Merry Christmas!

 I've been enjoying this song.

Mary's Song

I like this version, because it's sung by someone the right sort of age (Randall Goodgame's daughter Liv, who would be about 16ish at the time)

Unexpected?

Why does Christmas take me by surprise every year?

I've had 42 of them; you'd think I would be expecting it by now...

Quick, easy Christmas decoration craft

Went well with the theme of our nativity being about God's gift.

You will need:

• Coloured foam. I used sparkly A5 foam, from a pound shop.
• Sticky-backed foam (or use glue, but sticky is easier). Or self adhesive ribbon, but I couldn't find any.
• Suitable stickers. The crowns and hearts were actually taken from a fairytale set!
• String
• Single hole punch. Small hole if possible - a leather punch is good, because it can cut through a lot of layers.

Teachers preparation:

1. Cut the foam into 'squares'. A5 gives 6 more or less square pieces. A guillotine is quickest.
2. Cut the sticky foam into strips. 1cm (ish). 

With the kids:

1. Stick two strips to a square. This makes it look like a parcel and also a cross!
2. Decorate with stickers.
3. Punch hole.
4. Thread string.
5. Repeat till parents come!
6. Brush up all the backing paper from the stickers...

Finger clicking

Me: We'll click our fingers on the chorus.
Child: I can't click my fingers.
Me: That's OK, just pretend. No-one will know you're not really doing it.
Child: But my mum and dad know I can't do it.
Me: That's OK, no-one else will know.
Child: But my gran and grandpa and aunt and uncle and cousins all know I can't do it...

NEW Christmas posters and colouring

Based on my Christmas stickers, I now have a full set of printable Christmas posters and colouring pictures.

Both can be printed as A4 posters or A5 bunting. Individual posters are also available (A4 only).

My aim with these was not so much to focus on the events of the nativity (there are lots of those already!) but on who Jesus is and why he came. This means that they'll be particularly useful for older kids or kids with a good Bible knowledge.

Could also be helpful for kids who think babies are boring and want to know why we're making such a fuss about this one 😁

A prayer for those involved in nativity plays

For both the children and the adults organising it.

 

Thank you for sending Jesus at Christmas.

Thank you that we can do this play.

Help us to do our best. 

Help us to remember we’re not doing it to make ourselves look great, but to make Jesus look great.

Please use it to help other people understand more about Jesus and why he came.

Amen.

Bethlehem pasttimes

As well as worshipping Jesus and giving him gifts, a couple of the wise men spent some time in Bethlehem playing pelmanism with Mary and Joseph.

Waiting to be called for filming our Nativity video.

Christmas Chronology

This is the correct Christmas chronology as far as I can see.

Luke is yellow
Matthew is blue

• Gabriel comes to Zechariah.
• John is concieved.
• 6 months later, Gabriel comes to Mary. I assume Jesus was concieved at this point (that certainly seems to be Mary's assumption when she asks how this is possible).
• 'In those days' Mary goes to see Elizabeth (probably fairly immediately as she 'hurried').
• Mary stays with Elizabeth 3 months then returns home. Seems odd for Mary to return home just before John is born. Maybe Luke is just wrapping up that story before concentrating on John, and John was born towards the end of the three months. Or maybe not - there could have been some unavoidable reason to go home before John was born - real life doesn't always work out tidily.
• John is born. 
• Joseph finds out Mary is pregnant. No idea how. No idea who else knew.
• Angel appears to Joseph and  he 'takes Mary as his wife'. I assume this means a proper wedding.
• Joseph & Mary go to Bethlehem to register. At this point Luke describes them as only 'pledged to be married' - this is odd, but the best suggestion I have heard was that he considered an unconsummated marriage to be not yet really married.
• 'While they were there' Jesus was born (not necessarily the night they arrived).
• That night, the angels appear to the shepherds and they visit Jesus.
• When Jesus is 8 days old he is circumcised and named.
• 'When the days of purification were finished' (33 days after circumcision for a boy) they take him to the temple to offer 2 doves. Simeon & Anna.
• 'After Jesus was born' wise men come.
• They see 'the child' Jesus. At least 41 days old. Because it must have been after M&J went to the temple. I assume about 1-2 years, because Herod killed boys under 2 based on the time the star appeared.
• After they had gone the angel appears to Joseph.
• Escape to Egypt.
• Herod kills all boys 2 and under
• 'After Herod died' they return to Nazareth. (4BC or 1BC, depending who you listen to!)

