Making Christmas fruitful for your family!
Christmas offers up a natural rhythm in our calendars to celebrate Jesus coming to earth! It is a time of year filled with images and symbols that reflect something that took place over 2000 years ago. Unfortunately, so often the very things that are designed to point us towards Christ during the Christmas season can also be our biggest distractions. From gifts to Christmas lights to the images of stars and angels, all of these things without Christ are meaningless trinkets that bring fleeting happiness for a temporary time of year. How we celebrate and what we celebrate at Christmas matters!
Christian families should seek to celebrate Christmas in light of the grander perspective that the Lord of all creation, in whom all things were made by and in whom all things were made for, entered His creation for the purpose of reconciling and redeeming what was broken and lost. Celebrating Christmas with an eternal perspective not only points to the birth of Jesus but also to the life, death, burial, resurrection, and return of Jesus for His eternal glory!
In John 15:1-11, Jesus talks to His disciples about abiding in Him. He calls Himself the true vine and explains to them that a branch can not bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, and that they can not bear fruit unless they abide in Him. Then Jesus makes the statement “I am the vine, and you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”
Parents if we want our Christmas to be fruitful it must be centered on Christ! Please don’t misinterpret this to mean that it can’t be fun and every moment must have an ominous seriousness attached to it. In John 15:11 Jesus goes on to say that He has spoken these things so that His “joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.” The completeness of the joy God has for us during the Christmas season is found in Christ!
As you make plans for Christmas think of intentional faith conversations you may need to plan to help your family focus on Christ. Capture God moments or God sightings that point towards Christ in your everyday life. Lastly celebrate Christmas in light of eternity.
**Be sure to pickup a Family Advent Stocking fill with fun activities that are designed to empower your family to celebrate Jesus during the Advent season**
7 Key God (teachable) Symbols to be looking for at Christmas time and what you can say.
- Manger Scene – “Jesus, the King of all creation, came to the earth as a baby born in a manger to live and die for you and me! Jesus loves us so much!”
- Christmas Lights – “Look at those beautiful lights! Jesus is the true light of Christmas, He is the light of the world that shines in the darkness.”
- Christmas Tree – “Did you know the wood that was used to build our home is wood from the same type of trees as a Christmas tree. It helps us to remember that our homes should be built on Christ.”
- St. Nicholas – “St. Nicholas served Jesus and gave gifts to people in need to show the love of Christ to others.”
- Stars – “The Bible says that God breathed out the stars and set them in their place. God used a special star to announce that His son had come to earth. Stars remind us of how big God is and remind us that He came to earth for us.
- Candy Cane – “Look at why the candy cane, it looks like the staff of a shepherd. Shepherds love their sheep and watch over. Jesus Christ is the good shepherd and we are his sheep.”
- Presents – “Gifts remind us that God gave His one and only son, and that if we know Him we receive the gift of eternal life.
Right Now Media Christmas resources our church is using!
- Advent by J.D. GREEAR with free study guide (https://app.rightnowmedia.org/en/content/details/458407)
- Clive & Ian’s 12 Questions of Christmas (https://app.rightnowmedia.org/en/content/details/425)
- Why Do We Call It Christmas? (https://app.rightnowmedia.org/en/content/details/225994)
- Seeds of Christmas (https://app.rightnowmedia.org/en/content/details/330438)