Archives: Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway? #23
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An Advent and Christmas Resource for Families, Individuals and Churches
NOTE: If you want a daily Advent/Christmas guide, choose from 15. Some are lectionary-based, some are thematic. We recommend 2004. It has the same cycle (A) and start date - Nov. 28. Copy your choice on recycled paper as a bulletin insert, in your own Advent-Christmas booklet or as a series in your weekly service bulletin.
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Table of Contents
Whose Birthday? How-to
- What Happened to Christmas?
- Why a Simpler Christmas?
- Weekly Family Time: How to Use These Reflections & Activities
- Let Us Have a Truly Christ-like Christmas
- Top 10 Uses of "Whose Birthday?"
- More Exciting, Helpful Ways to Use "Whose Birthday?"
- Going Beyond "Whose Birthday?"
- Alternative Giving
- Cover
- Welcome from Bread for the World
Contents
Editor's Foreword: What I Want for ChristmasThis Advent and Christmas, Michael Mortvedt is thinking outside the box to make these seasons simple and faithful with gifts we can only give ourselves and receive from God.
Reflections
Hope in History vs. Consumer AddictionsRabbi Michael Lerner reflects on how the holidays of the lights in Judaism and in Christianity are not only about the return of the sun but also of the possibility of a transformation of human reality.
A Christmas Visit to Muir Woods: A Naturalist's Dream
Nadine N. Doughty finds poetry grandeur, and the sacred in Muir Woods National Monument.
A Victory Garden for Christmas
Adrian Bonaro believes that when we make being green something that is available to every living person, that is when the miraculous will shine out.
The Joy of Reading Aloud
For Bruce Forbes, a simple Christmas custom is the highlight of the season
Activities
Food Swap GameStan Friend shares a game that can be played anytime, especially with children, to promote local, sustainable and healthy food choices.
Invite St. Nicholas to Your Family, Church or School!
Carol Myers helps us discover the St. Nicholas behind Santa Claus and helps those searching for more meaning in the holiday season.
You Don't Have to Green Up Alone!
Steven L. Beumer has a simple three step strategy for protecting and nurturing God's kingdom on Earth: Conservation, Conversion and Creation.
Advent and Christmas with Children
For Sandy Olson, sustainable living and voluntary simplicity are based in the Christian faith and can be learned by children.
Advent Calendar: A sustainable change calendar of hope for Advent and the 12 Days of Christmas [slightly revised 2000]
Moving Toward Bethlehem
Jackie Harper and Amy Crawford share ideas on how to enrich your family's spiritual life this Advent season.
Activities
Food Swap Game
Stan FriendThis game can be played anytime, including at Christmas, especially with upper elementary school children. It has four parts: 1. Preparation, 2. Food Detectives, 3. Food Swaps and 4. Shopping and Meal.
1. Preparation
Before playing, the leaders look through the following list of healthy foods, eliminating those that are not available in their area and adding others that are. The five criteria the leaders keep in mind are:Aim for the foods that meet most of these criteria. Food items that meet two or fewer of these criteria get placed in the “swap” pile.
A wonderful short, simple and humorous book about food is Food Rules: An Eater's Manual by Michael Pollan (Penguin, 2009). Ask your local public library to order a copy so you can read it and then share it with your community, or add it to your personal library.
