Christmas Pageant (3)

In one paragraph

This Sunday's service was a Christmas pageant called "Reflections," presented by the children and youth of First B Jackson. Rather than a traditional sermon, the message came through a series of short dramatic scenes and songs built around one central question: what does Christmas actually mean? The benediction closed with a reading from 2 Thessalonians: "May the Lord of peace himself continually...

Read together

1. Luke 2:8-11 read aloud during the lighting of the Advent candle of joy
2. 2 Thessalonians 3:16 spoken as a benediction at the close of the service

Talk about it

1. The candle of joy was lit this third Sunday in Advent, with the reading from Luke 2 that the angel brought 'good news of great joy that will be for all the people.' Where do you find it hardest to hold onto that kind of joy, and what does it mean to you that the angel said it is for all the people?
2. One of the children in the pageant told Santa, 'You only give stuff. Jesus is the one who really helps us.' What is the difference, in your own experience, between receiving things and receiving real help?
3. A child in the pageant asked why everyone is so focused on Santa when Jesus is so much greater. Why do you think it is easy, even for people in the church, to get caught up in the surrounding noise of Christmas and lose sight of what we said we were celebrating?
4. Another child asked Santa to give her Christmas gifts to poor children she had seen in a magazine, saying she already had enough. What does generosity like that stir up in you, and how does it connect to the prayer that was offered about God setting the example of generosity by giving His Son?
5. The final child in the pageant told Santa, 'All I need for Christmas is a savior.' The pageant closed with songs about the weight of sin and the cross. What would it look like for you personally to approach this Christmas with that kind of clarity about what you actually need?