In our last blog, we suggested 6 games you could play at Christmas events.
Here are 6 Christmas Talk Illustrations. You’ll still need to study the passage, prepare your talk and make it suit your context; but maybe there is just the seed of an idea here that could get you going.
- Shopping list. [Play “Decorate the tree” to link with theme]. Have a Christmas shopping bag (from any supermarket!) and give the children post-it notes. Ask them to help you make a list of all the things you need to make Christmas special. Stick them on the outside of the shopping bag. Have some items ready to put in; fairy lights, a present, tinsel. Read the angel statements from Luke 2:8-12. What did they have from our list? Nothing! But look how they felt; ‘they praised God for the saviour’ (v20). All these things in our bag are great, but only when they are helping us celebrate the most wonderful part of Christmas – Jesus. [Place a doll wrapped in white cloth into of your bag. Stick a ‘Jesus’ post-it note onto the bag.]
- Greatest gift. [Play “Present Wrap” to link with theme] Using card or cardboard, cut out the shape of a cross, with the right dimensions so that you can fold up the sides to make a cube (the long bit makes a side and a lid, while the top and cross pieces make the other 3 sides). Place a doll or jelly babies inside and wrap up the box. Ask the children what the best gift ever is, accept responses. Open the gift to reveal the baby. But why? He’s not as much fun as a bike or an X-box is He? John 3:16. Well actually He’s better because He was given to us, as a free gift, to save. [Open the box to reveal the cross]. Jesus died so that we would not perish but have eternal life.
- Has He been? This is the first question we ask one another in my house on Christmas morning, “Has he been?” I even ring my Sister now and ask this question, as we are grown up and don’t share a bedroom anymore! “Has he been?” we shriek. “What did he bring?” When we were kids, we were shrieking about Father Christmas. We loved getting presents. Now I shriek at my sister for a different reason. John 1:14 (ICB or the Message version). He has been! Jesus our saviour. He came to this world, becoming a baby to rescue us, full of grace and truth. He became like us, to be better than us, to save us. He has been, so that we can go… to be with him, in heaven forever. Now we can shriek about that.
- White as snow. [Play “Snowball Fight” or “Ice Ice Baby” to link with theme] Have a Christmas tree or branch and some snow spray. You could play the song, “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas”. Who loves the snow? What do you love about snow? [Show some snowy scenes]. When it snows, even ugly places look beautiful. A sparkling, white, pure blanket covers over the mud, the mess and rubbish underneath. Isaiah 1:18. The way snow covers up reminds me of a verse in the Bible, written 800 years before the first Christmas. [Wrap some red material around your tree] God said to his people, “I know you have a problem you can’t fix: Your sin.” It’s like this red material. I wish I could wash it, bleach it spray it, shower it. No matter what I do I can’t turn it white. To change it, I would need to cover it over. [Spray with snow spray] That was what God promised His people, “though your sins be as scarlet (deep crimson red), they shall be as white as snow.” Covered over with something pure and clean, covered over with Jesus.
- He came down Have a doll on a string, hung from the ceiling to lower into a bucket of mud or a manger. [Pointing to the ceiling] Jesus, the King of heaven, the one through whom the world was made. He humbled himself. He came down to this earth, not as a super hero with muscles, not as a mighty king riding on a lion, not in power as the commander of heaven’s angels, but as a baby, to a manger. [Lower doll into bucket of mud] Why would he do that? Why would he make himself so weak and needy? Because this is where we are. [Point to bucket] We are weak and needy. Philippians 2:8. v8a. He came down, because we needed Him to – and He showed us how to live in the mess of our world; perfectly. v8b He came to die on a cross. He did this so that all of us who trust in Him, [Stick a model person, like an action man, onto the doll] those who understand how much we need Him, can be raised to be with Him, raised from the mess we make, raised to be with Him forever [Raise doll and action man to the ceiling]
- Christmas onesie. Get a Christmas onesie. For the confused, that’s a Christmas themed all-in-one sleep suit. Who loves getting snuggled in their onesie? [Put a volunteer in a onesie] They’re so comfy. You don’t need slippers. You don’t need a top and bottoms. Everything you need to stay warm and cosy; all in one. What would be your perfect Christmas onesie? What would it look like? Isaiah 9:6. Let me tell you what God’s messenger, Isaiah, wrote about his perfect Christmas onesie. He wrote about what he was hoping for. This is what he knew we needed
- A wonderful counsellor: [Stick a label on the volunteer’s head, above onesie] One who would make wise decisions, who always knows the best words to say. Not just saying the things you want to hear, but the things you need to hear.
- A Mighty God: [Stick label on arms of onesie] One who could protect us, who can keep us safe because he is powerful enough to choose what happens to us. The One who is God. The one who is strong.
- An everlasting father: [Stick label on chest of onesie] One who will care for us, who would do whatever it takes to look after us. One we can trust. One who will never let us down… ever. One who will love us… forever.
- A prince of peace: [Stick label on a speech bubble and ask onesie wearer to hold it beside mouth] One who came bringing peace. The end of arguments, the end of bullying, the end of being shouted at, the end of being left out. His peace lasts forever.
What an amazing person that would be. This is Jesus Christ. The one who does it all for us. We don’t need anyone else. He is our onesie. Everything you need… in one.
This is a guest blog by Amy Smith, the Children’s Worker of GraceChurch Halewood
