Together@Christmas Magazine

Witnesses Series Questions pg 13 Serve Together Ideas pg 11

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s a m t s i Chr Cookie s e p i c e R

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Daily t n e v d A gs n i d a e R

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Contents Read Together The Story of Advent Reading DIY Advent Calendar Daily Scripture Reading

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Fun Together Traditions Favorite Christmas Movies Christmas Cookies Fun for the Advent Season Create Together

A Note From Us

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Serve Together

Dear Parents:

Random Acts of Kindness Serve Locally

Let’s be honest for a minute: the Christmas season can be overwhelming. We have family gatherings to host, school parties to plan, cookies to bake, shopping to finish and life-long memories to make. It gets a little crazy.

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Grow Together Witnesses Series Discussion Family Verse

In the midst of it all, as parents, we hope to create space where our families can focus our hearts and our homes on the anticipation that was hoped for those many years ago and the fulfillment of a longawaited promise. In short, we want Christmas to be about the coming King, Jesus Christ.

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Together in the New Year Continuing Faith at Home

Family Ministries has created this Together @ Christmas magazine to be a resource for you and your family during this Christmas season. We hope there will be one or two ideas that help you create an intentional environment of faith within the home.

Whether it is watching a favorite family Christmas movie and looking at it from a fresh perspective, talking about the Witnesses in the nativity story, serving in a meaningful way or reading through selected passages meant to prepare our hearts for the coming Messiah, it is our goal to support you as you celebrate Jesus in your home.

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May you and your family experience Jesus in new ways this Christmas season.

Children and Student Ministries

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Read Together Family Advent Reading Advent focuses on the anticipation of the coming King. These readings are designed to be read on each day of Advent. Each night, read the previous portions of the story and add a new line. Copy these, print them out and add them to an advent calendar or read from the magazine instead.

1. A promise had been given. A deal had been made. God wanted to live among His people again. A Redeemer would be sent!

2. How would you have sent the Savior of the world? Would you send a mighty warrior King? Would everyone bow when they saw Him? Would they stand at attention and listen to His every word?

Would there be celebration and fanfare?

3. God’s ways aren’t our ways. He had a plan - a good and perfect plan. His entrance into the world would cause us to have to use great faith to believe it. It was a miracle - and what else would we expect from Him?

4. The timing was perfect. God had been silent, not speaking through a prophet, priest, or king, for 400 years. God’s people were waiting.

5. God searched the earth for just the right people to carry out His plan. He chose a young girl named Mary, who was engaged to a man named Joseph. Joseph was the great-great-great-great grandson of King David.

6. One day, the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and told her that God was very pleased with her. Mary was afraid at first, but the angel reassured her and told her that she had found favor with God.

7. God had chosen to use Mary in His plan.

He saw her beauty both inside and out.

8. Gabriel told Mary that God had a surprise for her: “You will have a baby, and His name will be Jesus! He will be God’s own Son; He is The Promise!”

9. Mary felt that all of this was just too amazing to believe, but Gabriel reminded her that nothing is impossible for God.

10. So Mary put her faith in God. She said, “I am God’s servant. I will do whatever He asks me to do.”

11. Just about the time that Mary was ready to have her baby, Caesar Augustus ordered a census to be taken throughout the Roman Empire. Everyone had to travel to the town of their ancestors to be counted.

12. Mary and Joseph had to go to the town of Bethlehem, the town from where King David came. While they were there, the time came for Mary to give birth.

13. Mary and Joseph searched high and low looking for a place to stay, but there wasn’t a room for them.

14. One of the innkeepers showed them the way to a place where animals were kept. There, in the silence of night, God delivered His wonderful gift and fulfilled the promise He had made to His people. Jesus had arrived!

15. Mary and Joseph wrapped Him up and laid Him in a manger - a feeding trough for the animals. Mary and Joseph smiled and thanked God for giving them front-row seats to watch His plan come to life.

16. They named him “Immanuel - God has come to live with us.” And that was exactly the truth!

17. Above the stable that night there was a large star in the sky, one that shined brighter than all the others. God placed it there so everyone would know that His Son had been born.

18. That night there were shepherds in the fields nearby. They were watching over their sheep when, suddenly, an angel appeared to them. At first, they were frightened.

19. The angel told them, “Don’t be afraid. I’m here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide.”

20. The angel continued, “A Savior has just been born in David’s town, a Savior who is Messiah. This is what you’re to look for - a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger.”

