31 December 2017, the First Sunday of Christmas 31/12/2017 SundayMaxleaders Introduction As we leave the stable with the shepherds we spare a thought for Mary who was chosen by God to be the mother of his son. Her life was not easy and there were many sad times, but she believed that God loved her, and would do what was best for her in the end. Readings Isaiah 61:10 62:3 Psalm 148 Galatians 4:4-7 Luke 2:15-21 Game Nativity search? You will need an unbreakable nativity set Hide the pieces of an unbreakable nativity set around your space. At the word GO the children race off to find them and see how quickly they can build up the complete nativity scene. If you haven t got a nativity set you could cut the figures from Christmas cards. Discussion Ask the children to think of some of the things that a mother has to do Cooking Cleaning Going to work Shopping The list is almost endless! Did Mary do such things? Mothers are much more than people who look after us and do all this work! They fill our lives with love, even when we are naughty They make us laugh and smile They listen to us and answer our questions They have time for us, and make us feel wanted Mary did all these things for her little boy, Jesus.
Songs Away in a manger Junior Praise 12 Come on and celebrate Junior Praise 325 Come, Lord Jesus, come Big Blue Planet 29 God is good Junior Praise 55 Hark! The herald angels sing Junior Praise 69 He came down that we might have love Big Blue Planet 7 Jesus put this song into our hearts Junior Praise 408 Lord, the light of your love is shining Kidsource 237 Midnight Kidsource 251 O little town of Bethlehem Junior Praise 182 See him lying on a bed of straw Kidsource 291 Craft Nativity on a plate You will need A paper plate for each child Felt tip pens or colouring pencils Invite the children to draw baby Jesus in the centre of the plate, and then add Mary, Joseph, shepherds and angels around the edge. Or you could divide the plate into six segments. Use five of the segments to draw baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the shepherds and the angels. Invite the children to add a picture of themselves in the sixth segment as they imagine being part of the first Christmas.
Prayer New Year You will need a calendar for 2017 and 2018, preferable a year-at-a-glance Look together at the calendars for 2017 and the new year of 2018. Symbolically tear up the old one and open up the new. Pray together, thanking God for all that is past and asking his blessing on the year to come. Bauble prayer You will need a Christmas decoration for each child. Give each child a fragile Christmas decoration to hold carefully. Tell them that you re taking a risk that it won t be broken. Talk together about the risk God took in coming to earth as a baby. What might have happened to him? What did happen to the baby when he grew up? Thank God together for risking so much for us. Let us remember Mary this Christmas And may God bless our mothers. Let us remember Joseph this Christmas And may God bless our fathers. Let us remember the Shepherds this Christmas And may God bless all those who will be working. Let us remember Jesus this Christmas And may God bless us all and make us his children. Amen
Today is the First Sunday of Christmas, Sunday 31 December 2017 31/12/2017 SundayMaxkids Guide the shepherds through the maze Where did the shepherds find baby Jesus? Unscramble the words and write the numbered letter in the correct box Sometimes bell ringers ring in the new year at midnight. will you be awake to hear any bells being rung? Have you ever seen church bells being rung? Dearest God, on this new day, Listen to me as I pray. Dearest God, the year is new, Help me in the things I do. Amen.
SundayMaxstory Christmas Journey - A pass-the-parcel game to tell the Christmas story You will need a pass-the-parcel in which small nativity figures or pictures are hidden, Christmas carol CD and CD player if possible. Prepare the parcel starting at the centre of the parcel wrap the figure of an angel in Christmas paper. Next wrap the shepherds. If the group is large use more than one shepherd and separate sheep to provide extra turns. Outside these layers add the figure of baby Jesus, wrapped in gold paper. The next layer should contain the figure of Mary, and the outer layer the figure of Joseph. Explain the game and remind the children to pass the parcel on when the music is playing, and that whoever is holding the parcel when the music stops will take off the outside wrapper to discover what is inside. As each figure is unwrapped, set up the nativity scene and read each section of this script. Joseph When the emperor ordered everyone to go to their home town to be counted in a census, Joseph went from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Mary Mary, who was engaged to Joseph, went with him. She was expecting a baby at any moment. Jesus Mary gave birth to her baby, Jesus, and laid him in a manger to be his cot. Shepherds There were some shepherds out in the country Use one sentence of this script for each shepherd or sheep if you are using several, otherwise read it all at once: They were taking care of their sheep/suddenly, a bright light was shining all around them/ The shepherds were very afraid Angel It was an angel of the Lord who had appeared to the shepherds. The angel said, Don t be afraid! I have some wonderful news for you and for people everywhere. A Saviour has been born in Bethlehem and he is Christ the Lord! The Shepherds were really excited to see a huge number of angels singing praises to God. They decided to go to Bethlehem to see if they could see this special baby. They found Mary, Joseph and the baby just as the angel had told them. They told Mary and Joseph what had happened and they were amazed too. Mary remembered all the incredible things that were happening and kept thinking about them. The shepherds went back to the fields, shouting praises to God and talking about what they had seen.
SundayMaxcraft Example of Nativity on a plate