As we praise, as we share, as we converse, as we witness … may our words be an offering to the Word who became like us, to live among us, and then give His life for us.
Advent Activities and Christmas Crafts {Let the Children Come}
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Kids and adults alike get excited about Christmastime. As families of faith, we want our children to know and focus on the reason for Christmas.
God’s Word is the best source to teach His truths. When we include other activities, we can also encourage community, invite exploration, reiterate knowledge, engage additional senses, and more.
Read on for several great resources for advent and Christmas, including several you can still jump in on with just a week until Christmas!
Advent Readings, Studies, and Activities
- We love the Jesus Storybook Bible for anytime reading with your family. Erin at Home with the Boys has an advent reading plan that accompanies Jesus Storybook Bible with one story a night each day in December until Christmas. I particularly love how this Bible circles back around to Christ in every single story, including all the Old Testament retellings. It all points to Him!
- The Sparkle Box – Carisa at 1+1+1=1 shares their plan for using the Sparkle Box story and idea and blessing others this Christmas! Carisa also created some lovely Jesse Tree printables.
- Last year, Kathy shared 10 meaningful family Christmas activities here on Do Not Depart.
- Grapevine Studies provide family Bible studies focus on timeline and using stick figures to add a tactile component to learning and studying the Word. (I reviewed their studies here and here on my personal bog.) Be sure to check out their “Birth of Jesus” study! Because it’s a downloadable document, you could still get it this week and study a few lessons between now and Christmas! Click here to visit Grapevine Studies.
- Last year, I shared several ways to share the Word through serving others, including Christmastime ideas.
- Patti shared how her family throws a birthday party for Jesus at Christmas each year.
- Becky at This Reading Mama created an awesome, free Nativity Pre-K/K printable packet with loads of activities incorporating early literacy and math skills.
- Truth in the Tinsel is an advent program by Amanda White where kids create crafts to accompany studying a few verses within advent readings. It’s beautiful, simple, and engaging. Amanda offers many resources and blog posts at the Truth in the Tinsel website.
Christmas Crafts
While you’re reading the birth story aloud, you and your kids can also make these lovely Christmas crafts:
- Here are two versions of an angel craft – one using handprints and another using coffee filters.
- No Time for Flash Cards shows us a fun nativity shapes craft for a window display.
- I recently shared about a resourced called “Winter Brick Activities and More!” on my personal blog. This downloadable resource from Educating Laytons gives several winter- and nativity-themed templates for brick creations, plus many other hands-on activity ideas. Many of the ideas shared can be completed with minimal preparation, which can be helpful during Christmas week when visiting family!
- Maureen at Spell Outloud put together a useful list of activities to accompany Song of the Stars by Sally-Lloyd Jones (the same author as the Jesus Storybook Bible). (Maureen also posted a huge list of nativity resources here.)
- While crafting and reading, listen to some Christ-focused Christmas carols and look for Jesus in them using this series we did, or read about their origins in this post from (in)courage,
How does your family prepare for advent and Christmas together? Share your activities and studies in the comments!
Christ in our conversations
We don’t need an official calendar holiday in order to use the gift of words well. You might not even celebrate Christmas, but if we believe the account of the Babe in the manger, we must be inspired to share the good tidings.
Christ belongs in our conversations. We’ve talked about some of the challenges of having the story of the Word who became flesh heard in our modern times. We’ve talked about using God’s gift of words to praise Him, and we’ve considered how to tame our tongues and how to take care and caution in sharing responsibly in the social media age. But how do we use our words to naturally weave Jesus into our conversations? The sight of manger scenes, talk of peace on earth, and sounds of Silent Night open doors of opportunity to talk about the Prince of Peace, regardless of our take on the Christmas season.
If Jesus can find a place in an unlikely manger, it shouldn’t be so hard to find a place in the chatter of those who know Him. A simple, but intentional, question or comment may be the pivotal point to bring up “the Jesus” in our conversations.
Christ in our conversations
- Q: So do you have a favorite image that says “Christmas” to you?
- A: I love to imagine the manger scene. It’s hard to grasp that God became a helpless baby for me, but He did. Have you ever wondered why Jesus had to become a man?