21. All at once a huge group of angels filled the sky and said, “Glory to God, and peace to all men and women on earth!” Then, as quickly as they appeared, all the angels left.

22. The shepherds talked amongst themselves. They said, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see what God has revealed to us! They hurried off, leaving everything behind, and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger.

23. The shepherds knelt on the dirt floor next to the baby. Seeing was believing - it was exactly as the angels had said.

24. God’s Promise - the One that they had heard about their entire lifetime - was finally here. Jesus had come to earth to save us. God had sent His one and only Son!

25. Nothing would ever be the same.

Jesus entered the world that night as a baby, but He grew into a man who gave His life for us all. All we have to do is believe.

Advent Reading from David C Cook Publishers

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Week 1: Hope Nov 29 Nov 30 Dec 1 Dec 2 Dec 3 Dec 4 Dec 5

Jeremiah 31:31-40 Jeremiah 33:14-26 Isaiah 40:1-11 Psalm 33 Psalm 130 Romans 5:1-11 1 Thessalonians 4:13—5:11

Week 2: Peace

A DIY Advent Calendar Create a fun advent calendar with envelopes to hold your daily readings.

Kids will love pulling the reading out of the envelopes each day. You can also put in little treasures each day or a family fun acvitivity (see page 9).

Connect their feelings of excitement and anticipation to God’s people eagerly anticipating the coming Messiah!

To make your own, use clothespins and envelopes for a simple version OR download the free printable cards pictured from the blog Ella Claire Inspired.

URL: fbcg.com/adventcalendar

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Scriptures for Advent Advent is a great time to incorporate scripture reading into family time. These scriptures have been chosen to coincide with each week of Advent: Hope, Peace, Joy and Love.

Read through the passages together as a family and talk about what it means to anticipate the coming King.

We hope it will encourage some great conversations at home and to help you, as a family, stay focused on the promise of the Messiah.

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Dec 6 Dec 7 Dec 8 Dec 9 Dec 10 Dec 11 Dec 12

Isaiah 2:1-5 Isaiah 11:1-9 Isaiah 54:11-17 Ezekiel 34:11-31 Zechariah 8:9-17 Psalm 85 1 Thessalonians 5:12-28

Week 3: Joy Dec 13 Dec 14 Dec 15 Dec 16 Dec 17 Dec 18 Dec 19

Luke 3:7-18 Isaiah 12:1-6 Isaiah 52:1-12 Psalm 126 Zechariah 9:9-17 Zephaniah 3:14-20 Philippians 4:4-9

Week 4: Love Dec 20 Dec 21 Dec 22 Dec 23 Dec 24 Dec 25

Luke 1:26-38 Luke 1:39-56 Luke 1:57-80 Matthew 1:18-25 John 1:1-18 Luke 2:1-20

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Fun Together do y h W er? t t a m

The Christmas holiday is really just a part of the gospel story (BIG GOD STORY)—God came as the man, Jesus, in the flesh to be the perfect sacrifice for our sins. Jesus’ birth signifies God’s grace and love for His people.

Traditions are powerful for a family.

For one thing, they bring families closer together. By nature, traditions take time and commitment. This time together helps you make new memories while also remembering the past. Traditions remind us to stop the busy cycle of life long enough to reconnect and build bonds.

But the ones that are most affected by traditions are children. “Children love rituals.” “Children find a certain security and solace in something that gives a sense of belonging and comfort. Kids find rituals fascinating— artistically, spiritually, and emotionally.”

Traditions remind us to stop the busy cycle of life long enough to reconnect and build bonds.

They find a sense of awe in the holidays, giving them a picture not only of family bonding, but also of the importance of Christ—the celebration of His majesty.

Traditions create legacy. Traditions are a great way to pass down family values to children who will in turn, pass them on to their children and so on. Just as God told the Jews in Deuteronomy 11:18-20:

“You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates …”

When used properly, traditions are a great way to pass down stories of faith and customs through the generations. As children interact with their senses—the feeling of the prickly needles and the smells of the evergreens and the sounds of caroling—parents should remind them of the meaning of these traditions. The evergreen tree is a reminder of the cross and the everlasting life of Christ, and the sounds of caroling are the proclamation of rejoicing.

From familylife.com

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FAMILY MOVIE NIGHT Christmas movies are great way to spend time as family!

With a little intentionality, you can incorporate faith conversations into movie night.

