363 days until next Christmas!

Posted on by Carol Hulbert
Christmas is over for another year; it’s the perfect time to plan for next year!

Really. I’m not kidding.

While everyone is still thinking about Christmas, is an ideal time to pitch a different way of doing gift-giving next year.

Reduce the number of gifts under the tree and change the way we celebrate.

I’ll let this short video from an organization with a radical name – The Advent Conspiracy – explain it…

Can’t see the video? View it here.

It’s about moving away from the shopping, and lines, and lists that go along with Christmas gift-giving, and replacing presents with presence. (It’s what kids really want/need.) You’ll be less frazzled, frustrated, and flat-broke. You’ll have more time to celebrate God with us. And the best part: reduced spending on gifts allows us to give more – to those with real needs.

This Christmas the adults in our family got a small gift and a note about a donation made in their name. I actually enjoyed the “shopping” this year – choosing charities! It made my happiness run wild when I received an email from the Executive Director of Community Action Network (CAN), our gift to my brother and sister-in-law, excerpted below:

I cannot tell you how panicked I was last week Tuesday, December 13, when I discovered 40+ CAN families had not been sponsored for Christmas. I could only imagine how devastated parents would be when we told them we had no presents…But after we put out our plea for help, the response was overwhelming…
Here at Community Action Network, we experienced our own Christmas miracle: you. You made Christmas (for the) families come true this year. You saved Christmas.

The way we celebrate Jesus’ birth can change the world.

spend less...give more


Photo credits: Click here for info on banner photo (not visible in readers or email).
Advent Conspiracy poster and video from here.

Joy to the World?

Posted on by Carol Hulbert
I think it’s appropriate that the theme of the third Sunday of Advent is “Joy.”
Right about now, in the crazy, busy preparations of the season, I need to slow down and remember: Joy.

But joy can be strangely difficult to find.

What joy is there in agonizing over the best gift to select for each person. (Will she like it? Will it be good enough? This is so tiring and I haven’t even headed to the mall.) Where is joy in not having time to bake the prettiest, yummiest cookies. (Will my kids/friends hate me for not producing?) And the Christmas tree? Still.not.up.yet.

Christmas is about joy? Have I have fallen victim to the Christmas blahs?

I’ve allowed a heart-takeover; an unrealistic view of what Christmas should look like. I have forgotten the true “joy” of Christmas.

It is a struggle in today’s world, to keep Advent focused on religious tradition. I need to turn from these nagging, guilty feelings and remember the real reason for joy:

Love came among us.

God must have been so excited on the first Christmas! Finally, the time was here, the time that had been planned for, since the beginning! Finally he would come amidst his people and be the one to teach them all about radical love.

I need that reminder: joy.

Joy banner”

Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room…

Our family together, will be a worthy substitute for plates full of cookies.
The gifts will be mostly radical.
And the tree will be put up, eventually. Maybe.

What are you doing to focus on real joy?

Joy!

— Carol


Photo credits:
Photos are from my archives.

Are you seeing ads? They are not from me! They are placed by WordPress, who otherwise offers a free platform from which to share lots of good-ness. If you see an inappropriate ad, please report it to support@wordpress.com. Include the URL, the date/time the ad appeared, and a screenshot of the ad.

A Blessing: divine source of life

Posted on by Carol Hulbert
On the first Christmas God showed himself to us in a new way.

We were touched by God in the flesh.

Nativity Parament

Inject a little reminder of this, by blessing your child with these words. Say your child’s name and…

Open quote markMay you feel close to the divine source of all life.


Click on a box if you would like to…
A check-box Satisfy your curiosity about why you should bless your child.
A check-box View other suggested blessings.


Photo credits:
Click here for info on banner photo (not visible in readers or email).
Other photo: from my archives.

Are you seeing ads? They are not from me! They are placed by WordPress, who otherwise offers a free platform from which to share lots of good-ness. If you see an inappropriate ad, please report it to support@wordpress.com. Include the URL, the date/time the ad appeared, and a screenshot of the ad.

Cool Disciples Schedule: December 2011

Posted on by Carol Hulbert

New here? Easily read future posts by subscribing over on the right. Enter your e-mail address to have posts sent directly to your inbox. Or click on the orange RSS icon to subscribe in a reader. Thanks for visiting.

On Saturday nights and on Sunday mornings at FUMC our Cool Disciples experience Rotation Model Christian education, as they learn about Bible stories and concepts through kid-friendly multimedia workshops.

December’s Rotation is about, you guessed it, Christmas! Since Christmas comes every year this allows us the chance to, each year, focus on a different aspect of the story. We’ve done Christmas Rotations from the point of view of Shepherds, of Wise Men, and even from Isaiah’s eyes. This December we’ll take a look at the overall birth story of Jesus. All of the different parts of the story: Who received a message from an angel? Why travel to Bethlehem? Where was Jesus born?… Our target is to ensure that kids know the sequence and timing of story events surrounding Jesus’ birth. Our story is found by interweaving the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.

A crèche scene

For Saturdays at the Green Wood location, here is the schedule for December (and a little bit of January 2012)… And for Sundays at the downtown location, here is the schedule…

Schedules have been removed. They were sort of out-of-date 🙂
Check out some pictures of workshops here.

 
Here is what we did in each workshop:

  • In the Drama Workshop students will enact the story. What a great way to learn the story details by participating in the story!
  • In the Games Workshop students will play a quiz game to see how much they really know about the story. We’ll run two Games Workshops so that everyone gets to participate in the fun.
  • In the Video Workshop students will watch portions of the animated video The King is Born from Nest Entertainment while enjoying some popecorn. (Can’t have a movie without popcorn!)
  • In the Cooking Workshop students will create a nativity snack bag with items to represent story elements. Don’t eat this snack until you’ve had a chance to use it to retell the story to someone!
  • In the Art Workshop students will help tell the story using various colors of felt, creating a “stain glass window.” Then they will create stained glass votive holders using colors to represent the characters in the story of Jesus’ birth.

If you are in the area please join us for the fun learning at First United Methodist Church in Ann Arbor, MI.

-------


Photo credits:
Photos are from my archives.