I really enjoyed this Christmas bite from the splendiferous Martin (he ain’t heavy) Ayers. Perhaps you can spare 7 mins to have a listen too. (I think it must have followed a little drama sketch, but you should be able to follow it without much trouble!)
Whether you’re an “Amos” or a “shepherd”, I hope you make the most of your Christmas xx
I love Christmas, me. I love Chris Rea, Wizzard, Paul and Yoko and the Pogues. I love carols. I love mince pies, mulled wine, and sausage stuffing. I love buying presents for my family and friends. I love having something to be excited about. I am like Scrooge, the way he turned out in the end. (I love A Christmas Carol.)
Christmas certainly means different things to different people. This week I was reading about the trend of buying just four presents for your child: one thing they want; one thing they need; one thing to wear; one thing to read. I also read a lot of opinions about this idea, which I found quite enlightening. I turns out that the idea of only buying four gifts for your child is pretty scandalous. I suppose that shouldn’t surprise me, as Christmas for many people is focused on their children. When I had my first child, someone said to me that I’d enjoy Christmas much more now because it’s more magical with children around. I kind of know what he meant, but to be honest I don’t think my brother and I ever lost the magic of Christmas. We behave like children as soon as we cross the threshold of our parents’ home anyway.
It’s true, is it not, that much of Christmas involves watching your children. Watching them in the school play; watching them opening their presents; watching them sit on Santa’s knee; watching them ride their new bike. And I’m not judging that, but I think there must be more to Christmas than that. I feel that if our Christmas joy is wrapped up in our children, disappointments may abound. What if they are playing the innkeeper’s silent dog again? What if they have a trantrum abut their presents? What if they cry on Satna’s knee? What if they fall of their bike and end up in A&E? And, perhaps worst of all, what if they know that our Christmas joy depends on their contentment? That’s a lot of pressure.
I think we can have a more joyful perspective. My pastor says that in marriage, rather than spending our lives staring into each other’s eyes, we should be walking hand-in-hand towards the throne of God. Or as Tim Keller puts it, we say “I want to partner with you and God in the journey you are taking to his throne. And when we get there, I will look at your magnificence and say, ‘I always knew you could be like this. I got glimpses of it on earth, but now look at you!” (from The Meaning of Marriage.)
I know that parenting is not marriage. They are different. However, if we are walking hand in hand towards the throne and taking our children with us, how much more exciting that will be than if we are just gathered around our children, focusing on them. And how liberating it will be for us and them if we know that Jesus is the one who makes Christmas wonderful.
If the Nativity play serves as a reminder that God’s Son came to live amongst us, then nobody will mind which part they play. (My children’s school play isn’t anything to do with Jesus this year, but thankfully they’ll be in a couple of other nativities.) If the gifts are there to remind us of God’s amazing gift of his perfect Son, then we’ll be more than happy with one or two (or three or even four!). If we’re celebrating the birth of Jesus and all that means for us as God’s people, we won’t have time to queue up for Santa’s grotto anyway. And as for the trip to A&E, that will be something of a disappointment. But that’s OK, because we’re looking ahead to a perfect world, made open to us by the coming of our Saviour.
It’s so easy at Christmas to get our heads down and forget the bigger picture. To get stressed about the shopping or the cooking or the costume-sourcing. But I’m going to try to lift my eyes to Jesus, to his scandalous incarnation, to God’s glory, to good news of great joy, and I’m hoping that my children will follow my gaze and look up at him with me.
Parents get asked a lot of questions. My children like to grill me on the way to school, while I’m trying to keep them all from getting run over or walking in dog poo. The questions range from “Is it C THREE PO or C E PO?” to “How does fruit grow?” and often include several follow-up questions. Sometimes I don’t know the answers; sometimes I do.
My friends ask me questions sometimes too, and sometimes I know the answers, but sometimes I don’t. Sometimes life gives me questions to ask, and often I cannot find the answers.
