Christmas Day has passed but....

Christmas day has come and gone ....and yet it is with us all through the year, for without the themes we celebrate and meditate upon at Christmas and Easter our Christan faith is nothing...no God becoming man, no Jesus of perfection in order to be the final and only perfect sacrifice to wash away our sins. I have been reading a story by a South African missionary to Kenya, that my parents knew when I was a little girl with them in Kenya, A Boy of Two Worlds by Lorna Eglin. I found it absolutely fascinating that the Masai, who believe in the Creator God, also have a sacrificial system when a grave sin is committed. How glad they are when they come to understand that Jesus who is their Creator God has been the final sacrifice, and trusting in Him means all sins are washed away, making the final cleansing complete in the legal sense. (Of course a daily walk with God requires many a sorry and forgiveness too)

Indeed the world over believes they are saved and are entitled to go to heaven when they are "good", when the reality is not one of us can ever be good enough for God. It is only by His grace that he sent us his son.
There is so much to write along the Christmas theme. I had been preparing months before Christmas, a Christmas devotional for my children along the theme of the character of Jesus. With the upheaval of my knee operation I did not even do all of them with my children, never mind polish them up well enough to publish! Some years ago we also did a unit study on the symbols at Christmas time, and I had planned to polish that up for publishing here too. But I realise that it is probably a hole years worth of work and more. So although Christmas is over. I think I may continue to write....I don't know, we shall have to see how time allows!
(see my main blog to see what we did on Christmas day)

Nativity Scenes

I do like Noel Pipers ideas of having lots of Nativity scenes around the home, to encourage repetition of the Christmas story in the lead up to Christmas! Here are some of our nativity scenes. Others can been seen dotted around our blogs.

I love to have nativity scenes around the house for the children to play with. Directly above is the nativity scene Emma and Tim came up with today completely on their own during play time! I was really impressed! They are planning to do a Christmas play for me...Emma wants to be a sheep and Tim a Shepherd. So the big ones will have to be Mary and Joseph etc.

Repeat, repeat, repeat is made fun with the opportunity to touch and move and play with characters. This is the way young children learn. How blessed we are indeed!

Sing Praises to our God

Our favourite hymn books are a series of "book and CD" by Focus on the Family - there are 4 adult and 4 children's ones. The adult ones are by Joni Earikson Tada, John MacArthur and Robert and Bobbie Wolgemuth. The children's ones by Joni Earikson Tada and Bobbie Wolgemuth.

The Christmas 'Book and CD' is called "Carols for a Child's Heart". The books give a history/background of the hymns or a devotional related to the hymn. The CD's are clear enough for you to hear the words which is quite unusual for hymn CD's. They also sing at a moderate tempo which makes it easy enough for us to sing along. Even the little kids can manage! Emma and Tim are our littlest singers and they like 'Away in a Mnager' and 'Gloria in excelsis deo' ( ANgels we have heard on high) best
Of course most carols are old enough ot not have a copy right on and are public domain so it is easy to down load the words for free, just google away!


http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Carols-Heart-Focus-Family/dp/1581346263

http://www.amazon.com/Passion-Hymns-Heart-Bobbie-Wolgemuth/dp/1581346654/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b

http://www.amazon.com/Hymns-Kids-Heart-Bobbie-Wolgemuth/dp/1581345828/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1261477333&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Bobbie-Eareckson-Martinez-Sergio-Wolgemuth/dp/B001HYOIGA/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1261477333&sr=1-5

http://www.amazon.com/Worship-King-Praise-Assurance-Encourage/dp/1581342152/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_c

http://www.amazon.com/What-Wondrous-Love-This-Remember/dp/1581343663/ref=pd_sim_b_2

http://www.amazon.com/When-Morning-Gilds-Skies-Eternal/dp/1581344287/ref=pd_sim_b_2

http://www.amazon.com/Come-All-Faithful-Adoration-Celebrate/dp/1581342519/ref=pd_sim_b_5

This is interesting to read!

http://www.epm.org/artman2/publish/holidays/What_Does_Christmas_Mean_To_Me_Randy_s_responses_to_questions_in_a_recent_interview.shtml

Away in a Manger

Away in a manger,
No crib for His bed
The little Lord Jesus
Laid down His sweet head

The stars in the bright sky
Looked down where He lay
The little Lord Jesus
Asleep on the hay

The cattle are lowing
The poor Baby wakes
But little Lord Jesus
No crying He makes

I love Thee, Lord Jesus
Look down from the sky
And stay by my side,
'Til morning is nigh.

