Christmas is Here: site resources.
My favorite time of year is here!
I want to share with you some resources, articles, and a free-be I have come across in my effort to make Christmas about Christ. In our house we try to keep the Nativity message at the forefront of all we do. In future posts I hope to share some traditions we do in our house. For now, some resources...
Merry Christmas. I hope this season you are truly filled with the wonders of His love {for you}. His never stopping, give his one-and-only son, always and forever love.
The Incarnation - Great 3 min. (or so) video of a Spoken Work piece from Humblebeast.com
Wall Nativity - My wife is beginning to make one! From MyCrazyBlessedLife, this blogger created a wall-sized-felt nativity scene, and she posted a template if you wish to make one with your kids. At the bottom of her post she puts a link to her template.
These next two are By John Piper. ©2012 Desiring God Foundation. Website: desiringGod.org
Good News of Great Joy: Daily Readings for Advent - Read this along with our family.
A free book download, a reading for each day in December leading up to Christmas.
How We See Christmas Symbols - Traditions and thoughts from John Piper and his wife.
Classic Christmas Hymns - “discover the stories behind your favorite hymns.” I love listening to Christmas music and hearing the story behind them. Christmas Devotionals.
The Great Reversal - The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe speaks the message of Christmas. “The arrival of Jesus two-thousand years ago ensured that God had begun the process of reversing the curse of sin and recreating all things. In Jesus, God was moving in a new way and, in the words of C.S. Lewis, “winter began stirring backwards.”
An Advent Calendar: alternate narrative, subversive time - from ArtsPastor Blog. “I realize not everyone feels overwhelmed by this season, but if you've been looking for a way to make Advent and Christmas more meaningful for yourself and your family and friends, this is a great place to start. Looking over the exercises last night, I got excited to do them ourselves and to see what might happen to us and through us.”
Thanks a lot for posting these! We too like to make the whole month of December about Jesus. It's great to hear other families do the same and hear their ideas. I saw that resource on desiringgod.com yesterday and thought it might be a little too advanced for our kids this year.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I was reminded of yesterday though, it's not just about Jesus' birth it's what He did 30 years later.
Thanks Sean. Tricia and I will read the Piper Advent devo. We will probably do something more simple with H. We have some ideas for Advent Activities from a book we purchased a few years ago called "Christ in Christmas, A Family Advent Celebration," By Dobson, Swindoll, Boice, and R.C. Sproul. Each weekend we light an Advent candle our idea is to talk about one character from the Nativity scene and their role, along with reading about them in The Story. An Advent idea a friend suggested is reading one story a night from The Jesus Story Book Bible. Starting at Genesis and the last night would be The Nativity Story. This would illustrate God's redemptive plan since the beginning, all the stories foreshadow the coming of the Messiah. Merry Christmas bro.
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