2. Food Detectives
On a table set out a dozen or so favorite processed foods that you might eat during Advent and Christmas, such as cake mixes, casserole mixes, soda pop and other drinks. Count the number of ingredients on the labels. If an item has more than five added ingredients, or ingredients that a third grader cannot pronounce, such as mono diglycerides, move it into the “swap” pile.3. Food Swaps
For each of the foods in the swap pile, find one or more substitutes from the list of healthy foods. Then look at some of the ways the substitutes can be used. Think of simple recipes or times when the substitutes can be used, such as breakfast, lunch, supper, snack and special celebrations.Healthy Food Swaps
Fruits: Uses
Apples: raw (with skin), dunk in orange juice to keep from turning brown: with peanut butter in the center cavity
Smoothie easy recipe: 1 cup fruit juice, 1/2 banana, 1 cup yogurt , add fresh fruit in season; blend
Oranges, lemons, limes and grapefruit raw, salads, juiced
Berries: raw, salads, smoothies
Plums, pears, peaches, bananas: same as above
Seedless grapes and cheese on a toothpick: one grape and one cube of cheese
Pineapple fresh chunks
Fruit salad: fresh fruit or a mixture of fresh and canned
Frozen juice popsicles: concentrate mixed with 1/2 water
Frozen fruit slushies: freeze mixture of orange juice, banana slices, sliced strawberries, etc. in cups , partially thaw , eat with a spoon
Veggies: Uses
Green veggies. raw, steamed, with healthy dips (yogurt based) and spreads (peanut butter), soup stock, in casseroles and stirfry entrees
Other veggies: same as above
Carrots and healthy dip
Celery and peanut butter with raisins (called “frogs on a log”)
Nuts
Light or no salt: snacks, garnish, sauces
Trail mix: 1 part raisins, 2 parts peanuts, 1 part chocolate chips or coated pieces
2. Food Detectives
On a table set out a dozen or so favorite processed foods that you might eat during Advent and Christmas, such as cake mixes, casserole mixes, soda pop and other drinks. Count the number of ingredients on the labels. If an item has more than five added ingredients, or ingredients that a third grader cannot pronounce, such as mono diglycerides, move it into the “swap” pile.3. Food Swaps
For each of the foods in the swap pile, find one or more substitutes from the list of healthy foods. Then look at some of the ways the substitutes can be used. Think of simple recipes or times when the substitutes can be used, such as breakfast, lunch, supper, snack and special celebrations.Healthy Food Swaps
Fruits: Uses
Apples: raw (with skin), dunk in orange juice to keep from turning brown: with peanut butter in the center cavity
Smoothie easy recipe: 1 cup fruit juice, 1/2 banana, 1 cup yogurt , add fresh fruit in season; blend
Oranges, lemons, limes and grapefruit raw, salads, juiced
Berries: raw, salads, smoothies
Plums, pears, peaches, bananas: same as above
Seedless grapes and cheese on a toothpick: one grape and one cube of cheese
Pineapple fresh chunks
Fruit salad: fresh fruit or a mixture of fresh and canned
Frozen juice popsicles: concentrate mixed with 1/2 water
Frozen fruit slushies: freeze mixture of orange juice, banana slices, sliced strawberries, etc. in cups , partially thaw, eat with a spoon
Veggies: Uses
Green veggies. raw, steamed, with healthy dips (yogurt based) and spreads (peanut butter), soup stock, in casseroles and stirfry entrees
Other veggies: same as above
Carrots and healthy dip
Celery and peanut butter with raisins (called “frogs on a log”)
Nuts
Light or no salt: snacks, garnish, sauces
Trail mix: 1 part raisins, 2 parts peanuts, 1 part chocolate chips or coated pieces
Meat (all forms)
Limit to 1 lb. per adult per week, as it takes a great deal of water, grain and petroleum to produce 1 lb. of meat
Organic and locally raised meat is preferred
Eggs
Free range or organic from the store and “pastured” from your farmers' market
Omelettes with cheese, vegetables and/or mushrooms
Add to smoothie
Carbs: Uses
Potatoes: mashed, baked, in soups, stews and casseroles
Brown rice: boiled, in casseroles, in soups
Whole grain pasta: boiled, in casseroles, in salads , use brown rice pastas for gluten free diets
Other grains such as quinoa, dry peas and beans: same as rice and pasta
Whole grain bread products: sliced, toasted, buns, etc.
Whole grain flours: pancakes with fruit on top
Popcorn: plain, lightly salted, lightly mixed with real butter
Dairy
Yogurt popsicles: freeze yogurt in a popsicle mold
Milk without growth hormones
Cheese
Butter: unsalted (never trans fat, partially hydrogenated margarine)
4. Shopping and Meal
Prepare a shopping list from the food swaps and make a plan to enjoy the food together.Our health, the planet and local farmers win every time we eat healthy, local and organic food.
