Advent Week 1: Wednesday

Family Scripture Reading: Matthew 1:18-25

Joseph Accepts Jesus as His Son

¹⁸ This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about^[d]: 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.¹⁹ Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet^[e] did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

²⁰ But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,^[f] because he will save his people from their sins.”

²² All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³ “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”^[g] (which means “God with us”).

²⁴ When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. ²⁵ But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus. people.”

Family Application: What do you believe about angels? 

An example of a gift that we can give Jesus is helping someone who is in need?  There are many ways that you are able to do that.  Pick one as a family and invite others to join you!

Family Craft Project— Got a lot of cupcake liners hanging around?  Take a few and make some angels.  Mix and match colors or make them all the same.

Prayer:

Come, Lord Jesus! Open our minds and hearts and souls as we wait for you to be born anew in our lives and in our family. Help us to experience your love in our family today.

As we prepare for the coming of your Son, O God, we give you thanks for the love of your son, Jesus, which we have experienced in our home today.

We give you thanks for this food and drink, signs of your gracious love. May this meal strengthen us to share your gifts with the hungry And all who look for your justice and mercy. Grant this through Christ our Lord,

Amen.

(lifelongfaith.com)

Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.

Hebrews 13:2

Advent Week 1: Tuesday

Family Scripture Reading: Luke 1:5-25

The Birth of John the Baptist Foretold

⁵ In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. ⁶ Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. ⁷ But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.

⁸ Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, ⁹ he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. ¹⁰ And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.

¹¹ Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. ¹² When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. ¹³ But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid,Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. ¹⁴ He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, ¹⁵ for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink,and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. ¹⁶ He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. ¹⁷ And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

¹⁸ Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”

¹⁹ The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news.²⁰ And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.”

²¹ Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. ²² When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.

²³ When his time of service was completed, he returned home. ²⁴ After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. ²⁵ “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”

Family Application: How would you feel if an angel suddenly appeared to you? Would you be afraid? Would you be surprised?

An example of a gift that we can give Jesus is giving of our money to the ministries of the church and also those around us in need.

Family Craft Project— Paper plate angels.  A great way to decorate the tree!

Angel is from the Greek word angelos which means “messenger”

Prayer: Dear God, thank you for your messengers.  Help us to give the gift of hope to all those who come into our lives.  Help us to prepare our hearts for your coming.  Amen

Advent Week One - Monday

Angels are messengers of God and appear in both the Old and New Testaments.  We get the idea that they have angels because over the years many artists have given them wings to symbolize that they are on a divine mission. Angels brought the news of Jesus’ impending birth to both Mary and Joseph.

Family Scripture Reading: Luke 1:26-38

The Birth of Jesus Foretold

²⁶ In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, ²⁷ to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

²⁹ Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. ³⁰ But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid,Mary; you have found favor with God. ³¹ You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, ³³ and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

³⁴ “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

³⁵ The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called^[b] the Son of God. ³⁶ Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. ³⁷ For no word from God will ever fail.”

³⁸ “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

Family Application: God sometimes asks us to be his messenger.  Are you ready to tell someone about the good news of Jesus?  Practice with each other (even preschoolers can be a giver of the good news!) tell the story of Jesus to each other and how he has changed your life.

An example of a gift that we can give Jesus is to tell someone about Jesus and inviting them to church we to can be messengers for God.

Family Craft Project—Angel Mosaic

Take the template of the Angel on the next page and  create a mosaic that represents your family.  You can use tissue paper or even pictures of each family member

Hope is something we need in our world. Think about different leaders in the world. Select one world leader. Pray for that world leader today.

Prayer: Dear God, thank you for the season of Advent and the gift of hope.  Help us to prepare our hearts for your coming and to remember the true meaning of Christmas.  Amen

Advent Has Begun

As this morning got way I realized very quickly how much we forget in the short time it has been since we pulled out the Christmas decorations.  As the children gathered around our nativity scene today there were the normal questions of why is it so small, why did we put it under the tree and where are all the pieces?  But the question I get every year, "Ms Bekah, why is the manger empty!? Where is baby Jesus??!"  Well it isn't time for him to come yet.  Advent is a time of waiting and expecting. As any mother who has been with child knows that waiting can seem like forever but it is worth the wait.  As we wait for the baby Jesus to be placed in the manger lets work together to understand more of the story.  Let's share this story with all those who come into our lives.

This week we are going to focus on hope and the angels that brought the message to Mary and Joseph.

Hope: Hope is given to us through the birth of Jesus who will save his people and be God with us. An angel told Joseph and Mary (at different times) that Mary would bear God’s son, Jesus, who will save people from sin.

“Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means, ‘God is with us.’” - Matthew 1:22-23

Angels: Angels—Heavenly beings created by God before creating Adam and Eve.  Angels act as God’s messengers to men and women.  They also worship God.

Make an Advent Wreath using toilet paper rolls and construction paper.

Our Advent wreath helps us count down the weeks till Christmas day.  There are four candles for each of the Sundays before Christmas day and a big white candle in the middle for Christmas Eve/Day.

We light the first candle this week to remind us of Hope.  Hope is a feeling we get when we are sure everything will be okay.  The birth of Jesus gives us hope.

Prayer:  Thank you God for your gift of Hope.  We thank you that the angels came and gave the good news that God's son Jesus was to be born.  Help us to spread that hope and good news to all our friends and family this week. Amen