I know why bad things happen in general, but I don’t know why certain bad things happen. This week I found out that a 3 year old boy who used to play with my son went to bed on Friday night with a cold and never woke up. How utterly tragic and horrifying. I don’t know why that happened.
When something devastating happens, people often say “I don’t know what to say.” Sometimes there isn’t a lot to say, other than words of mourning. And often we don’t feel we should say those words. Words such as “why?” and “how long?” Maybe we feel that instead of asking questions, we should have the answers. But sometimes nobody has the answers.
I know that death entered the world when sin entered the world, but I don’t know why certain people die when they do. When they’re so young, when so many people will miss them.
I know that we sin against each other because we sin against God, but I don’t know why certain people get away with doing such terrible things to people.
I know that because of sin there is injustice, but I don’t know why some people never have enough of the things that I myself take for granted, such as safety, shelter and food.
I know that this is a fallen world, but I don’t know why certain people have to live with pain, or illness, or loneliness or shattered dreams.
But I do know some things for sure.
I know that Jesus knows how it feels to lose a friend. (John 11:35)
I know that when Jesus saw a widow grieving for her son, he raised him from the dead because he had compassion on her. (Luke 7:11-17)
I know that the Father in heaven knows what it is to lose a Son. (Mark 15:34; Romans 8:32)
I know that Jesus promises comfort when we mourn, and rest for our souls if we come to him.(Matthew 5:4; Matthew 11:28-30)
I know that He is good, He is gracious, and He is sovereign. (e.g. Psalm 103).
I know when we come to him, the Lord promises a future without tears, or death, or pain. (Revelation 21:1-4)
I know it’s very much still Autumnal November, but I’m just planning ahead.
I’ve got an idea for a Christmas card craft, and in order to do it I needed a Christmas Alphabet. I could have just Googled this, but I wanted to make it up myself (no-one knows why). Speaking of Alphabets, I highly recommend you listen to the Bible Alphabet song from Emu’s J is for Jesus CD. (“H is for heaven, where I-I am going,” need I-I say more?)
I don’t know if this could be helpful to you in any way? Perhaps you could do one a day during advent? I know that the alphabet is 26 letters long, not 24, but some of them could be squashed together. For example, you’ll notice that Q is a bit, well, not quite tenuous but perhaps uninspiring. Sometimes I was spoilt for choice, so I put a few ideas down and have underlined the one I’ve used here.
You might also notice that there is a lot of repetition, which (aside from maybe being inevitable) was deliberate. Children like repetition, and it helps them learn. I was actually amazed by how much you can get out of Luke Chapter 2 alone. I mostly used Isaiah 9; Matthew 1-2; Luke 2; John 1.
So without further ado, here you go – an early Christmas present from me (no expense spared):
Angels: But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Luke 2:10
Bethlehem: But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.’ Micah 5:2
Christ: Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ, the Lord. Luke 2.11
David’s Town: Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. Luke 2:11 (See also: Does not Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David’s descendants and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?’ Luke 7:42; “He will reign on David’s throne’ Isaiah 9:7)
Everlasting Father: “For to us a child is born… And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6
Favour: Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests.’ Luke 2:14
Glory/Grace/Gold/Gift/Good news/Grace: We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14
Holy/Heavenly Host/Hope: Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
‘Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests.’ Luke 2:13-14
Immanuel: All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’ (which means ‘God with us’). Matthew 1:22-23
Joy/Jesus: But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Luke 2:10
King: ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.’ Matthew 2:2
Love/Life/Light:
The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
a light has dawned. Isaiah 9:2
Messiah/Manger This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: his mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Matthew 1:18
Noel/Nativity/News: But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Luke 2:10
One & Only Son: We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14
Prince of Peace: For to us a child is born… And he will be called
Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6
Quiet/Quirinius: This was the first census that took place while[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register. Luke 2:2-3 (You could talk about the sovereignty of God, and the fact that these events happened in real history.) If you’re not keen on this, you could do “Quiet” and talk about how quietly God’s rescuing King came.
