25 December 2022

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Bible readings for today

• Isaiah 9:2-7
• Psalms 96:1-13
• Titus 2:11-14
• Luke 2:1-14
• Luke 2:15-20

​​​Liturgical Colour: WHITE

Collect

Son of God, 
light that shines in the dark, 
child of joy and peace, 
help us to come to you 
and be born anew this holy night. 
Hear this prayer for your love’s sake. 
Amen.

E te Tama a te Atua, te rama e tīaho nei i te pō, 
te tamaiti o te hari koa, o te rangimārie, 
āwhinatia mātou ki te haere atu ki a koe 
kia whānau hōu ai i tēnei pō tapu. 
Whakarongo ki tēnei īnoi i runga i tōu ake aroha. 
Āmine.

The Birth of Jesus (Luke 2:1-14)

Printable Nativity

The printable nativity in Christmas on the Move is great to print out and give to families as at your christmas services. Encourage them to make their own at home, or give them a pack with pens to start making it in the service. 
Head to the Christmas on the Move page on the Strandz website

Amazing Days

​The newest offering from Bible Society UK, based on Bob Hartman’s story booklet The Amazing Days
Download the video
Preview the video and find out more
Sign up for a free impromptu nativity script with powerpoint

The Impossible Promise

The Bible Society NZ has a free Christmas booklet for families, based on Bob Hartman’s story booklet The Impossible Promise.
​Animated video (YouTube)
Download Video 
​Download PowerPoint
Instant Nativity (pdf)

Gospel Conversations '22

Once again the GC team aim for the slightly chaotic goal of nine of their friends tackling the Christmas Gospel, all within 15 minutes! This year we took a verse or two each and dug for the Good News. Who knew there could be good news in a census, or the power of an emperor, or the terror of the shepherds? Join a whole bunch of us as we celebrate this joyous Christmas message and promise.

Gospel Conversations '21

 In this video, they opened up the conversation to anyone who had been a part of the Gospel Conversations over the year. The result was a slightly chaotic but joyful and varied sharing of what the challenges, good news and 'so what's' of the story of Christmas might be" - Rev. Dr. Anne van Gend. Thanks Dunedin team - these have been so great! ​

Overview: Luke 1-2 

BibleProject Luke 1-2 Overview

Visio Lectio

A print from Rev. Sarah West at Visio Lectio 
PNG Download
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Christmas Day

Today we celebrate the birth of the Saviour of the world! Here are some general Christmas ideas that you might like to include in your celebrations today. We keep more of our Christmas and Advent media and resources over on our Strandz website, but have put a few ideas below. ​

What God wants for Christmas

What you need:

• 7 cardboard boxes; 6 large (refrigerator size) and 1 that can be any size
• A lot of wrapping paper (enough to cover the boxes)
• tape
• scissors
• Permanent marker
• The Christmas Box Script printed out for the narrator
• Christmas costumes
• manger
• doll for baby Jesus
• large mirror

What you do:

• ​Cut the bottoms off of the big boxes
• Wrap the boxes with Christmas wrapping paper
• Wrap the small box, but slit the top so that the box can still be opened
• Number the boxes 1-7 ( the small one is number 4)
• You will need the following characters:

1. Narrator
2. Gabriel
3. Mary
4. Joseph
5. Wise men and women
6. shepherds (2-3)
7. 1 mirror holder
8. 2 helpers to lift the boxes

• Practice this with the children before you do the drama in front of others!
• Optional: small mirrors or mirrored paper for each member of the congregation

What you do

• Set the boxes up front.
• Before anyone is there (or looking) have the children get into their costumes and into the appropriate boxes. Check the script to see where each child belongs.
• Have the narrator stand off to the side and begin to read the script, pausing at the appropriate times so that the 2 helpers can lift the boxes and the characters can come out.
• When the last box is opened, and the person steps out with the mirror, encourage him or her to show the mirror around to everyone. Or invite each person to pick up their little mirror and look at it.

The Human Christmas Tree

What you need:

• Players for the game, including one person for the tree and 2 people to decorate. This can work well with family groups (1 kid and 2 parents, or 1 parent and 2 kids)
• Red and green crepe paper
• Aluminum foil
• String
• Scissors
• Tape
• Prizes for the different teams if desired

What you do:

• Divide players into teams.
• Each team selects someone to be the tree.
• Give each team some of each of the materials, plus scissors and tape.
• Give the teams 5-10 minutes to decorate their tree.
• Have the teams pose with their trees for photos.
• If you want to have judging and prizes: You can give each team a prize for something, ie, most decorated tree, best looking tree, etc.  Or you can choose the best decorated tree.

Alternative Collect

Son of God, Child of Mary,
born in the stable at Bethlehem,
be born again in us this day
that through us the world may know
the wonder of your love. 
Hear this prayer for your name’s sake. 
​Amen.

The Nativity Story in te reo Maori

I wonder

• I wonder what you really want for Christmas?
• I wonder what God wants for Christmas?
• I wonder if there's something that you can give God that will make him very happy?

The Gift We Give To Jesus

This prayer activity allows each person to give something back to Jesus in prayer; thanks, praise, a need - anything.

What you need:

• Images of presents, cut out on paper - like this template
• Pens or felts
• scissors
• 2 rolls of wrapping paper to make a stocking
• Cello tape or staples
• Optional: glitter and stickers to decorate the presents (if you'd like, you can use plain presents, rather than the ones provided above, and allow everyone to decorate them completely)
• Some music to play during the prayer time

​
What you do:

1. Make 2 large Christmas stockings using the wrapping paper - these can be up to a metre long! Cut each side out and then tape or staple the sides together leaving the top open. Hang these up near the front of the church.
2. Set out a table near the entrance of church, or in a space where people can visit on their way in. In a basket, put some printed images of the presents, along with some scissors and pens. 
3. As people first come in, invite them to cut out a present to take into the service. They can also decorate it at that time
4. During the service, at prayer time, give out the felts and pens and invite people to write down their prayer.  It can be something their sorry for, something they need help with, a thank you prayer or a praise.
5. Explain that we're going to pretend that the two Christmas stockings hanging up front are God's stockings (that's why they're soooo big!) and during this time, we're going to give our prayers to him.
6. You might like to play some background music during this time. 
7. Give people time to write or draw their prayer on a present, bring it up and put it in one of the stockings.
8. Rather than set a definite time, keep watch and be prepared to move on when most people have come up.  At that point, lower the music and close the prayer by giving all the gifts that have been shared to God— and thanking him for the many gifts he gives to us.

Our friends at Te Aka, ​Te Wānanga o Te Manawa o Te Wheke, have produced a nativity story in te reo. This amazing project uses illustrations from their story book, Te Harinui: Te Whanautanga Mai a Ihu Karaiti

Media

Isaiah 9:2-7 Memory Verse

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."

What you need

• A copy baby Jesus in the manger
• Pens

What you do
Decorate the image of Jesus with the memory verse from today - your can print this out large for them to copy, or print them on stickers for them to add and decorate.