© 2021 - 2026  Strandz

21 December 2025

Bible readings for today

  • Isaiah 7:10-16
  • Psalm 80:1-7,17-19 
  • Romans 1:1-7
  • Matthew 1:18-25
​​​Liturgical Colour: VIOLET

Collect

Living God, you called your people out of Egypt 
and gave them the covenant; 
prepare our hearts to hear your call, 
so that we may receive with joy the gospel of your Son 
and be your faithful people, now and for ever. 
Amen.

​E te Atua ora tonu, nāu i ārahi mai tāu iwi i Ihipa, 
i hoatu hoki te kawenata ki a rātou; 
whakaritea ō mātou ngākau kia rongo i tāu karanga, 
kia whiwhi ai mātou i te rongopai a tāu Tama i runga i te hari koa, 
kia pūmau ai mātou ki a koe āianei, ā, mō ake tonu atu. 
Āmine.

The Birth of Jesus (Matthew 1:18-25)​ / Advent 4: Love (Aroha)

Input for Leaders

​Fourth Advent Candle/Sunday: Love
“And in the end, everything else will turn out to be unimportant and inessential, except for this: Father, Child, and Love.” – St. (Pope) John Paul II

The fourth candle of Advent represents Love, the ultimate love of God that He might send His only Son for us. Called the “Angel’s Candle,” the fourth candle of Advent is lit the Sunday before Christmas, and it is the color purple, leading us to eagerly await the new Kingdom of God on earth. 
[From hallow.com]
Gospel Conversations 2025: ​Coming soon...
Gospel Conversations 2022: At last we've reached a Christmas story! It is Matthew's wonderful telling of how the gentle man who was to bring up Jesus learned of God's gift to the world. It's not the most familiar part of the Christmas story - not the part we find in Nativity Plays - but it's a story rich with joy and hope and fulfilment. 
Visio Lectio
Thanks to Rev. Sarah West for this week's print image from Visio Lectio, shared with permission. 
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Terms of Use
When Christmas is hard for kids
This week is exciting because Christmas is so close. Some children will know what they’re receiving as gifts, others will be planning holidays, others will have helped decorate the house or baked or already had Christmas parties. As a leader, it’s important to be mindful that there might be children for whom Christmas is a difficult time. There might be unusual family tensions through job loss, illness, having moved to a new city, lack of finances, etc. Your children might live in a separated family where they’re not quite sure which parent they’ll be with when.  The first Christmas after a traumatic event can be particularly difficult. As a leader, it’s important to allow the excitement and joy of the season to bubble up, and still be aware and support others who might be struggling. Don’t be afraid to acknowledge that even though Christmas is a joyous, exciting, amazing time of year, that for some people, Christmas can be hard and that we need to support, love and pray for those who are struggling.

Lighting the Advent Candle

Each week we gather together and light another candle. We see the light growing brighter and brighter as we get closer to the birth of the “Light of the World.”
​
Here is one way to do it (there are lots of different ways!):
The focus this first week of Advent is Love.
Light four candles to symbolize Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love.
  • Say: This is the candle of Love. God loves us so much that He sent His only Son to be with us and show us how to love others. We remember the angels who announced this great love to the world and celebrated the birth of Jesus.
  • Read: Luke 2:15-20, about the shepherds visiting Jesus and sharing what they heard from the angels.
  • Ask: I wonder how the shepherds shared the message of God’s love? I wonder how we can show God’s love to others this week?
  • Pray: Thank you, God, for your great Love, shown to us in Jesus. Help us to love others as you love us.

Intergenerational Worship

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Advent 4: Love (Intergen Australia) 
Advent to Christmas Series: Year A 2026

​Written and compiled by Katherine Ruhle. Bible references: Isaiah, Matthew, Psalms.

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Advent 4: Do you trust me? (Intergen Australia) 
Advent to Christmas Series: Year A 2023

Written and compiled by Alison Knox. Bible references: Isaiah.

Kids Talks

On this week's readings
  • Matthew 1:18-25 / Advent 4 (Gary Neal Hansen) - a paraphrased retelling of this week's verses.
  • Listen Up! (Ministry Ark) - full lesson plan on the angel appearing to Joseph. Aims to children understand that God speaks in different and real ways and wants to speak to them also.
  • Joseph listens to God and helps Jesus (RFour) - Ask, Tell, Share message on listening to God and obeying.
  • Good news for everyone! (Ministry to Children) - message on the good news of the gospel and sharing that with other (with props).