Rejoice/Revelation/Righteousness/Reigns The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. Luke 2:20 (also “When they saw the star, they were overjoyed” Matthew 2:10)
(or Revelation: No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and[b] is in the closest relationship with the Father, has made him known. John 1:18)
Saviour: Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. Luke 2.11
Truth: The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14
Unto Us a child is born “Unto to us a child is born,
to us a son is given…” Isaiah 9:6
Virgin: All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’ (which means ‘God with us’). Matthew 1:22-23
Wonderful/Worship: When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. (Matthew 2:10-11)
X: Gloria in Excelsis Deo:
‘Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests.’ Luke 2:14
Yahweh: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1
Zeal: Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end…
The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. Isaiah 9:7
As ever, your comments are really welcome. Plus, if you think this is helpful please do share it with others. Happy Autumn everybody!
I’ve been far too busy this term, so I found this helpful to read again. It makes me smile, too, because of my baby Martha. I introduced her to someone the other day and he said, “Aw, was she the one who sat at Jesus’ feet?”
I said, “No, she was the busy one.” A little awkward! Poor Martha can look forward to a lifetime of such conversations. 🙂
Have you ever done one of those personality tests? You answer one hundred and one questions and then your character gets summed up in a four-letter acronym. I’ve never done a proper one, although I’d like to, but a while ago I did a half-hearted one online with the help of my mum-in-law. She would read out two statements and I had to choose between the two, but the statements didn’t always seem mutually exclusive. I remember one question said: ‘Which best describes you? a) You like to get things done, or b) You like to know that everyone’s getting on well’ I picked ‘b’ because surely people are more important than tasks! Mum-in-law (who knows me too well) said, ‘Really? Are yous sure?’ I resolved, ‘Yes, of course.’
But since then I’ve often looked back and admitted regretfully, ‘No, I should have said ‘a’.’ Because knowing what’s more important…
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You may have felt a bit like this last night if you chose not to celebrate Halloween while everyone else from school was wandering the neighbourhood on a sugar high in super-fun fancy dress. Maybe that didn’t happen to you, but either way I hope this encourages you. I’ve certainly been saying “no” a lot since the children went back to school. It’s been a long two days…
We just borrowed a book from the library (how good is the library?), Me and My Nan by Amana Rainger and Simone Abel. I’ve written the entire book below as a poem:
Nan came to meet me to take her to her flat.
I ran on to the bus stop. Nan said, “Don’t do that!”
We went to the shops, and Nan stopped for a chat.
I hid round the corner. Nan said, “Don’t do that!”
We walked by the river and I shouted, “There’s a rat!”
I thought it was funny. Nan said, “Don’t do that!”
I knocked on the front door with a rat-a-tat-tat!
Nan dropped all the shopping. She said, “Don’t do that!”
We had ham for tea, but I don’t like the fat.
So I hid it in the plant pot. Nan said, “Don’t do that!”
I dropped the ketchup. It landed, ker-splat!
Nan spilt her tea. …
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“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5.1.
I don’t know if you’ve ever thought this, but I find it susprising that after reminding people that they are free, Paul’s instruction to them is to stand firm. Not, “run around, then, and do a dance of freedom.” Sometimes that is totally appropriate, of course, but Paul is writing to people who are being told that if they really want eternal life they need to be circumcised. So in the face of that, the Galatian believers needed to stand firm in the freedom they’d been given in Christ.
As I wrote last week, I am so grateful for the likes of John Wycliffe and William Tyndale, who put God’s word into English so that common folk like me could read it for ourselves. And the best thing about this is that it means we can know the true gospel, straight from God’s word. I want to celebrate the Reformation with my children because if it weren’t for those brave men and women, many of whom gave their lives or their livelihoods, we would still be relying on priests and icons to tell us about God.
The Bible in my tongue means true freedom, the gospel of grace that has saved me from hell and brought me into a relationship with the Mighty God, my Heavenly Father.
