God has blessed me and my wife with four children and twelve grandchildren. We look forward to ALL being together under one roof at least one time a year. Every other year that ONE time falls on Thanksgiving and on the opposite year falls at Christmas. However, even on the years where our “get together” falls at Thanksgiving time…we have our traditional family worship experience for Christmas. This plan insures us that we get to see our family, they get to be with their in-laws as well, and, nobody feels pressured to make ALL the family stops at EVERY holiday.
One of our favorite times during this annual gathering has become our family time of worship (at least it’s MY favorite time!) I am really blessed to be able to gather all of my kids and grandkids around me and make sure that all are reminded of the Gospel Story. The nature of this time has changed a little as the grandkids have grown older, but, it remains a treasure in my heart each year. From year to year the outline changes a little, activities that we include vary, BUT, the message stays the same!
This year our family worship time included:
A conversational time about the true meaning of Christmas- Playing a couple of games from The Gospel Project curriculum (On one side of the room I placed a sign that read “Nazareth.” On the other side of the room I placed another sign that read “Bethlehem.” We divided into teams and did crazy things that crawl, hop, run from Nazareth and Bethlehem and back. And, of course, we talked about the real 70 mile trip for Mary and Joseph. The second game was a fun, crazy take off on Simon Says. The key phrase to leave out or include in order to eliminate plays was “I decree.” Afterwards we talked about what a decree really is.)
- Sharing the Bible story from Luke 2
- Singing favorite songs about Jesus and Christmas (They had to be about Jesus!)
- Prayer
- As you can see…it wasn’t complicated, it wasn’t difficult to plan and prepare, it was just…a time of worship to remember and treasure. Below is a picture of the “Vogel” clan this year who came to our family time of CHRISTMAS
WORSHIP.