Roman belt

First part of a Roman soldier costume I'm making.

Old belt, fun foam and aluminium foil tape.
Decoration and rivets done by pressing in the ends of various pens.

 

 

 

Historical info from here (though I didn't leave a space for a dagger because there won't be one.)

Accurate nativity plays

There are nativity plays out there that are humorous. There are nativity plays that are dramatic. There are nativity plays that come from an interesting angle. There are nativity plays that clearly portray the truth of the gospel. There are nativity plays that do all of these.

Why, however, is it so rare for these plays to accurately portray the events of the first Christmas?*

There's nothing about what actually happened which is incompatible with humour, drama, innovation or truth.

Please, Christian people, use your imagination and tell the true story in an engaging way. If you treat it like a fairy tale, don't be surprised if people think it is one.

---

*List of pet peeves: 

• In real life, Gabriel is male; 
• no donkey is mentioned in the Bible (feel free to have a donkey, just don't say 'Mary rode on a donkey' as if it's fact, or make a big deal of it); 
• there is no mention of inkeepers in the Bible; 
• the 'heavenly host' means 'heavenly army' not 'choir of fairies'; 
• the wise men did not come at the same time as the shepherds - they were at least 40 days after, possibly up to two years; 
• no camels are mentioned (again, treat it like the donkey); 
• they were not kings; 
• while there may have been 3 of them, and it's OK to have 3, don't actually say there were 3.

Rose cabbages

That's the literal translation of brussels sprouts in German (Rosenkohl).

Do you think people would like them better if we called them that?

Hope

Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people:
Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord.

Luke 2v10-11

Party!

Sunday School party today. I got to join the big kids' party this year :-) (because I'm teaching an older class)

No Hokey Cokey or musical islands, but we had:

• A Malteser & spoon race
• A wheelbarrow game where you had to pick up Oreos with your teeth

• The Mars bar game

• Bottle flipping

Fun!

Matthew's begats

Our service on Sunday was based on the genealogy in Matthew 1.

Which made me think of this song!

Nativity girls

The Nativity play we're doing looks back at the prophecies of a great King to David and Isaiah.

This exacerbates the problem there always is with Nativity plays - lack of female (biblical) main characters (i.e. not just members of crowds).

Male parts: David, Samuel, Nathan, Isaiah, Gabriel, Joseph; also shepherds & wise men
Female parts: Mary

Fortunately we have more boys than girls, and the play will also have some present day characters, who can be girls.


So I was thinking - how could you do a Bible based nativity play with lots of girl parts?

Aha - the women in Jesus' family tree!

• Bathsheba - tricky, but totally do-able for kids if you're circumspect
• Ruth - definitely
• Rahab - yes, just don't mention her profession
• Tamar - Ah. Maybe not, then :-)

Time travel tenses

Writing a nativity play that involves time travel.
Getting terribly mixed up with tenses.

(Though not as much as Douglas Adams in The Restaurant at the End of the Universe)

New stickers!

I've added three more sets of stickers to the collection. More coming in 2018...

Ideal stocking fillers!

The 'Christmas' set has 12 stickers focussing on who Jesus is and why he came. It would be most suitable for older children or children who are familiar with the Bible.

The 'Nativity' set is suitable for everyone, and ideal for making nativity scenes. I've provided two Mary figures for pedants like me, so you can have the wise men coming separately from the shepherds, as they did in real life :-)

And finally, a set of 6 shaped cartoon stickers on the theme of God's word, and how it describes itself. Each has a reference for the Bible passage it represents.

The wait is over!

While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

Luke 2v6-7

In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. 

Hebrews 1v1-3

Advent 24

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.

Luke 2v4