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no-one can boast.” Ephesians 2.8-9.
It is by grace, through faith in Christ, to God’s glory.
I don’t need to confess my sins to a priest, because Jesus is my Great High Priest. (1 Timothy 2.5).
I don’t need to do good works in order to be saved, because Jesus has done all the work for me. (See Ephesians 2.8-9 above.).
I don’t need to pray for the dead, because the Lord is just and will judge everyone fairly (Hebrews 9.27-28.), and Jesus paid the price in full for those who trust in him.
It’s not just that I don’t need to do these things, but that by doing them I take away from Christ, as if he didn’t do enough: “Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” 1 Peter 3.18
I can’t be saved by baptism, or pilgrimage, or charity, or taking communion – only by faith in Christ. (Romans 1.17 and Galatians 3.11 are just two examples.)
So in light of all that, I thought I’d let you know what we’ll be doing to celebrate. I’m using the book pictured above, which – as the title suggests – has a different character from church history for each letter of the alphabet. I’ve chosen six of these*, and between now and Monday we will look at one per day (we’ll just read their page from the book and thank God for them). We’ll do Luther last because I have a separate book about him (the little lights one) and it means we can dress up and pretend to nail something to the door, plus eat worm sweets and learn about his trial at Worms.
I drew a map (I’m not good at drawing but who cares really?), so that when we learn about a reformer we can cut out their head (so to speak) and stick it on the map. This will hopefully make it more fun and help the children remember it.
At some point, probably Sunday or Monday (31st is officially Reformation Day), we will do this craft to help them learn the “five solas” which are five phrases that help to sum up the Reformation. (I don’t think I’d heard of these before, thanks Rebecca Croft!). Here is a picture of the craft. If only I were good with technology I could let you download it, but if you have a compass and protractor you could make it yourself. A photocopier may help, depending on the size of your brood. (I will see if I can upload it but am away now until Saturday so it may be too late by then, sorry.)
So the children will colour it in and then put one on top of the other, stick butterfly pin in the middle and hey presto:
So there you have it, I hope this is helpful and has inspired you to get excited about the Reformation (not just Ian Dury and the Blockheads).
*we’ll be looking at Lady Jane Gray, Zwingli, Ridley, Knox, Calvin and Luther.
I recently read a book called Radiant about “fifty remarkable women in church history.” I realised reading this that many people have suffered greatly in the UK and Europe (as well as elsewhere of course) in order to reach people with the true gospel of grace. Here is an extract from the chapter about Katharine Hamilton, the sister of James Hamilton. They were Scottish aristocracy in the 16th Century. James read the New Testament as well as some of the writings of Martin Luther, and began telling people about the forgiveness Jesus offers to sinners. In this extract, James is explaining to his sister what he has learnt:
“But can it be that simple?” Katharine asked. “All I need to do is trust in Jesus, and all my sins are forgiven and I inherit heaven?”
“As I have been showing you from Scripture,” Patrick said, lifting up his English New Testament, “we sinners can find peace with God only by believing in Christ. He that lacks faith cannot please God.”
“But the priests and friars have always taught us,” she said, “that the way to heaven is through obedience to the church and good works.”
“Whoever believes or thinks that he can be saved by his own works,” he told her, “denies that Christ is his Saviour and that Christ died for him. For how is He your Saviour if you can save yourself by your own works?”
“Are you saying that all my acts of penance and alms for the poor and pilgrimages to holy shrines – that none of that wins God’s favour?”
“Faith in Christ alone makes a sinner right with God,” he answered. “Look to Jesus who did it all for you on the cross. Forsake your trust in religious acts and come to Christ.”
If I were to underline the important bits, I’d have to underline the lot. I’m so thankful that our gracious God allowed people, especially influential people, to unearth the true gospel and preach it to rich and poor alike. Whoop, whoop! If that ain’t worth baking a cake for, I don’t know what is.