- Q: What’s your favorite Christmas carol?
- A: I’ve sung a lot of them without even thinking. Recently, I paid attention to O Holy Night. “Long lay the world in sin and error pining ’til He appeared and the soul felt His worth.” I thought about how I was pining away for something to bring me hope before I knew the worth Jesus brings to my life.
- Q: So after Christmas comes the New Year. Do you have hopes for the year ahead?
- A: I’d love to pray about that for you. God says that if we give God the right place in our lives, He will direct our paths. I’ll ask Him to show you what good things He has for you.
Some day, our friend or relative may come to know Jesus as their personal Savior. While we’re rejoicing, they might be wondering why we didn’t speak up and turn our common conversations to spiritual things, life-changing things. News that the Word became flesh and lived among us, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).
“but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,” (1 Peter 3:15 ESV).
When we use our gift of words to share the true events of the coming of Christ, we honor Him as holy. It’s not as complicated or frightening as we often make it. After all, the Word in us gives us hope, and that’s something amazing to talk about!
(Here is a printable sheet of more examples and reminders to help us include Christ in our conversations this Christmas and in the New Year.)
Do you have a way that works for you to turn conversations to Christ?
Word Travels Fast – Send Responsibly
“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”
Ephesians 4:29
You’re often told to watch your words. To think before you talk. To be slow to speak (James 1:19). And it’s wise advice. Words spoken with no thought can do great harm.
But that doesn’t mean you have to keep quiet. Your words are gifts to be handed out to encourage and help others (Ephesians 4:29).
And you’ve never had greater opportunity to say more words to more people with greater speed than today.
Gone are the days of Joseph and Mary when word didn’t travel fast. Back then, even though the Roman roads were great for their time, communication was only as fast as the messenger could travel.
When Caesar Augustus sent out his decree for census registration (Luke 2:1), prompting Joseph and Mary to travel to Bethlehem, the message was probably delivered via a rider on horseback. There may have been a station every ten miles for trading in fresh horses, and every twenty-five miles for new riders or for lodging.
And with the exception of the angels shouting glad tidings from the sky itself, the news of Jesus’s birth couldn’t have traveled quickly either.
Shepherds on feet couldn’t compare with a Facebook status—including photos from your iPhone!—for speed of a birth announcement.
Today, with a single click on a keyboard, the whole world can have instant access to your words.
So should you be wary of using words because they can so easily go viral, with no retrieval once “send” is hit?
While there are always things you’ll need to ponder and pray over before saying, other things are safe to send anytime, anywhere. People still need a now word from the Lord as much as ever!
And if the Spirit gives words to you to share, don’t be stingy. Send them on.
Here are 4 things you can send out daily–and quickly–with no worries.
1. Thank you
Never hesitate to tell someone thanks for a job well done or for doing you a favor. You can’t go wrong with gratitude.
For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.
Ephesians 1:15-16
2. I’m sorry
Apologies are always welcome, too. As soon as you can mean it, say it. The quicker you admit you’re wrong, the quicker the healing can begin.
Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
James 5:16
3. God bless you
Most people won’t refuse a blessing. So be generous in praying God’s best for those you’re around. What a powerful way to show you care and that God does, too.
The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.
Numbers 6:24-25
4. I love you
Can anybody hear this too much? Your purpose on earth is to love God and love others. So do it, but also say it. Telling others you love them is a word you can send quickly and frequently.
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
John 13:34
So if you have something good to say today, let those words travel fast.
May your words of faith, hope, and love go viral!
Here’s a fun video if Jesus had been born in our digital age:
Which social media are you quickest to reply to?
Have you ever sent an email you wish you could take back?
Who can you encourage today with your words?
Please leave a comment below.
Christmas Praise Cards
One thing I love about Christmas is the music. We sing a lot of songs in December that we don’t hear at any other time of year. Some, like “Silent Night” and “Oh, Little Town of Bethlehem” point to Jesus. But many popular ones like “Jingle Bells” and “Deck the Halls” don’t mention Jesus at all.
