Help your youth observe the 12 days of Christmas with this mail challenge.
How many of our youth realize that the Christmas season hasn't even started yet? How many of them know it really begins on Dec. 25th and runs for 12 days leading up to the start of Epiphany on January 6th? (The answer is: probably not many!)
I often wonder if the let-down some people feel after Christmas day stems from the way we spend all of December (and even October and November) hyping our way to the 25th. There's no way one day can live up to that much anticipation. Why not help our youth see that the Christian observance of Christmas is not intended to be one single day of activity and gift-getting? Rather, it is a twelve-day season of celebration and reflection on what it means that God is revealed to us through the incarnation -- that God is known to us in human life.
Gather enough Christmas cards for all the youth in your ministry. Take the time to write each a brief, personal message in the card expressing why you are thankful for their gifts and presence in your church or youth group. In addition, include in the envelope a list of ideas for things your youth can do to observe each of the 12 days of the Christmas season. You could either just print them out on as one list or cut up the list up challenge them to pick one idea at random each day from the envelope and try it. Mail the cards and mark on the back: "Do Not Open Until Christmas Morning!"
Here are 12 suggestions to include in your list:
Day One: Dec. 26 is the "Feast of St. Stephen." Remember that song "Good King Wenceslaus looked out...?" Stephen is remembered for giving to the poor. You probably got some new stuff for Christmas. Spend a few minutes today gathering up some used items you don't need anymore (clothes, books, cds, etc) and make a plan to donate them to a Goodwill or other resell-it store. Read: Acts 6:8-10; 7:54-59
Day Two: What's that you say? The wise men aren't at the manger scene on the night of Jesus' birth? Well, not according to the Bible. Take those wise men out of your family nativity scene today and put them somewhere else in the house each of the 12 days of Christmas or even carry them with you wherever you go to mark their year-long journey to see Jesus. When anyone asks what your up to, explain to them the long journey the magi were willing to make to find Jesus (a journey we are invited to take, too!). Read Matthew 2: 1-12.
Day Three: It's still Christmas. Celebrate by finding some of left-over decorations you didn't use yet this year and add them to the tree, your room, or some other place in your home. Invite others to join you!
Day Four: The days after Christmas day can be a let-down for some people. Take some time today to call or Facebook a friend you think might particularly need some encouragement.
Day Five: Take some time alone or with a family member and look at the Christmas cards your family received so far this season. Remember stories about each of the senders and say a prayer of thanks for friends and family.
Day Six: Send the message "Merry Christmas" to others via Facebook or Twitter or text and if anyone asks if maybe you are a little confused about the date, share with them that the good news of Christmas just can't be contained to one day! Read: Isaiah 9: 6-7.
Day Seven: At Christmastime we celebrate Jesus coming as light into a dark world. Take some time today to sit in a quiet place, light a candle, and meditate on the flame as you consider ways you can help to shine Christ's light in the new year with your family, your friends, your teachers, and even strangers. Read John 8:12.
Day Eight: It's Jesus birthday. Here's a great excuse to bake a cake today and decorate it as a birthday cake for Jesus. Share it with others, but before they get a piece ask them to share one teaching from the life of Jesus that has been important to their faith journey. Read: Luke 2: 1-20.
Day Nine: You may have received a lot of nice gifts on Christmas, but today would be a good day to give thanks for the gifts of God's created world that have always been with you: air, sky, water, earth, living things. If possible, take some time today to take a quiet walk outside, giving God thanks for each element of nature you encounter (from the smallest animal to the biggest cloud).
Day Ten: Sometimes at the end of the year we write resolutions about things we'd like to change about ourselves in the new year. Today, take a few minutes to sit and write down changes you want to see in the whole world next year...big or little...and then consider how you can be part of making those change happen...in ways big and little. Post the list in your room where you will see it periodically. Read: Luke 4: 14-21.
Day Eleven: Didn't get around to sending Christmas cards this year? No problem! Send Epiphany cards. Check the stores for a 1/2 off box of cards depicting the wise men. Send them to friends and family along with a message with a personal hope you have for each of them in the new year. Chances are you'll get props for being the only person they know to send Epiphany cards!