It might seem strange to celebrate a big bust up that has lasted centuries and led to much suffering. I would love to explain to you why I think the Reformation is worth celebrating with my children. First I’d like to let Hilary Mantel do some of the explaining on my behalf. I don’t know if you have read or watched Wolf Hall. I loved the book but the first episode of the TV series made me sob so I gave up, however I intend to try again at some point.
Here is a quote from the book about the difference it makes to have the Bible in your own language, compared to relying on church traditions and on priests telling you what to do:
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Since the Reformation in Europe, common people like me have been able to read the Bible for themselves in a language they understand. We’ve been able to learn the whole story, not just the bits chosen for stained-glass windows. Praise God.
Do you ever try to have a conversation with a friend while your children are present? You start telling a story, and then you have to jump up to change someone’s pants or stop the baby chewing that wellie, or to break up a fight over a balloon, and an hour later you’re still only half way through. I’m always impressed by parents’ determination to make it to the end of their story, come what may. This level of perseverance is great training for something, I’m sure.
Well back in July I started to tell you something about Christian books for children, and then I got distracted by the school holidays, night feeds, reading a book about beauty, pureeing carrot, settling my child into nursery, inheriting a toddler group, cleaning up sick, that sort of thing, and here we are in October. I never did finish what I was trying to say and now I feel it may be an anticlimax. That’s the thing about the interruptions – they really pile the pressure on for the punchline of your story.
So really all I wanted to say was that children’s books do vary in their helpfulness. I’m sometimes surprised by the choices people make, especially when they have so few words to play around with. For example, we have a board book about the parable of the lost son. It’s mostly a great book: colourful; clear; simple. I like the fact it includes the older son, as sometimes children’s versions do omit important details (like the part where Jonah has a tantrum under a vine). But look at this page – I’ll let you figure out which bit I wasn’t so keen on:
This is a story about the Father’s heart for the lost. Jesus said in Luke 15:20, that “while [the son] was still a long way off”, the Father ran to his son. So why, oh why, did the good people who made this book, decide to write that he was nearly home? Before I was saved by God’s astonishing grace, was I nearly with the Father? No, I was still a long way off.
You might think I’m being pedantic. Fair enough, you don’t need to analyse every board book you have. But it’s good to have your eyes open. We had quite an unhelpful book about the rich fool, which ended with, ‘this is why we should share.’ I can’t show you a picture of that because I binned it. Children are so naturally legalistic*, I don’t want to feed that by strapping a moral lesson onto the end of a parable. The rich fool teaches us to be rich towards God, which yes will no doubt end up in us sharing, but that’s not the main thing I want the children to take away from the story.
So, can I just encourage you to have a little read of a book before you buy it for your child or read it to them? Someone recently gave us a book by Carine Mackenzie called Joseph’s Coat, which is incredibly concise so great for little ones. (And it doesn’t end with, “so share your corn.”) We’ve also got some lovely Susie Poole board books. My favourite is Always Near Me, which is based on Psalm 139. These would perhaps be good gifts for a toddler group or something. I’ve just ordered a book about Christmas from Tenofthose.com which looks great but I can’t tell you about it properly because it hasn’t arrived yet. (I ordered with it some books on Martin Luther so that we can celebrate Reformation Day on 31st October, but it turns out I’m not the only Tenofthose customer to have that bright idea, so they are waiting for more stock to come in.)
If I figure out what to do about Reformation Day, and I don’t get too distracted by space hopper incidents or butternut squash, I’ll tell you all about it.
Meanwhile, I would recommend the Beginner’s Bible (Good Book Co.), the Beginner’s Bible for toddlers, and the Jesus Storybook Bible. We have the Beginner’s Bible bath book, which is the story of creation and is waterproof. It’s also good for babies who like to chew books. Hope this is helpful. Any questions?
*By legalistic I mean that children love to be rewarded for good behaviour, and so they would like to be really good and have God love them for it. When actually they are sinners in need of God’s grace and mercy. (By the way, we grown-ups are like that too.)
Mum in Zone One 