Watch one of these and try out the questions or create your own with a family favorite.

Elf What were some of the things that Buddy got super excited about?

Share about a time you just couldn’t wait for something or someone.

What was it like to anticipate their arrival?

How does it make you feel that Jesus could come at any time? Excited? Scared? Nervous? Why?

How the Grinch Stole Christmas Begin the conversation by asking about WHY the grinch had a change of heart after he stole Christmas.

Why do you think Buddy was so easily able to identify the Santa from the department store was an imposter?

A Charlie Brown Christmas

Who is someone in your life that you know so well that you could identify them by their voice or the way they walk or smell? What does it mean to know Jesus in that way? Do you think you can?

Sometimes, we forget what the Christmas season is all about. This fun and entertaining movie brings us back to the truth.

What things distract us from remembering that Christmas is really all Is it harder to believe in what you about Jesus and his birth? Are those can see or what you can’t see? What things bad? How can we enjoy some does Buddy teach everyone about of that extra fun stuff but also keep Christmas spirit? Is that like having Jesus central this season? faith in Jesus?

Why does Charlie Brown pick the shabby little tree? How does Jesus see value in shabby things?

When the kids fix up the tree, Linus says “Maybe it just needs a little love.” Do you know people who just need a little love? How can you show them love?

Have you ever referred to someone as a “Grinch”? Why? How would you describe his transformation after his heart grows?

Linus teaches all of his friends what Christmas is really about. How does their perspective change after this?

What happens?

Do you think everyone in Whoville was accepting of the Grinch after that Christmas? Why or why not?

Have you ever seen a real life “Grinch” transformed? What happened?

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How can you be a reminder to others about what Christmas is really about? How can you share the good news of Jesus’ birth?

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Great For little hands !

Brownie Candy Cane Cookies Ingredients:

1 (18.3 oz) pkg brownie mix (I used Betty Crocker fudge brownie mix) 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 1/4 cup packed light-brown sugar 1/4 tsp salt 2 large eggs 2 Tbsp milk 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted 1 tsp vanilla extract 3/4 tsp peppermint extract 1/2 cup crushed peppermint candy canes For Vanilla Cream Frosting: 4 cups powdered sugar 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened 6 Tbsp heavy cream 1 tsp vanilla extract 1/4 tsp salt

Christmas Hug Cookies Ingredients:

Directions:

Cookie Sheets Parchment Paper

Bake the cookies in the oven for 4-5 minutes, until the chocolate is soft but not completely melted. Press one mnm in the center of each cookie. Put cookies in the refridgerator to cool.

3 Dozen Hershey’s Hugs 3 Dozen Square Pretzels 3 Dozen MnMs (red and green)

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Place pretzels in a single layer on the sheet, leaving a little space between pretzels. Top each preztel with a Hershey’s Hug.

Vanilla Cream Frosting In a large mixing bowl, with an electric mixer, whip together sugar, butter and cream until fluffy. Stir in vanilla and salt, blend well.

Eat, enjoy and share!

Recipes/photos from cookingclassy.com

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Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a cookie sheet and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together brownie mix, flour, brown sugar and salt. Add in eggs and milk and stir with a large spoon. Add in melted butter, vanilla and peppermint extract, stir until well blended. Spoon dough by heaping tablespoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet (you can fit 12 per sheet). Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before frosting. Once cool, frost each cookie and sprinkle with crushed candy canes.

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Start a new tradition this year!

Activities for Advent 8

Turn Christmas movie watching time in an opportunity for a faith at home conversation. Try out the questions on page 7 or create questions for your family’s favorite Christmas movie.

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Have an ugly sweater Christmas photo shoot. Send out the pictures on your holiday cards or hang them up.

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Attend a Christmas perfomance! Elevate will have a “Wonderful Christmas” show at FBCG Dec 4 & 5 at 7pm. The Preschool Christmas Program will be Dec 6 at 4:30pm.

The Orchestra/Choir program will be Dec 13 at 4 and 6pm. Visit FBCG. com for details.

There are plenty ot ways to connect as a family during the Advent Season.

Schedule some fun into your lives.

You could consider adding an activity a day to your advent calendar envelopes or save the fun for the weekends.

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Go Ice Skating! There are plenty of free rinks in Kane County.

Make sure to check ahead if you need skate rentals.

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Go outside and build a snowman, have a snowball fight or go sledding.

No snow on the ground yet?

Make a winter wonderland indoors with paper snowflakes.

