The fight for the true Christmas
As Christmas is increasingly hijacked by the secular media it can become a huge battle to keep Christ at the centre of Christmas. Our children are major targets for the toys, games and sweet manufacturers who are tempting them with gimmicky products that have nothing to do with Jesus at all. It is important that we take a stand against this and encourage them to see the truth of Christmas and to prepare their hearts for Jesus during advent, which is why I am getting this article in early. Thankfully, there are some great products being made by Christians to help us. For starters, there are some great A3 Advent calendar packs here that help children to understand the true meaning of Christmas in a fun way: http://www.thegoodbook.co.uk/Resources-for/Christmas/. Ok, it may not have chocolate inside but children can learn to live with that. What these calendars will do, is give you a way in to talk about Christmas and what it means while spending time together as a family. I have ordered ours already. To help set Christmas in context why not try the Big Picture Story Bible that has excellent pictures and simple text that I reckon would work with 3-10’s. It is written carefully to give an overview of the Bible and to show the main themes that run through God’s story.
There are plenty more Nativity books available at places like Wesley Owen and SPCK so why not have a browse and treat your little ones to something they like the look of. http://www.wesleyowen.com/WesleyOwenSite/category/christmas07_65/
For the more craft orientated child check out the Christmas Make and do book http://www.barnabasinchurches.org.uk/pages/data.asp?layout=page.htm&Type=&Id=1852
For the TV watchers there are some excellent DVD present ideas here including Guardian Force Angels Wars, Hoop Dogz and Auto B Good. These are all top quality cartoon style productions with bible centred messages at their heart.
And then there are the parents... as Christian parents we promise to bring our children up to know Jesus and one of the ways we can do this is by example. In this case, making sure that our Christmas’s are Christ centred, that we don’t get carried away with all the extras that make up Christmas in our society today. If they see us taking time to prepare for Christ’s coming during advent, they will be encouraged to do the same. If they see us thinking about other people’s needs rather than what we can get out of Christmas, maybe their Christmas lists will change, and if they see us worshipping Jesus at home and church then we may see them worshipping him, which is always a moment to treasure.
I remember very clearly from my childhood the special things that we did at Christmas to prepare and celebrate. Perhaps the most vivid is our Sunday tea’s during advent where we would set up candles and angel chimes on the table to focus on and listen to carols, new and old, to remind us of the story of that first Christmas. It was a routine that we loved as children, and I still love today! So there is another idea for a Christ centred Christmas: create special times with a focus on Jesus using symbols that point us to Him.
I hope that has fuelled some early thoughts and plans for you this Christmas...
Thursday, 25 October 2007