Stan Friend is a long time supporter of Alternatives for Simple Living and an advocate for voluntary simplicity and healthy life choices.
Precursor to Santa Claus, is a person of faith who helps keep an Advent and Christmas focus on compassion, not consumption.
Invite St. Nicholas to Your Family, Church or School!
Carol MyersThe real St. Nicholas, precursor to Santa Claus, is a person of faith who helps keep an Advent and Christmas focus on compassion, not consumption , giving, not getting; need rather than greed. He lived his faith and love for God by serving others. He cared for the most vulnerable children, innocents wrongly accused and sailors. He provided food during famine, rescue from execution and escape from slavery.
Nicholas the saint is a pattern for faithful living. As a cultural icon, he reaches beyond the church into the culture. Discovering the truth about Santa Claus can assist those searching for The real St. Nicholas, more meaning in the often stressful and frantic holiday seasons. St. Nicholas helps us focus beyond ourselves,
In addition to all that, St. Nicholas is fun!
Ideas for Families
Share the spirit of St. Nicholas by baking bread or cookies to share with neighbors, or help a neighbor with yard work or snow shoveling. Bake cookies with children, as St. Nicholas' helpers. Then share cookies with neighbors.
Ideas for Churches
Collect toys on St. Nicholas Day (December 6) to distribute to local social service agencies. Children could give the gifts to St. Nicholas as a way to care and share as he did. Of course, St. Nicholas may still give small treats ch oco late coins, oranges or clementines, etc. to the children.These are just some of the ways St. Nicholas can help us live as Jesus would want.
For stories and legends about St. Nicholas for children and adults visit www.stnicholascenter.org. There you will find activity ideas, crafts, recipes and much more to make it easy to bring St. Nicholas into your Advent and Christmas celebrations.
Carol Myers created the St. Nicholas Center in Holland, Michigan. The St. Nicholas Center, a non profit with U.S. tax exempt status, exists solely to spread the word about St. Nicholas and to help people understand who Santa ClauslFather Christmas really is. We provide information about the saint, customs from around the world and a large variety of resources for churches, schools and families to use to celebrate his feast day. There is also a section for children with online activities. See www.stnicholoscenterorg.
Taking care of the place we call home relates closely to the central theme of Jesus' ministry taking care of each other.
You Don't Have to Green Up Alone
Steven L. BeumerThis past Christmas I got one of the best presents ever. My older sister had taken up scrapbooking and created a huge scrapbook that included pictures and memorabilia from my birth to the present. What a surprise on Christmas morning as my wife and I went through it page by page. We laughed and cried at some of the familiar pictures, and I delighted in explaining what some of them meant to me. Even after 33 years of marriage she found out some new facts about her husband. The laughter was loudest when looking at the clothes in some of the pictures from the 60s and 70s. What was I thinking!
At the time my choice of clothing was a real fashion statement and the latest trend. But our perceptions and tastes have changed dramatically during the last few decades. This same overhaul of tastes and perceptions can be said of our attitude towards the environment. It took decades and a huge publicity campaign just to make people aware that they should not throw their garbage on the street gum wrappers, food containers and even drink cans and bottles. It is now the exception to see someone driving along and throwing a fast food bag out the car window.
People have dramatically changed their opinion of how to treat the environment around them. This change hasn't come easily. Despite overwhelming evidence that as Christians we should be in the forefront of being good stewards of the earth entrusted to our care, in truth we have lagged behind. For too many years, being good stewards of the earth entrusted to us by our Creator was simply not a priority. We had never really accepted the simple statement in Genesis that God created the water, land, plants, fish, birds and animals “And God saw that it was good.”
God did not put humanity on earth to reign over it through exploitation. Nowhere in the Bible can you find a reference to having free reign to dump on and pollute what God created. Taking care of the place we call home relates closely to the central theme of Jesus' ministrytaking care of each other.