Hang them at varying heights with fishing line in the windows and hallways.

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Enjoy the Geneva Christmas Walk. Visit the Geneva Chamber website for details on all of the festivities. Dec 4-6th.

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Make and decorate gingerbread houses. For a simple version, make the houses out of graham crackers.

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Set up a family game night! A quick search for “Minute to Win it Christmas Games” will lead you to plenty of family fun ideas that will have everyone laughing in no time.

Roast marshmallows inside in the fireplace (or over the stove).

You can also have a “snowball fight” with the extras.

Make Christmas cookies together. This can be fun for kids of all ages and the grown ups too. Try the recipes on page 8 or make a family favorite.

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Ride the Polar Express in South Elgin. Visit foxtrolley. org for details.

Make a silly Christmas video to email to friends and family on Christmas day.

Costumes encouraged!

Invite your neighbors over for a hot cocoa party.

Try different flavors and toppings to make it extra special.

Have a family slumber party under the Christmas tree. Grab your pillow and your most festive jammies!

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Christmas Trees Supplies:

DIY it!

Craft Sticks Glue Sharp Scissors Green, red and white paint Glitter, pom poms and other ornaments Yellow paper for stars Christmas Pipe Cleaners

Directions:

Cut craft sticks in varying lengths. Glue pieces to one larger stick. Paint and decorate as desired. Create a base from playdough to stand up or add a ribbon for hanging.

Alternative: No cutting needed! Assemble trees using three uncut sticks in a triangle. Decorate as desired.

Giant Craft Stick Snowflakes These look great hanging in a front window!

Supplies:

Craft Sticks Hot Glue/Gun Paint Glitter

Lay out snowflake shapes, glueing sticks together with hot glue. Be creative! Use a protractor to make exact angles or eyeball it. Look up shapes on the internet if you need inspiration!

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Salt Dough Ornament Use cookie cutters to create shapes or make a handprint in a circle.

Supplies:

1 cup flour 1/2 cup of water 1/2 cup of salt Mix. Knead dough.

If you want to make an ornament, poke a hole in the top of your shape. Bake in the oven at 200 degrees for approximately 2 hours or until dough is firm.

Note: dough does NOT taste good.

Paint or decorate as desired!

Serve Together Random Acts of Kindness Here are a few ideas: • Take new coloring books & crayons to leave in a hospital waiting room • Let someone go ahead of you • At some time during the day today, everyone in the family can open a door for someone • As a family go through your pantry and donate items to Shepherd's Heart food pantry • Buy a gift card at the checkout of the grocery store & give it to person behind you before leaving • Give gift card or coupon to a table at a restaurant (good way to use freebie or discount coupons for restaurants) • Give a compliment to someone • In drive thru line, pay for person's meal behind you • Make a meal (double your evening's recipe) for a friend or loved one • Buy hot cocoa or coffee for a Salvation Army bell ringer • Smile at someone today • Buy a package of gum or mints for a checkout clerk at grocery or convenience clerk • Leave a basket of Christmas gifts on the doorstep of a family in need • Put a candy cane on every car in a parking lot Faith@Home

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act of

Serving as a family is important during any season but can be especially beneficial during Christmas as children learn to think about the needs of others. As a family, find simple, practical ways to serve and show the love of God to our neighbors by committing to doing at least one random act of kindness each week during this Christmas season!

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WHAT CAN WE DO?

Join in with what FBCG is doing for the Christmas Season. Here are a few options for your family:

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F E E D : Fill a specifically labeled food bag according to printed instructions for our FBCG Shepherd’s Heart Pantry. Leave it in either campus’ collection bin. Consider adding a homemade Christmas card to bring the love of Jesus to the family who receives the food.

G I V E : The Christmas Eve offering will go to two Serve the World Partners. Emmanuel House is a ministry that pulls families out of the poverty cycle by making the dream of home ownership a reality. FBCG sponsors one of these houses in Aurora. Lifewater provides fresh clean water to those who desperately need it around the world. As you consider your Christmas Eve offering this year, encourage your children to contribute to the cause as an act of both serving and worship.

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S H A R E : Lazarus House, our local homeless shelter, is in need of disposable tableware. Donate plates, cups, silverware, etc. at either campus. Additionally, many refugee families in our area are in need of coats, gloves and hats for the cold weather.

Bring your clean items to either campus.

