet you are wondering why (person’s name here!) is wearing a blindfold. We will get to that, but first we should talk about the reading from Isaiah. Did you hear that? What a great Christmas story, don’t you think? (give a little time) Wait, you didn’t hear the Christmas story in that reading?
Well, let’s see if we can tell the Christmas story together, what do you think? (Prompt the children through the story, starting with the Mary and Joseph traveling, and end with the angels and the bright light that the shepherds saw. Take a little time, we want that person in the blindfold to be there for a while!)
Wow! You guys know this story really well! Well, let’s see if we can find that story in the reading from Isaiah. The story of Christmas is the beginning of something new. Jesus being born changes everything. The Isaiah reading talks about people who can’t see the good things in life, or don’t have hope, finding hope and love. It is about people who difficult lives finding relief from the things that are hard. Some of those difficult things could be being sick, or getting bullied, or just being sad about something. We get used to these things, so when they are taken away it is surprising. All of this is why Jesus came to earth, why he was born!
So, what does it feel like to have a burden lifted? Let’s see – (Take off the blindfold) what do you see? (Give a little time for the blindfolded person answer).
God of hope and light, we praise you for the gift of your son and for the chance to share his love. Help us to keep you in our hearts during this season and throughout the year. Amen
May God’s Word shine a light into your life today and always.
~GB
Permission to use for nonprofit. When printing give credit to Faith Formation Journeys. Intellectual property rights apply.
Here is the Weekly devotion for the Fourth Sunday in Advent – December 22, 2013
Note – Clicking on the picture will download the insert to your computer or device in PDF format
Did you miss a week? Go to the Weekly Devotion page to download past weeks!
Preparation: either make little cards that say Immanuel God with us or get some small crosses or those cross in a pocket coins or some small item to symbolize God with us.
Gather the children to the front. (If you know some of their names already be prepared with knowing some of the name meanings if you can.) Ask, “Does anyone here know what their name means?” Take answers or point out some you know. For instance John is ‘beloved of God’ , etc. Share what your name means.
“In our scripture from Isaiah, the prophet who was declaring hope to people in a time when they did not feel much hope, he says that one day a son will be born and his name will be Immanuel. Do you know who we as Christians say that son is? (taken answers) Yes, we are reading this scripture today because in just two days we will celebrate the birth of Jesus, a son come into the world. and another name we hear sometimes for Jesus is Immanuel. This has a special meaning too, it means ‘God with us.’ What do you think of when you hear the name Immanuel means God with us?” (take answers and give some of your own–sharing ways that God is with us each day and all the time.)
I have a _______ (card, pocket coin, cross, whatever it is you can give them to think of God with them all the time) for you today. You can take this back with you and put it in your pocket or wherever you might want to keep it to help you remember that God is with you all the time.
Jesus, we know your light comes into the world and we know your name Immanuel means you are with us always. Help us to feel your presence and know your love. Amen
God is with you all the time and all the time God is with you. +