Be near me, Lord Jesus,
I ask Thee to stay
Close by me forever
And love me I pray

Bless all the dear children
In Thy tender care
And take us to heaven
To live with Thee there

Oh Holy Night

I have been working on a cloth nativity set, so that the children can play with them without the fear of breaking anything. Our other ( more delicate) nativity sets have wisemen without gifts and shepherds without sheep etc, so hopefully this cloth one will be more durable! (that is as long as no one baths the figures as they are stuffed with chick peas:)

Here is a hymn that I have enjoyed singing at church this Christmas:

Oh Holy Night: 

O holy night, the stars are brightly shining;
It is the night of the dear Savior's birth!
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.

A thrill of hope, the weary soul rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn

Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices!

O night divine, O night when Christ was born!

O night, O holy night, O night divine!

 
Led by the light of faith serenely beaming,

With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.

So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming,

Here came the wise men from Orient land.

The King of kings lay thus in lowly manger,

In all our trials born to be our friend!

Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices!

O night divine, O night when Christ was born!

O night, O holy night, O night divine!

Truly He taught us to love one another;His law is love and His Gospel is peace.

Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother

And in His Name all oppression shall cease.

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,

Let all within us praise His holy Name!

Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices!

O night divine, O night when Christ was born!

O night, O holy night, O night divine

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Christmas around the World

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/Xmas/calendar/ This is a very interesting advent calender!

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Emma's Nativity Scene with scriptures:

The Birth Of Jesus:( ESV)

Luke 2: 6 And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

The Shepherds and the Angels

8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”  

 

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” 

15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

The Visit of the Wise Men

2:1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” 3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:

6 “‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

7 Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.” 9 After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 11 And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. 12 And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

Treasuring God at Christmas time!

Did you see the Noel Piper's book in my main blog ....she has a very good chapter on Christmas...take a look, well worth a read!

Treasuring God in our Traditions

Here is one of my most favourite books! And you can read it online now, which is great as I must have lent my copy out to someone or else it has been unpacked in a strange place! Below is an exert from their web site or go to their web site yourself!

See:


http://www.desiringgod.org/store/books/ByTopic/All/377_Treasuring_God_in_Our_Traditions/

List Price: $14.99

Our Price: $10.00

---

Topic: Parenting

Format: Softcover Book

Pages: 117

ISBN: 1581345089

Publisher: Crossway Books

Product Code: BTGT

Treasuring God in Our Traditions

Only God can bequeath God to our children. But he uses means. He uses God-centered traditions and Bible-saturated family patterns and grace-laden heirlooms.

Only God can give our children a taste for the sweetness of God. Only God can awaken them to his worth. But year in and year out there are traditions that show them: God is our Treasure.

After more than 30 years of marriage and childrearing, Noël Piper opens her home to you. She invites you into the happy, imperfect Piper pattern of life. Come with her and enjoy the way she helps us treasure God in our traditions.

Read this book online:

• Chapters 1-4 (24.8MB PDF)
• Chapters 5-8 (36.2MB PDF)
• Chapters 9-10 and Appendix (24.6MB PDF)

More from Noel Piper

• Free resources
• Products

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Free Christmas book for this week:

http://www.currclick.com/product_info.php?products_id=26960&SRC=Newsletter
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Repeat, repeat, repeat

Emma and Tim dressed up as shepherds for their carol's service last Sunday. It was Emma's dream come true, as she was tired of being an angel. You should have seen Tim shaking his hand bells with his whole body. And he had such a cute boyish grin to go with his gusto! Emma was quite terrified of going on stage and did so well, I was so proud of her. Jo and Eric sang with their friends in the older children's choir.

I haven't exactly blogged our lead up to Christmas as planned, we have been crazy busy....but we have been going over the Christmas bible stories with the children each week. No one , not even the older children has complained of the repetition or simplicity. We are using different children's Bibles and the Bible directly and we just repeat, repeat, repeat.
Here is Douglas reading to the Children last night. I was thinking we should memorise chunks of the Christmas story too, but have not got around to doing it yet.

prophecy

http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Isaiah+7

Isaiah 7: 13 And he said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. 15 He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good.

Isaiah 8 God's ultimate triumph comes through Emanuel

9 Be broken, you peoples, and be shattered;
give ear, all you far countries;
strap on your armor and be shattered;
strap on your armor and be shattered.
10 Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing;
speak a word, but it will not stand,
for God is with us.

Isaiah 9

For to Us a Child Is Born

9:1 But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.

2 The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has light shined.
3 You have multiplied the nation;
you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
as with joy at the harvest,
as they are glad when they divide the spoil.
4 For the yoke of his burden,
and the staff for his shoulder,
the rod of his oppressor,
you have broken as on the day of Midian.
5 For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult
and every garment rolled in blood
will be burned as fuel for the fire.
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Isaiah 11

The Righteous Reign of the Branch

11:1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

6 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;
and a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den.
9 They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.