Day Twelve: There is an old custom, on or just before the start of the season of Epiphany (Jan. 6), to do a blessing of your home. With permission of your parental units, use a piece of chalk to write the following on the inside door frame of your home's front door: 20+C+M+B+12. The numbers on either side of the equation represent the coming year (in this case 2012). The letters CMB stand for the Latin phrase "Christus Mansionem Benedicat," meaning "May Christ bless this dwelling" (some people also think they stand for the folkloric names of the three wisemen: Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar). Finish by offering a prayer aloud or in silence, that your home might be a place where others in the coming year experience the blessing of Christ's love, peace, hope, and joy. Want a simpler option? Find a Christmas card with the 3 wise men on it and tape it over your door for the whole new year as a reminder that those who journey to your home should find the light of Christ there.
Day Two: What's that you say? The wise men aren't at the manger scene on the night of Jesus' birth? Well, not according to the Bible. Take those wise men out of your family nativity scene today and put them somewhere else in the house each of the 12 days of Christmas or even carry them with you wherever you go to mark their year-long journey to see Jesus. When anyone asks what your up to, explain to them the long journey the magi were willing to make to find Jesus (a journey we are invited to take, too!). Read Matthew 2: 1-12.
Day Three: It's still Christmas. Celebrate by finding some of left-over decorations you didn't use yet this year and add them to the tree, your room, or some other place in your home. Invite others to join you!
Day Four: The days after Christmas day can be a let-down for some people. Take some time today to call or Facebook a friend you think might particularly need some encouragement.
Day Five: Take some time alone or with a family member and look at the Christmas cards your family received so far this season. Remember stories about each of the senders and say a prayer of thanks for friends and family.
Day Six: Send the message "Merry Christmas" to others via Facebook or Twitter or text and if anyone asks if maybe you are a little confused about the date, share with them that the good news of Christmas just can't be contained to one day! Read: Isaiah 9: 6-7.
Day Seven: At Christmastime we celebrate Jesus coming as light into a dark world. Take some time today to sit in a quiet place, light a candle, and meditate on the flame as you consider ways you can help to shine Christ's light in the new year with your family, your friends, your teachers, and even strangers. Read John 8:12.
Day Eight: It's Jesus birthday. Here's a great excuse to bake a cake today and decorate it as a birthday cake for Jesus. Share it with others, but before they get a piece ask them to share one teaching from the life of Jesus that has been important to their faith journey. Read: Luke 2: 1-20.
Day Nine: You may have received a lot of nice gifts on Christmas, but today would be a good day to give thanks for the gifts of God's created world that have always been with you: air, sky, water, earth, living things. If possible, take some time today to take a quiet walk outside, giving God thanks for each element of nature you encounter (from the smallest animal to the biggest cloud).
Day Ten: Sometimes at the end of the year we write resolutions about things we'd like to change about ourselves in the new year. Today, take a few minutes to sit and write down changes you want to see in the whole world next year...big or little...and then consider how you can be part of making those change happen...in ways big and little. Post the list in your room where you will see it periodically. Read: Luke 4: 14-21.
Day Eleven: Didn't get around to sending Christmas cards this year? No problem! Send Epiphany cards. Check the stores for a 1/2 off box of cards depicting the wise men. Send them to friends and family along with a message with a personal hope you have for each of them in the new year. Chances are you'll get props for being the only person they know to send Epiphany cards!
Day Twelve: There is an old custom, on or just before the start of the season of Epiphany (Jan. 6), to do a blessing of your home. With permission of your parental units, use a piece of chalk to write the following on the inside door frame of your home's front door: 20+C+M+B+12. The numbers on either side of the equation represent the coming year (in this case 2012). The letters CMB stand for the Latin phrase "Christus Mansionem Benedicat," meaning "May Christ bless this dwelling" (some people also think they stand for the folkloric names of the three wisemen: Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar). Finish by offering a prayer aloud or in silence, that your home might be a place where others in the coming year experience the blessing of Christ's love, peace, hope, and joy. Want a simpler option? Find a Christmas card with the 3 wise men on it and tape it over your door for the whole new year as a reminder that those who journey to your home should find the light of Christ there.
2 comments:
Thanks for this great idea. I'm interested to see what my youth think about it!
I love this idea. Thank you for sharing it. I can't wait to see what my youth think about it!
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