December 20156

Waiting for Christmas:

5 Ways for celebrating Advent as a family

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7December 2015

“I t seems like it takes forever for Christmas

to get here,” my son Dawson grimaced.

Parents plan for its coming. Churches celebrate the season. Stores love to see the shoppers

arriving. Children longingly anticipate December 25.

Expectation and anticipation historically mark believers

in God. Abraham and Sarah waited for God to fulfill his promise to give them a son.

David longed for a temple for Jehovah in Jerusalem.

The prophet Isaiah exhorted the people to expect God to

comfort and deliver them. The magi followed a star, expecting

the celestial sign to take them to the King of the Jews.

Since the ascension of Jesus Christ, believers have awaited

his return. The Greek word parousia means “coming” or

“arrival.” The New Testament uses the word seventeen times

to describe the Second Com-ing of Christ. Translated from the Greek parousia, the Latin

word adventus, means “arrival or coming.” For Christians, advent specifically signifies

the four weeks leading up to Christmas Day.

W. T. Ellis said, “It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air.” The advent season can be

a great time for families to celebrate Jesus Christ afresh.

Parents are wise to create opportunities for children to focus on Jesus amidst

all of the holiday rush.

Cover Story

Here are five ways to help our families celebrate advent:

1. Family Devotions. Hold family devotions, also called family worship or the family altar, at least once a week during December. Pick four characters from the Christmas account in the Scriptures. Each week read the Bible passages about that person and discuss their story. What did Joseph learn about trusting God? What did it cost Mary to obey the Lord? What did Simeon learn about waiting on God? Why did God appear to shepherds and not important people in society?

See what lessons you can glean about being a modern-day disciple of Jesus Christ from these Christmas characters. Find a Christmas song or carol that goes along with the character you focus on weekly. Introduce the song to your family at a meal. Sing the song together that week during family worship.

2. A Jesse Tree. This ancient tradition, based on Isaiah 11:1, helps children creatively learn the Christmas story and related Scriptures. Some people find a live or artificial small tree. Others cut a tree out of construction paper and tape it to a wall. Pick out twenty-four Bible stories and create small ornaments that correspond with each story. Artistic people may want to create elaborate ornaments. For simple people like me, construction paper, scissors, and crayons suffice. Each day of advent, read and discuss the related Scripture and Bible account and then hang or tape one ornament daily on the tree. My daughter Anna-Frances told me, “Daddy, I like doing the Jesse Tree, because I get to make something with my hands.”

3. A Prayer Garland. Cut out 24 green and red construction paper strips. On each strip write the name of one family member, friend, or ministry. Then staple the strips into one long garland. Hang the garland in your apartment or house as a decoration. Some years our garland goes directly on our Christmas tree. Every day in December, allow one family member to take off one of the paper strips. Pray for the name on that strip of paper as a family during the day. You may even want to call and encourage the person for whom you’ve prayed.

By Rhett Wilson

Rhett Wilson pastors The Spring Church in Laurens, South Carolina. He enjoys doing life with his wife Tracey and their three children. You can find his blog, Faith, Family, and Freedom, at www.rhettwilson.blogspot.com.

December 20158 Cover Story

Want to have your own Jesse Tree?

Here are a few resources to help

you create a Jesse Tree tradition

in your home.

The Jesse Tree by Geraldine

McCaughrean (Eerdmans Books

for Young Readers)

Jesse Tree Devotions: A Family

Activity for Advent by M. Breckenridge

(Fortress Press)

The Advent Jesse Tree: Devotions for

Children and Adults to Prepare for the

Coming of the Christ Child at Christmas

by Dean Smith (Abingdon Press)

Joy to the World: Advent Activities

for Your Family by Kathleen M. Basi

(Liguori Publications)

4. The Advent Box. Several years ago I purchased a wooden box, painted with beautiful nutcrackers all over the front. The box has 24 small doors that each open to a hiding place. The first week of advent I place small toys, candies, and inexpensive gifts behind each door. I divide the twenty-four days of December by my three children and assign each child eight days of the month. Each morning of December, one child opens the Nutcracker box and finds their surprise. My children enjoy the fun and daily anticipate the surprise.

Charles Dickens said, “It is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child Himself.” The advent box tradition creates a spirit of anticipation in the home, and our children love it.

5. Christmas Cards. Cheri Fuller shares this idea in her book When Families Pray (Multnomah). As Christmas cards arrive during December, put them in a basket in a noticeable place in your house. Once a day, perhaps over a meal, pull out one card and pray together for that person or family. One year we kept the Christmas card basket out all year and prayed regularly for other families. You may want to jot the person a note signed by your family that says, “We prayed for you today.”

Frank McKibben said, “This is Christmas: not the tinsel, not the giving and receiving, not even the carols, but the humble heart that receives anew the wondrous gift, the Christ.”

Practicing these simple activities can help families open our hearts afresh to the living Lord Jesus. Merry Christmas. ROC