Christians are increasingly seeking ways to live in harmony with God's creation. We have sought ways to make that a reality in our personal lives and to move our thousands of congregations to live a more blessed life on this earth that God entrusted to us. It will take some concerted effort to climb out of the huge environmental hole we have continued to dig over the last 100 years. It will take lots of cooperation.
Christians now must be in the forefront of protecting and nurturing God's kingdom 11 on earth as it is in heaven.” We can use a simple three step approach to map out this strategy. Conservation, Conversion and Creation.
Conservation
This is the first step and actually the easy one. There are hundreds of great resources to help us make small steps as individuals and as congregations. As an individual you can use a cloth bag for all your shopping. (Department store plastic bags stay in the landfill for 1000 years, the same as grocery store bags.) Change your light bulbs to compact fluorescents or, better yet, LEDs. Dial down your thermostat a few degrees in the winter and dial up a few in the summer. (This action can save 6 8 percent on your energy bill.) Use more locally grown foods. (Transporting 1 lb. of asparagus from Chile to New York uses 73 lbs. of fuel energy and releases 4.7 lbs. of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.) Save water by showering instead of bathing, and use a dishwasher instead of doing dishes by handboth acts that save water. And turn off the lights when you are not using them.out the chemical based cleaners and replace with natural cleaners Take a look at the glass cleaner you are using (if it contains benzene, this is a known cause of cancer) and other cleaners that may contain toxic petroleum based surfactants, naphtha, ch loro o phenyl phenol, diethanolamine complex phosphates and sodium nitrates. Dumping into our lakes and rivers should evoke Jeremiah 2:7, “1 brought you into a plentiful land to eat its fruits and its good things. But when you entered you defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination.”
Conversion
This next step requires considerably more planning, but the payoff is greater. Conversion requires taking stock of our everyday needs and finding a way to convert to more sensible solutions. An easy step for irrigation is to use a rain barrel on the downspout of your home or church to collect water for grass or plants, It is now possible to use a small wind turbine or solar panel to operate select appliances. This totally removes them from the electrical grid. Using mass transit makes an immediate and significant impact on carbon emissions. Ask your employer to sponsor a Section 132 plan that allows you to make tax free deductions into an account to pay for transit passes, van pools, parking expenses and even bicycle expenses. It saves you and your employer money through the tax free process and encourages you to use mass transit by making the entire process more organized and financially friendly.Congregations can take some of the same energy saving steps as individuals. Imagine how thousands of churches taking these small steps would impact the health of our environment. In addition, look at what type of soap is being used in the church kitchen and restrooms. Phase
Creation
The final step to becoming good stewards of the earth entrusted to us by God is to create entirely new ways to live. We must combine the simple steps of conservation and the larger steps of conversion into a permanent mindset a mindset that makes it easy to act in environmentally responsible ways and to make only sustainable choices as an individual and as a congregation. Albert Einstein enforced this last strategy by saying, “We cannot solve our problems at the same level of awareness that created them.”It is time for the people of God to start acting like it. In learning how to make the birth of the Christ child relevant in the 21st century, we might look closer at the Christmas story in the Gospel of John: “The Word was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through the Word, and without the Word not one thing came into being... and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” The birth of the Christ is incarnational, sacramental; it is the God of Creation acting in and redeeming Creation.
Steven has been married to Denise for 35 years with six children, six exchange students from three continents, 10 grandchildren and one great granddaughter. He founded L.M.S. Associates in 1983, an employee benefits insurance brokerage that has a focus on total wellness, finding ways to save premium dollars and boosting the mo ale of all employees. He was named 2008 Energy Star Small Business Award winner for innovative and green business practices. He is active in his home congregation, Spirit of joy Lutheran Church in Orlando. He is chair of the Outreach Team that has impacted the lives of thousands on the east of Orlando. He was recently elected a Synod Council lay representative of the Florida Bahamas Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
Sustainability is a sacred relationship with the world.