Those secular songs are fun, but they completely ignore the reason for the season. We celebrate Christmas because God came to earth as a man in order to provide salvation for mankind. That is definitely something not only to celebrate, but to also praise God for – in song and in word.
Praise packs the biblical Christmas story. We see it again and again in Matthew and Luke. Sometimes the praise took the form of a song and sometimes a prayer. But all these examples show us that praise is the appropriate response to the birth of our Savior.
How often during the Christmas season do we take the time to purposefully praise God?
Today’s printable contains four praise prompts based on the songs and prayers of praise in the biblical Christmas story. Print it out and cut into four cards. You can stick these four praise reminders in your Bible, on your fridge, or anywhere you will see them. Use these cards to prompt your own praise to God for sending our Savior.
Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people! Luke 1:68
Words Fitly Spoken – Daily Scriptures to Help Tame the Tongue
The Christmas music is blaring out of speakers everywhere, lights are flashing and photos of smilingly perfect family gatherings plaster every form of media. Facebook and Pinterest are a collage of baked goods and adorable Christmas crafts. And the calendar? Every day is filled to the brim.
This joyful season of anticipating Christ’s birth has become, for many, a season of endless to-do lists and stress. It is enough to make one feel like snapping.
And unfortunately, many do… biting words chewing loved ones up and down, as frustration and exhaustion builds to boiling point.
Even those who choose to simplify, who choose to keep the focus on being still before the Lord in anticipation, can’t fully avoid the culture and the intensity of others this time of year.
As we contemplate our purpose in this season – as we open our hearts to receive renewal from the joy of our Savior coming to earth as a tiny baby – we must guard our mouths.
There is death and life in the tongue (Proverbs 18:21), and when we choose to speak in love we bring life into the world!
God’s Word has much to say about our words and mouths. Perhaps this time of year might be particularly suited for you to meditate on these scriptures.
We have compiled a printable calendar of scriptures that will help you tame your tongue with God’s help. You can not tame your tongue on your own (James 3:8)! Seek God in His Word and humble yourself before His transforming power.
May you be blessed this season, and may your mouth be full of words fitly spoken and golden (Proverbs 25:11).
We always appreciate hearing from you! What is your favorite scripture about words? Leave a comment here.
Good tidings in modern times
I emerged from the gauntlet of perfume counters and white coated clerks thrusting sample cards under my nose. Pausing in a forest of mitten covered racks, I caught my breath and surveyed the scene, searching for it. A mention of Christmas? Evidence Christ was born? Suggestion of a manger? There was none.
Other than giant-sized posters of happy people dressed in red beneath a single word in large script saying “BELIEVE,” little proof existed to say the day was anything other than a national shopping day. “Believe what?” I wanted to shout. No one would’ve heard me over the din of doorbusters and “Next!” and crying children covered by packages in strollers.
But department store shouldn’t have to tell me what to believe. They exist for shopping days; they know their goal and they stay focused. So who’s the one to declare good tidings in these noisy, modern times?
For Christians, the Christmas season celebrates the incarnation of God’s Son, the earthly birth of the heavenly Savior. Known as “the Word,” even His name promised the giving of a message, news of hope for all mankind. And in the very story of His arrival, words took center stage.
- announcements were made
- government decrees were sent out
- prophecy’s fulfillment was spoken
- a baby was inspired by a greeting
- good news of great joy was declared
- songs were sung by united hosts
- threats were sent out by Roman rulers
- rejection was delivered by a busy innkeeper
- worship was humbly spoken in the night
Along with the gift of “The Word,” God gave us the gift of words of our own. He entrusted us with the power of voice, whether spoken, written, signed, painted or played. He gave us the power to convey a message. His message. We have the potential to declare the Good Tidings.
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.“ John 1:14
Modern times are noisy times and times with more modes of delivering tidings than ever before.
With all of the words out there, people still want to know, “Believe what?”
And that’s where those entrusted with the power of words join with the shepherds and the angel host and the wise men to declare good tidings. Our modern times count on US to sound out the good news that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
Will you join Do Not Depart this month as we explore the gift of words and rediscover the power and the joy of good tidings in modern times?
Happy Thanksgiving!