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J O I N : Celebrate the Christmas season with our Refugee Ministry. There are a variety of family-friendly opportunities for you to spend time with refugees in the area. Please contact Cheryl Pacilio for more information. CPacilio@fbcg.com or (630)232-7068x152.

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G O : Sign up for a shift at the Northern Illinois Food Bank or Feed my Starving Children.

Both places provide opportunities to feed hungry people both in our local area and around the world.

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Grow Together Witnesses Questions Pastors Brian and Jeff have provided some questions for discussion following each sermon series.

Engage your children children with these questions to spark a conversation. Ask your own follow up questions. Give you children an opportunity to ask their own questions as well. Was anything unclear? What do they need help understanding?

Joseph- the adoptive father

Herod- the jealous king

1. How do you think Joseph felt as he was looking forward to his wedding?

1. Why did King Herod try to kill Jesus shortly after his birth? After all, what difference could a tiny baby make to someone as powerful as he was?

2. What three words might describe how Joseph felt when Mary told him she was pregnant?

3. The Bible tells us that an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream to tell him that the child was “from the Holy Spirit” and that he should not be afraid to take Mary as his wife. If you were Joseph, what would you have been tempted to say to the angel?

4. Why do you think God chose Joseph to be the earthly father of Jesus?

Melchior- the wise man

2. The Bible tells us that when Herod wanted to find out where the Christ was to be born, he called in the priests and the scribes. How did they know where Jesus would be born? (Mt 2:5-6) 3. How did Herod try to trick the Magi (Wise Men) into revealing the location of Baby Jesus?

4. How did God use dreams to protect Jesus and his family? (Mt 2:12-14)

Shepherd- the unlikely witness

1. Matthew’s Gospel tells us about magi (wise men) from the East who came in search of Jesus. Why did they come and what did they want to do when the found Jesus? (Mt 2:2)

1. Luke tells us the shepherds were “filled with great fear” when the glory of the Lord surrounded them.

Why do you think their reaction to God’s glory was fear?

2. The magi took some big risks to try and find Jesus: danger on the roads, Herod’s anger, cost of the journey, etc. Do you think the risks were worth it to find Jesus? Why?

2. The birth of a child is always “good news” for a family! But Luke tells us that the birth of this child is “good news of great joy that will be for all the people.”

Why is the birth of this child such good news?

3. We know that these wise men brought gifts for Jesus: gold, frankincense and myrrh. What gifts do you have to offer Jesus?

3. Many scholars believe that shepherds were viewed as rather “uneducated” and “undesirable” in that culture. What does it mean, then, that God chose to announce Christ’s birth to them of all people?

Excerpt from the poem “In the Bleak Mid-Winter”

By Christina Rossetti “What can I give Him, Poor as I am?

If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb, If I were a wise man I would do my part?

Yet what can I give Him? Give him heart.”

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4. Luke tells us that the response of the shepherds to seeing the child was to go and tell others that the Messiah (the Christ) had been born. Luke then says, “...all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.” Why do you think people were surprised at what the shepherds were telling them?

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Memorize Isaiah 9:6 as a family. Try going arond the table word for word.

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Carry it through to 2016 Hopefully your family has enjoyed this Together @ Christmas resource and found it to be inspirational, helpful, fun and leaving you wanting more. Parents are responsible for the spiritual nurturing of their children, but you don’t need to feel alone in this endeavor. Here at FBCG, the Children and Student Ministries Departments are dedicated to coming alongside you as you create an environment for spiritual growth in your home. As you think about how to carry on the momentum from Advent, we have a few ideas to keep you going strong into the new year.

1. Attend worship as a family. Intergenerational worship and age-specific learning are both important for spiritual growth. After you attend service together, have a conversation about the content. Welcome questions.

2. Sign up (Parents) for an FBCG Spiritual Parenting class. These classes will equip you to become disciplers of your children and incorporate faith at home into everyday life.

3. Pick 1 Bible Verse each month to learn as a family.

4. Once a week, each family member share the name of someone or something they would like to pray for.

Take time to pray together for these. If your children are little, pray for them at bedtime until they are old enough to pray with you.

5. Parents, say a daily Blessing over each child in the morning, or night time or while they are at school.

6. Participate in an FBCG serving project and/or community project. Look for opportunities to serve together.

7. Random Acts of Kindness aren’t just for the holidays! Brainstorm ways to keep doing this in the New Year.

8. Speak words of encouragement to one another in the home. Build each other up in love!

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