Advent and Christmas with Children
Sandy OlsonSustainable living and voluntary simplicity are not just fads; they are based in the Christian faith. Also, in a multicultural society care of the planet and limiting consumption of the resources are values shared with many faith traditions. God created the world out of God's great love for us. Our relationship with the earth is also a relationship with God. The creation accounts in Genesis I and 2 are stories of an ongoing relationship with the Creator. Our relationship with the creation is one of care of resources, promising enough for everyone if we share and take care of the Earth.
Sustainability is a sacred relationship with the world. Children can learn about living simply, using less, conserving resources and sharing with others both locally and around the world. Ideally each class can learn about other cultures and countries as well as our own, especially how processes like human-generated climate change impact culture and livelihoods. It is very effective when the students report on their research and reading. It is good to have an extensive library for students to choose from, but visiting the library can be even more effective. Walking, riding bicycles and riding the bus to visit the library, the recycling collection site and local farmers market enhance the goals of practical learning.
Students may learn about famous saints or local people of faith who have spoken out about caring for creation. Suggest a list of people of faith to study, and have each child choose someone he or she wants to learn about and to offer as an example of faithful living.
Reading or quiet time is an especially important lesson to learn in a society where stimulation is constant. Choose books according to your theme, and encourage children to read alone or in pairs and share what they learn. If children sometimes have behavior problems, provide materials for the time out area that also support your theme.
This Advent my students are making cards that encourage caring for creation as a gift to Jesus, singing familiar carols from Carols with justice and writing Christmas notes to people they care about. Sample cards can be downloaded from Alternatives for Simple Living at www. simpleliving.org in color or in black and white. They can be copied as many times as you like and used for Advent and Christmas in many venues. Feel free to use your ideas to add to these sample cards, and please share your ideas with Alternatives for Simple Living.
Sandy Olson is an advocate for simpler living.
The Advent season, with its traditions and rituals, gives us the opportunity to enrich our family life and our family spiritual life.
Moving Toward Bethlehem
Advent literally means coming. Beginning four Sundays before Christmas, the season of Advent moves us toward Bethlehem as we anticipate the coming of Jesus. We remember the prophets who pointed the way. We journey along with Mary and Joseph, shepherds and sheep, angels and wise ones hoping to find the baby who is the sign of God with us.The Advent season, with its traditions and rituals, gives us the opportunity to enrich our family life and our family spiritual life. Here are some ideas your family or congregation may want to incorporate into your Advent celebration.
Make an Advent Wreath
The Advent wreath is a circle, which symbolizes the eternal because it has no ending and no beginning. The wreath is made of evergreens, a symbol of eternal life. The candles around the wreath represent Jesus, the Light of the World.Well ahead of Advent, invite members of your family to create weekly litanies to be used as the Advent candles are fit. (You could also invite individuals in your congregation, including children, or classes or groups to create prayers and responses and also participate in leading them during the worship service.)
Consider using the following weekly themes and lectionary texts as a starting point.,
Week I: Peace, Isaiah 2:4b
Week 2: Hope, Isaiah 11:6
Week 3: Joy, Isaiah 35:1 2
Week 4: Love, Isaiah 7:14
Ask your family to consider the themes and create a prayer for the earth, peoples of the world, or your own community, school, or church. The prayers could begin and end with similar phrases each weekfor example, “God of Peace... May we be your people of peace,” “God of Hope... May we be your hands of hope.” Use these Advent candle litanies as you light the candles on your wreath each week.
Children might also enjoy creating a haiku to be read responsively. A haiku is a traditional Japanese poetry form using three lines. The first line has five syllables, the second seven, and the third five. Here is an example:
When will there be peace? May this Advent now coming, Bring peace to our world.
Create a Jesse Tree
One way to bring alive to children the hope of Advent and the words of ancient prophets is by creating a Jesse Tree. The tradition of the Jesse Tree comes from Isaiah 11: 1 9, where God promises the Israelites that a peaceful kingdom will come again (“A shoot will spring forth from the stump of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots”). The tree is a powerful symbol to help tell the story of God and God's people, and to connect the Advent season with the faithfulness of God and the hopefulness of God's people across history.Use a branch or small tree as the base, and hang ornaments representing many of the generations the people of God throughout biblical history. If possible, create enough ornaments so you can hang one on the tree each day of Advent.