10 In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.

11 In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, [1] from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea.

12 He will raise a signal for the nations
and will assemble the banished of Israel,
and gather the dispersed of Judah
from the four corners of the earth.
13 The jealousy of Ephraim shall depart,
and those who harass Judah shall be cut off;
Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah,
and Judah shall not harass Ephraim.
14 But they shall swoop down on the shoulder of the Philistines in the west,
and together they shall plunder the people of the east.
They shall put out their hand against Edom and Moab,
and the Ammonites shall obey them.
15 And the Lord will utterly destroy
the tongue of the Sea of Egypt,
and will wave his hand over the River
with his scorching breath,
and strike it into seven channels,
and he will lead people across in sandals.
16 And there will be a highway from Assyria
for the remnant that remains of his people,
as there was for Israel
when they came up from the land of Egypt.

Isaiah 12

The Lord Is My Strength and My Song

12:1 You will say in that day:
“I will give thanks to you, O Lord,
for though you were angry with me,
your anger turned away,
that you might comfort me.

2 “Behold, God is my salvation;
I will trust, and will not be afraid;
for the Lord God is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation.”

3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. 4 And you will say in that day:

“Give thanks to the Lord,
call upon his name,
make known his deeds among the peoples,
proclaim that his name is exalted.

5 “Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously;
let this be made known in all the earth.
6 Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,
for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”

Read Aloud, already done 4 u

Here are the ESV Christmas passages. Press the listen button if you want to listen.

http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Matthew

http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Luke+1

http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=John+ John 1: 1-17

http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=Isaiah+7 Prophecy Isaiah 7: 10 to Isaiah 14

Advent - John Piper's Poetry

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/TasteAndSee/ByDate/2009/4401_A_Chapter_Closes_in_Advent_at_Bethlehem/

This week I found John Piper's blog on Advent interesting! You can access his poems here http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Poems/ByDate/ It is easy to sift out the Christmas ones. All I can say is amazing, he is truly gifted.

Revision and colouring in

This week has seen us revising the Christmas stories on a very basic level, using New Testament Take Home Bible Stories, see http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=48722 .
We have made up 8 little booklets from this book and have made pockets in our new scrap book( just a file with scrap book pockets) to hold them. Colouring will take longer than a week and will keep little ones happy as we get deeper into the older kid discussions. All set up and ready to get serious!

I am writing up a some lessons for the children on The Character of God woven through the Christmas Scenes. Isn't it wonderful that these stories are truth not just fairy tales!

I am happy for my children to know the Santa related fairy stories about Christmas....but the real historical stories are so much more exciting! Can you imagine Zachariah's shock at seeing an angel and then at being made dumb for his unbelief. Imagine the surprise Mary would have felt when she realised that the promised Messiah everyone was waiting for would come through her. And imagine Mary's trauma as she was surrounded by suspicious sandal over the virgin birth, for the sake of her God

Here is a list of the revision we did this week:
Zachariah and Elizabeth have a baby. The Angel visits Mary , Jesus is born, Angels and shepherds, ( all found in Luke 1 and 2) Magi ( Matthew 2) , Simeon and Anna ( Luke 2 again) , Escape to Egypt (Matthew 2: 13) and then Jesus in the temple. ( Luke 2: 41)

Why Christmas?

For many around the world Christmas is not about Christ... Santa, candy, traditional foods, present giving, beautifully decorated trees etc, etc crowd our lives as commercialism takes over in the bid to make more money out of our silly sentimentalism. Many go into debt, feel lonely and despairing at this time of the year. And quite honestly don't get the point of it all because really there is no point to Christmas with these traditions alone.

As for me Christ is central to Christmas- there is no point in Christmas without Christ and that includes not only his birth but gruesome death too! Just as Christ is the pivotal person in History, so too does Christmas pivot around Christ himself.

Christmas came to us when Christians reacted to heathen traditions and celebrations around them and turned around the course of history around by providing an opportunity to celebrate Christ in a special way. At Christmas we remember the birth of Christ.

I know there are Christians these days who won't celebrate Christmas and I can respect that they are uncomfortable with the way in which Christmas came about. But as for me I love any opportunity to indulge in my love for Christ and to encourage my family to do the same. So not only is Christmas for me a time set aside other things and to draw close to God, it is a time for making memories for my family too. My aim is to bring Christ so close to them that when they are adults and away form home they will see something 'Christmassy' and remember Christ. Remember family and love and warmth and celebrate too, yes. But most of all that they would love Christ. And infuse their children's lives with the love of Christ.

Come with us this year and enjoy our journey as we celebrate Christ!