​On Love

Games & Activities

Kinetic Activities (adapted from Sermons4kids.com)
  • Hop scotch: Play hopscotch but instead of hopscotch numbers - have words from the todays story, or Christmas words. Use either a twister board or a dice with the words taped on. Each time a child has a turn, the leader will spin the board or throw the dice to tell the child which word to NOT jump on. Speed the game up as time goes on.
  • Scavenger hunt: Write words from todays story on slips of paper or other items and hide them in a designated area for a scavenger hunt. Once you've found all the words, get the kids to retell the story from today. 
  • Love race: (for kids with writing skills): Divide the children into teams.  Each team will have a blank A3 poster to run to, one at a time. When it is their turn, they will run to the poster and write a word from today's story or lesson. No repeats! Have a time limit and go until time is up. The team with the most words from today will be the winner!
  • Heart lacing: Use coloured thread or cord to lace around heart shapes. This can be adapted for different ages - for preschoolers use thick cardboard or wood with large holes and thick cord. For older kids you can use card with holes punched in it and wool or even felt and coloured embroidery thread needles. Here's one example (Our Kid Things).
  • Love balloons (check you don't have any kids who are sensitive to noise): Blow up balloons and place a slip of paper in each balloon with words/pictures from today's story. Then play a game of popping the balloons. Once all the paper is free get the kids to put the words in order on a poster board or on the table.
Love crafts
The fourth week of Advent is for love - the amazing love of God who sent his only Son for us. It's sometimes associated with angels as it was the angels who announced this amazing news to the world! Here are a few crafts to remind us:
A selection of other Christmas activities

Questions

On the story
  • I wonder what would it be like for Joseph to have an angel appear to him in a dream?
  • What might the angel have been like?  How did Joseph know it was an angel?
  • I wonder how Joseph felt, thinking about becoming the adopted father of God’s child?
  • I wonder if God will ever ask you and me to do something that we never really expected?
​On love
  • I wonder who you love?
  • I wonder who loves you?
  • I wonder how you show people that you love them?
  • I wonder how you know when someone loves you?
  • I wonder how we know that God loves us?
  • I wonder what some ways might be that we can show God that we love him?

Preschool Play

Tell the story
Read a part of the Christmas story each week from your favourite kids bible. Or read a different children's book about Jesus birth each week. Try:
  • The Nativity by Julie Vivas
  • The Christmas Surprise by Steph Williams
  • The Christmas Promise by Alison Mitchell
Talk about Christmas, babies being born, waiting, excitement. Why do we celebrate babies and birthdays? How do they celebrate their own birthday? Did they know that Christmas is Jesus' birthday? 

A Stable for a Story
Pop a brown cloth over three sides of a table to create a stable. Fill with picnic blankets, shredded brown and yellow paper or a hay coloured blanket. Add soft farm animals and a box for a manger with a doll in it. If you have them add some dress-ups for the kids. Depending on energy levels - you can either just let the kids play, or have your collection of Christmas books and offer to read while everyone curls up in the 'stable'. 

God Loves You
  • Set up a craft station with lots of love themed things. Try red, pink and white paper/card/glue/scissors, heart shaped stamps and stickers, felts/crayons etc. Put out pieces of paper that have "God loves me" or a Christmas verse in the middle and let the kids go wild decorating them.
  • How about creating an easy threading activity (Our Kid Things). Helpful hints - use a bigger heart and bigger holes. Shoe laces or cord is easier than wool for littles.
Talk about love and how much Jesus loves us. Do you know that Jesus loves you? The Christmas story reminds us that Jesus loves us! 

Birthday!
Why not decorate some cupcakes together (The Cake Mum). This is a fantastic fine motor skill activity! When you are finished you can all sing Happy Birthday to Jesus. Talk about - What is their favourite thing about birthdays? What is their favourite thing about Jesus birthday? Why do we still celebrate Jesus birthday 2000 years after he was born? What might Jesus want for his birthday this year?​

Art in Advent

​If you want to mark Advent in a simple rich way, how about creating a space where your kids can spend some time with Advent art. Two of my favourites advent depicting artists are John Swanson, Julie Vivas, and He Qi. 

Try these questions or make up your own:
What do you see? 
What is different from the bible story? What is the same?
What might this show us about God? About people? About our world?
What do you think is important in this picture?
Does anything in this picture have more than one meaning?
I wonder what God might be saying to you through this picture today?
Nuevo Amanecer (New Dawn), Nicaragua, 1987.
Painted by the group “Boanerges Cerrato” (International).

Pray it!

Paper chain prayers (Flame Creative) - a lovely collaborative way to visually pray together. 

Media

Over the summer

You may have fewer services or regulars over the summer months, but its always a great idea to anticipate that children will be present in your Sunday gatherings.

Quick checklist: 
  • Is your website up to date for visitors?
  • Do you have signage on the church doors or noticeboard for your summer services?
  • Are you ready to welcome new faces who are visiting or exploring new churches over the summer break? Think about your space, and how you can help families feel welcome in your time of worship.
  • How can your services accommodate all ages? 
  • Have some things printed out and a creative station available for kids who want an interactive space. 

Head over to our Holiday Page to check out ideas for Activity Bags (to use in the service) and Summer Packs for families.
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