FAMILY ADVENT
Church Family,
Do you have great memories of Christmas from growing up? Putting up decorations, making treats, reading Scripture together, visiting family, wrapping and opening presents (maybe even shaking them to try to figure out what we are getting). Many of us have these great memories, but why is that so important? Memories help tell us what is important, or at least what was important to our parents. Now, if you know me well, this is not a strong point of mine. I have to be very intentional about making memories with my kids in this fashion because that’s just not the way my brain usually works (my wife on the other hand, fortunately for me and my kids, is an expert at memory-making.)
The more I study Scripture, the more I realize how intentional God was throughout Scripture about using memories powerfully. The Old Testament is full of commands to help others (especially your kids/grandkids) to make God-focused memories, as well as setting up things to help us all remember certain events in history, such as the Passover. In the New Testament we see Jesus use memories, including our senses of smell and taste, in things such as the Lord’s Supper (Communion) and confronting Peter’s denial using the scent of a charcoal fire (John 18:18, 21:9).
Christmas and Advent are great times to be very intentional about making memories that will help our kids follow Christ in a way that they will remember the rest of their lives, and that their relationship with Christ is one of our greatest priorities. So, I want to share a few ideas and resources with you that could help you in this endeavor. If you are not already doing something special with your kids/grandkids for Advent, I want to encourage to you try one or more of these ideas.
Do you have great memories of Christmas from growing up? Putting up decorations, making treats, reading Scripture together, visiting family, wrapping and opening presents (maybe even shaking them to try to figure out what we are getting). Many of us have these great memories, but why is that so important? Memories help tell us what is important, or at least what was important to our parents. Now, if you know me well, this is not a strong point of mine. I have to be very intentional about making memories with my kids in this fashion because that’s just not the way my brain usually works (my wife on the other hand, fortunately for me and my kids, is an expert at memory-making.)
The more I study Scripture, the more I realize how intentional God was throughout Scripture about using memories powerfully. The Old Testament is full of commands to help others (especially your kids/grandkids) to make God-focused memories, as well as setting up things to help us all remember certain events in history, such as the Passover. In the New Testament we see Jesus use memories, including our senses of smell and taste, in things such as the Lord’s Supper (Communion) and confronting Peter’s denial using the scent of a charcoal fire (John 18:18, 21:9).
Christmas and Advent are great times to be very intentional about making memories that will help our kids follow Christ in a way that they will remember the rest of their lives, and that their relationship with Christ is one of our greatest priorities. So, I want to share a few ideas and resources with you that could help you in this endeavor. If you are not already doing something special with your kids/grandkids for Advent, I want to encourage to you try one or more of these ideas.
- This ADVENT GUIDE was produced by Lifeway. It has four devotionals and an activity for each devotion (one for each week of Advent starting December 3rd), plus a Christmas Day devotion and activity. If you haven’t done something like this before, this Advent Guide is a perfect, easy way to start. If you prefer a printed copy of this Advent Guide, I will have a few copies available if you connect with me Sunday.
If you want something more, there are many other Advent guides that you can purchase online - some of which my family has used. Feel free to reach out if you want any suggestions. - RightNow Media is a Christian streaming library that has a lot of video series you can watch with your family. I have added an ADVENT/CHRISTMAS section to our Trinity Custom Library. Here I have recommended several very good series. The first series I recommended has worship and devotional in one and is good for all ages. Also, I have tried to recommend some for different ages, including a few for adults.
If you don’t already have a RightNow Media account, you can sign up to create your free account at this link: https://app.rightnowmedia.org/en/user/TBCWI. And feel free to contact me or the office if you have any issues creating an account. - One of the things my family does is have an activity for each day of the week with our devotional. These activities can be daily or weekly and as involved or as simple as you want. We try to have some centered on giving/serving others, some that we do as tradition every year (such as new Christmas PJs night) and many that are just fun. Some ideas include, making treats (for our family and/or others), delivering treats, making ornaments (for our family and/or others), Christmas movie nights, Christmas snacks, different nativity crafts, dance party, attending community Christmas events, making/delivering Christmas cards, hot chocolate night, making a Lego nativity, gingerbread houses, and anything else that you can do that is special. Lucky for us, my wife Rebekah, posts all of this on Facebook. So if you are friends with her, you can check out her Christmas/Advent album for everything we’ve done in the past.
““Listen, Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your city gates.” (Deuteronomy 6:4–9, CSB)
Blessings,
Pastor Chris
Blessings,
Pastor Chris
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