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Advanced Christmas Story Trivia: How well do you really know the story?
Angels, shepherds, wisemen, Jesus lying in a manger–we know the story so well. But it's been sweetened up, romanticized, censored, stripped of its violence and desperation through the years. It's good to go back to the original sources and renew our appreciation of the extreme drama of the story. Here are 9 questions to challenge you and your children to worship a God who would orchestrate such an amazing story to draw us back to himself. (You might enjoy using one each night as a conversation starter at dinner. You can even include these questions in a larger game of Advanced Christmas Trivia to share at Christmas gatherings with additional…
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Have Yourself a Mary Little Christmas
As a Protestant, I’m part of a tradition that tends to looks askance at the Virgin Mary. Our concern that her prominence obscures the person and work of Jesus Christ has led us to go the opposite extreme and gloss over her story. In the opinion of my colleague, Dr. Tim Ralston, others “avoid her simply because she’s a woman and just not as exciting as the warriors, prophets, and apostles who regularly populate Bible stories with larger-than-life exploits and miraculous happenings." When we do talk about the Virgin Mary, we tend to focus on the “scandal” of people perceiving Jesus’s illegitimacy, though there is nothing in the text to…
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Keeping Christ in Christmas!
Twice a year it is a given that in most every church two Bible stories will be taught. In December we all teach the birth of Christ and then a few months later His death and resurrection. It becomes a challenge for teachers and pastors to keep the story alive and the classes interesting. From crafts to songs, from games to puzzles we work hard to keep our children happy and interested. Our text book and material never change but the content of our messages do. We teach the stories when they are young and progress each year toward doctrines and theology to give birth and shape to core…