A New Interactive Book Site {plus, book deals!}
This post is from one of our team writers, Kathy Howard. She’s an author of five great books and Bible studies, and she would love to share a new interactive book tool with you, along with some great Black Friday book deals! Read below to get the details.
I love Black Friday. And yes, I am one of those crazy people who will get up in the wee hours of the morning and stand in a long line waiting for the store to open. (I am not so crazy, however, to camp out overnight.)
In past years, my daughters and I have done this together several times. On Thanksgiving evening we scour the sale papers to make our plan. We make a list of what we want to get where. Then we decide which store we’ll hit first, then second, etc. There’s a coffee stop somewhere in the middle. We are home by late morning with half of our Christmas shopping done!
For us, the point of Black Friday is to find deals on things we would buy anyway. You could make an argument that we’re good stewards of the money God has given us. Plus, it’s fun.
However in recent years, I’ve spent less time and money in the brick and mortar stores and purchased more online. In fact I’ve already made a big dent in my Christmas shopping without leaving home!
Another thing I love to do is share great finds and deals with my friends. That’s what this post is really about. On Black Friday, New Hope Publishers is offering three specials you won’t want to miss!
1. Every New Hope ebook will be available for $2.99 all day! – Christian Book Distributors will definitely carry the sale. It may also show up on Amazon and Barnes and Noble so check both! This deal will include my books Unshakeable Faith, Fed Up with Flat Faith, God’s Truth Revealed, and Before His Throne.
2. An interactive, digital version of “Unshakeable Faith” Bible study workbook will be FREE from 2-4pm CST!!! – New Hope Publishers recently launched a fabulous women’s Bible study site. Exciting new resources include four Bible study workbooks with interactive features that few publishers yet have.Check out a sample now.
3. The other interactive Bible study workbooks for $2.99 from 2-4pm CST.
These deals are good enough that you don’t have to feel guilty about getting them for yourself. Load up for holiday reading and enjoy!
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
Read more about Kathy Howard here and on her site. Read all of Kathy’s posts so far on Do Not Depart here.
Favorite Online Bible Study Tools and Thanksgiving Posts
We here at Do Not Depart aim to provide tools and encouragement to abide in God’s Word. We want to “meditate on [His Word] day and night, so that [we] may be careful to do according to to all that is written in it” (Joshua 1:8), and we hope to help you do the same.
We need encouragement, study tips, new perspectives, and renewal, too. And we love how many wonderful believers have a presence on the internet to help encourage all of us to abide united as one body.
So, we thought we’d share some of our favorite tools with you today!
Favorite Online Bible Study Tools
There are SO many incredible tools out there. This partial list below is a sampling of some of the tools our team returns to again and again:
- Crossway.org has Bible study tips, ebooks, apps, articles, and a blog to help give you insight for studying.
- Most of us love and use Bible Gateway often. Bible Gateway offers many transitions to view online free, plus reading plans, a blog full of learning-focused articles, and more.
- BlueLetterBible.org is a useful site for word study, plus more blog posts with study tips and multiple versions to read and compare.
- HelloMornings hosts a huge community for multi-annual online Bible study groups. They also offer practical tips and encouragement for study and intentional living year round.
- We’ve written many posts with specific Bible study tools here on Do Not Depart over the years. Check out the archives for Bible study tools posts here.
Great (and Grateful) Thanksgiving Posts
With Thanksgiving quickly arriving in the US, we’ve seen some magnificent posts focused on gratitude to our great God. Let a few of these posts inspire you to be thankful always!
- “Why Thanksgiving is Subversive (and How to Have the Best Thanksgiving Yet)” from Ann Voskamp. Love this line: “Here is always good if you look at it long enough.”
- “When You Don’t Feel Thankful” by Lindsey Bell at The M.O.M. Initiative. A good read for anyone who has experienced loss near the holidays or when we need a change in perspective.
- “Gratitude is the Catalyst” from (in)courage. On how gratitude spurs intention.
- “How Can We Give Thanks in All Circumstances?” from DesiringGod.org.
What are you favorite online Bible study tools? What Thanksgiving posts have touched your heart this year? Share in the comments below!