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Christmas Pack #8 - The Light Shines in the Darkness

Advent Activities for the Family

Table of Contents

The Light Shines in the Darkness

Advent Activities for the Family

An Intergenerational Resource

by Jim and Kathy McGinnis and Mary Webber

Authors

Jim and Kathy McGinnis are co founders of the Institute for Peace and Justice and the National Parenting for Peace and Justice Network, and co authors of Parenting for Peace and Justice. Jim McGinnis is also the author of Bread and Justice.

Introduction

These five sessions are for families who want to bring "shalom" to their world and experience God's shalom as a family. Advent is a time to prepare for Christ's coming as the prince of peace; as a humble King who came to serve the humble poor; as the child of a refugee family, fleeing from Herod; as one whose simple birth in a stable calls us to greater simplicity of life. Just as Jesus is the light of the world, so we, his followers, are called to bring light and be light where there is the darkness of war, hunger, homelessness, imprisonment and greed.

Participants: While some families may wish to explore these sessions just with members of their own households, we encourage families to consider joining with at least one other family to do these sessions, or to share in some of the activities from the sessions. Young people especially need peer support for being different   or standing out and standing up for their values. And there's more fun   more shalom   that way!

Scheduling: If you plan for your time together well in advance, this important time of preparation won't get crowded out in the busy pre Christmas season. Some of the activities will be done within the session itself, while others may require planning an additional event during the week that follows. The week between Christmas and New Year often provides relaxed time to share things as a family.

Preparing: Review all the materials well in advance. Read the scripture passages and collect materials needed for the session. As a background reading for basic principles for involving children in social action, scriptural bases and follow up possibilities, we suggest reading Jim and Kathy McGinnis' PARENTING FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE book. Order from the Parenting for Peace and Justice Network, 4144 Lindell Blvd., #400, St. Louis, MO. 63108 or from Alternatives.

Session One: Shalom, God's Promise and Gift to Families

GOALS:

  1. To deepen our hope in the face of darkness in the world that God's will for the world is truly shalom: harmony, justice, wholeness and well being.
  2. To identify ways we can experience and build shalom in our homes.
  3. To begin to identify the ways in which shalom is frustrated in our world.

ADVANCE PREPARATION:

Leader reviews Isaiah 65:17 25 for  the elements of God's reign of shalom.

Gather the following materials: TWO boxes (two halves of a shoe box will do, with extra cardboard to cover the ends), newspapers and magazines with pictures and articles depicting forms of darkness (war, hunger, homelessness, imprisonment, greed), scissors and tape, purple paper, white or Christmas paper, Bible(s), special advent candles, small note paper and colored marking pens or pencils.

Family Activities

CHECKING IN: At the beginning of each session, it is important to get a sense of where all the group members " are." Have each person share briefly something that has happened in the past week that they feel is important to them.

BIBLE READING: Read Isaiah 65:17 25, stopping after each specific promise.

  1. What are the good things that are the promises of God?
  2. What are the things that prevent those good things from being available to all God's children?
  3. What gives us hope that these obstacles can be overcome so that God's promises can be fulfilled?

ACTIVITIES:

Families need the opportunity to experience shalom together and to feel how it is present among them. The following activities help to build family shalom. Select or adapt one or more of the following:

  1. Make a list or draw a picture of different activities you like to do as a family, ways in which you experience shalom, and decide to do one of them during the next week.
  2. Have each family member name a special quality about every other family member and write them out in colored pencil or markers to hang on the wall.
  3. Have each family member draw a name of another member of the family to surprise in some special way during the coming week.
  4. Discuss what makes your family "light to the world" and write these things down on the note paper.

Construct two cardboard boxes; one to be covered with purple paper, (your 'non shalom box') and one covered with white or Christmas paper, each with a slot in the top. Discuss the ways in which darkness creeps into your home (arguments, selfishness, busyness, not listening) and write these things on paper and put them "away" in your non shalom box. Put all the good pictures and notes in the shalom box, and paste pictures of your family on the outside, if you have some, or draw pictures of your family to decorate it.

Pray the Litany for Christmas together, as a way of focusing on the forms of world darkness to be considered and confronted in the next four sessions.