Use the information in the table below to create the ornaments for your own Jesse Tree. Think about different ways to make the symbols (construction paper, glitter, salt dough, craft sticks, etc.). You could also download images from the Internet to use as guides.
Day / Bible Character / /Bible Text / Symbol
WEEK I
Monday / God / Genesis 1:11 12 / Tree or branch that will hold ornaments
Tuesday / Adam and Eve / Genesis 1:26 27/ Apple
Wednesday / Noah / Genesis 7:1, 9:1 / Ark
Thursday / Abraham and Sarah / Genesis 18:1 2, 9 12 / Tent
Friday / Isaac and Rebekah / Genesis 23:61 67 / Camel
Saturday / Jacob / Genesis 28:1 2, 10 15 / Ladder
WEEK 2
Sunday / Joseph / Genesis 37:1-3 / Coat
Monday / Moses / Exodus 2:1-10 / Baby Moses
Tuesday / Miriam / Exodus / 15:20 22a / Tambourine
Wednesday / Joshua / Joshua 1:1 2, 6:3 5 / Ram horn
Thursday / Rahab / Joshua 2:3 15 / Rope
Friday / Deborah /Judges 4:4 5 / Palm Tree
Saturday / Ruth / Ruth 1: 15 19, 2:1 2 / Wheat
WEEK 3
Sunday / Samuel / I Samuel 3:1-10 / Oil Lamp
Monday / Jesse / I Samuel 16: 1; Isaiah 11: 1 3 / Branch
Tuesday / David / I Samuel 16:11-13 / Sheep
Wednesday / Jonah / Jonah 1:17-2:10 / Whale
Thursday / Isaiah / Isaiah 1 1:6 10 / Lion and lamb
Friday / Micah / Micah 1: 1, 6:8 / Footprint
Saturday / Jeremiah / Jeremiah 27:1 7; Psalm 137:1 2 / Harp
WEEK 4
Sunday / Esther / Esther 5:1-3; 7:2-3 / Sceptre
Monday / Nehemiah / Nehemiah 2:17 18 / Stone wall
Tuesday / Zechariah / Luke 1:5 23, 59 63 / Pen and tablet
Wednesday / Elizabeth / Luke 1:24 25, 39 45 / Baby
Thursday Mary / Luke 1:26 38 / Angel
Friday Joseph / Matthew 1: 18 21 / Hammer
Saturday / Jesus / Luke 2:1 7 / Manger
Sing Carols
St. Augustine said, “When we sing, we pray twice.” Advent is a season of song. Use family mealtimes to listen to or sing Christmas carols.Pick a Card Prayer Time
One of our favorite Christmas traditions is to put all the Christmas cards we receive into a basket on the dining room table after we've read them. After Christmas, when life is less rushed, we pull one card each day and take the time to cherish it and the message from its sender. Then we say a prayer of thanks for the person or family who sent the card. It is a way to truly cherish the gift of being remembered.Christmas Stories
Each year, give your family a Christmas storybook to be read together on Christmas Day. If you are able, you might also consider giving a copy of the book to your church library so others might enjoy the book. Here are some books to considerGift Giving
In some families each person receives three gifts, a reminder of the three gifts the Wise Ones brought to Jesus. Consider giving three gifts to an agency in your community that helps people in need.Rethinking Gifting
As a family, rethink gifting. Instead of asking, “What do you want for Christmas?” ask, ”What do you want to give for Christmas?” Or, consider “When I get something, I give something.” Every time you receive a gift or buy something, you give something you already own away.The Rev. Jackie Harper is Conference Minister: Congregational Wholeness and Right Relations of the Bay of Quinte Conference of The United Church of Canada.
Amy Crawford is Program Minister: Children, Young Teens, and Youth in the General Council Office of The United Church of Canada. Copyright Creative Commons (original 2010, Alternatives for Simple Living)
Make as many copies as you choose on a not-for-profit basis.
Many more interesting Christmas articles.
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Page updated 5 Oct. 2015
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