Light the first Advent candle with the following prayer:

Lord Jesus Christ, you have blessed us with the light and love of our family. Help us to put away all the darkness that dims that light, and give us the courage to encounter the darkness around us, that we may be your light in our world. As we light this Advent candle, send your love into our hearts that we may love each other more fully and grow to love your world more completely. We ask this because we love you. AMEN

Session Two: Bringing Light to the Darkness of War

GOALS:

ADVANCE PREPARATION:

Read Isaiah 2:2 5. Gather newspapers and magazines,. scissors, stationery, pens, and songbook with "Let There Be Peace on Earth."

Family Activities

CHECKING IN: Ask each person briefly what kind of day they have had.

BIBLE READING: Read Isaiah 2:2 5 and talk briefly together abut why the world would be better without war. Write down any instance you can think of when anyone "fought" anyone else in the last week and put it in the "non shalom box."

ACTIVITIES: Choose or adapt one or more of the following:

  1. Read the story of SADAKO AND THE THOUSAND PAPER CRANES, available from Alternatives. Make paper cranes as gift tree decorations for friends and family. (See enclosed set of directions)
  2. Send your family's peace message to someone in a country where there is or has been animosity. For a list of names and addresses of Soviet people you may write, send a stamped, self addressed envelope to the US USSR Reconciliation Program, Fellowship of Reconciliation, Box 271, Nyack, N.Y. 10960. What would you say to a family like yours in the Soviet Union?
  3. Write a letter to the President to express your family's desire for peace and your feelings about spending your family's tax monies for weapons. Children may draw pictures to send to: The White House, Washington, D.C. 20500.
  4. Determine a way in which your family could raise money (saving allowances, recycling materials, planning simple soup suppers and saving the difference, etc.) and send your savings to build playgrounds for the children of Nicaragua. This project is a symbol of peace for young victims of war. Send donations to the Interfaith Committee on Latin America, 4144 Lindell, #400, St. Louis, Mo. 63108.

In addition, cut out pictures and articles about war and nuclear destruction and put them in your non shalom box. Then have each family member make a peacemaking promise (Examples: for children: "I promise not to yell at Tommy " ; for adults: "I promise to write to my congressman/senator," or "I promise to attend a peace vigil," or "I promise to pray for peace") and put them in your shalom box.

Light the second Advent candle with the following prayer:

Lord Jesus Christ, we live in a world where war is a daily possibility, and peace seems far away. Forgive us for the ways in which we have not been people of peace. Lead us to the ways in which you would have us act to prevent the destruction of our world. As we light this Advent candle, send your peace into our hearts, and give us courage to confront the powers of war and darkness. We ask this in your name, the name of the Prince of Peace, Jesus. AMEN

Sing. "Let There Be Peace on Earth," "And Everyone 'Neath His Vine and Fig Tree," or some other song about peace.

Session Three: Bringing to the Hungry and Homeless

GOALS:

ADVANCE PREPARATION:

Read James 2:14 17 and 1 5.

Research agencies that are dealing with the homeless and the hungry and find out their needs. Again, have news papers, magazines and scissors, note paper and pens available.

Have the words to "High Up On a Mountain," included in this packet.

Family Activities

BIBLE READING: Read James 2:14 17 and 1 5, and talk about whether you have ever treated a poor person differently. Discuss our feelings when we see someone very poor. How do we react if someone asks us for money? Discuss the ways in which your family is "rich" in non-material ways.

ACTIVITIES: Choose or adapt one or more of the following activities:

  1. Prepare a meal for a local soup kitchen and take it down and help to serve it. If you can, do this with another family.
  2. Prepare a "food basket" with your favorite family foods, and deliver it to a local food pantry.
  3. Plan a special outing for a lonely person during the holiday season. Brainstorm as a family how to best do this. How can you be "home" for someone else?
  4. Spend an evening selecting some of your belongings to be given away. Take this opportunity to talk about the kinds of things you give away; make sure you are thinking of the receiver, and make sure you are giving things that you would like to receive. (Old and worn things can be given to the Salvation Army to be sold for rags.)
  5. Call "INTER ACT" (800 424 7292) and get information on legislation pertaining to hunger and homelessness. Write a family letter to your senators and representatives about these issues.
  6. Think about undertaking a fast on behalf of the hungry, if your children are old enough. Send your savings to a hunger organization or feeding program.
  7. Collect clothes, food and money for refugee families in your community, especially refugees from Central America. Write a letter to your Congressional representative and to the Secretary of State asking that these "economic refugees" be given "extended voluntary departure" status.

Cut out articles and pictures pertaining to hunger and homelessness locally and abroad and put them in the non  shalom box. Write out ways you plan to share with others and put them in the shalom box.

Light the third advent candle with the following Prayer:

Lord Jesus Christ, You were born in a stable and did not have a home. You have called us to feed the hungry and clothe the naked and bring the homeless poor into our homes. Sometimes we are unwilling to share the blessings we have. As we light this Advent candle, send your spirit of love into our hearts that we may respond to those who need with greater warmth and deeper generosity. We ask this in your name, the One who loved us so much you died for us: Jesus. AMEN.

Sing. "High Up On a Mountain"

Session Four: Bringing the Light of Hope to the Prisoner

GOALS:

ADVANCE PREPARATION:

Read Luke 23:39 43. Have papers and magazines, scissors, pens and stationery. Order pendants (see activity 3) if desired. Research groups in your area with ministries to persons in prison and to persons on parole. Also look into ministries to abused children. Have words available for song: "O Come, O Come Emmanuel."

CHECKING IN: Ask each family member how they are feeling about preparations for Christmas. Do they want to share any ideas? Are they doing anything different from past years?

Family Activities

BIBLE READING: Read Luke 23:39 43 aloud. Compare Jesus' attitude about the condemned criminal with what our society is increasingly choosing to do. If someone kills someone else, should they be killed in return? Brainstorm about more creative ways in which the society might respond to criminals, such as restitution or community service.

ACTIVITIES:

  1. Cut out articles about crime from newspapers and magazines. Choose one of the articles and talk about the persons involved. Do children have fears about crime? Give them the opportunity to express their fears and talk briefly about protecting oneself from crime. Then move to discussion of why someone might steal or hurt someone else. Help children to understand that most people in prison are poor, abused and neglected. Put articles on crime in non shalom box.
  2. Write a letter to someone in prison. (Names are available in Sojourners Magazine and The Other Side magazine as well as through local ministries.) Commit yourself to continuing this contact. Get involved with assisting the prisoner's family, if possible. Can you drive the family to the prison to visit during the Christmas holidays?
  3. Talk about people who have been put in jail because of what they believe  - St. Paul, Martin Luther King, the Berrigan brothers, Ben Chavis. In the Philippines many people were arrested for working to improve conditions under former President Marcos. After martial law was declared in 1972, many were detained without trial, tortured and beaten. After release, their chances of finding employment in a country that has still not recovered economically are scarce. In order to provide a market for crafts these detainees learned to make while in prison, Jubilee Crafts sells bone pendants and other goods made by Philippino ex detainees as well as bone dolls and copper book marks made by political detainees in Chile. To order, write to Jubilee Crafts, 300 W Apsley St., Philadelphia, PA, 19144, 215/849-0808. If you choose one of these crafts as a gift, write the story of its origins in your own words and enclose it with your gift. Children may communicate this by drawing a picture.
  4. Take magazines, toys, etc. to a home for abused or neglected children. Think about the possibility of becoming a foster home for children.
  5. Talk about how your family deals with someone who does what is "wrong. " What methods do you use now for punishment? What might be more creative ways to correct wrongdoing? How do you convey forgiveness to one another?

Put clippings about crime in non shalom box. Write your comments of the evening on note paper and put in shalom box.

Light the fourth Advent candle with the following prayer:

Lord Jesus Christ, our world teaches us that when we are hurt we must hurt in return. Help us to remember that Your way is the way of forgiveness and reconciliation. You ask us to low our enemies and pray for those who hurt us. As we light this candle, put into our hearts your Spirit of forgiveness, that we will not feel the need to punish, or carry about any anger or resentment. We ask this in the name of the One Who forgives and saves us all, Jesus. AMEN.

Sing: "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel"

Session Five: The Light that Lightens the World Has Come and the Darkness Has Not Overcome It

GOALS:

ADVANCE PREPARATION:

Read Luke 2:1 14 and John 1:1 5. Have a pot available large enough to hold the non shalom box. Have records of Christmas music available, if possible. Have the words to "Silent Night." Have the family crèche available, if you have one, or the makings of a paper one.

CHECKING IN: Ask everyone to share their feelings on this Christmas Eve. How have you tried to keep your Christmas preparations in keeping with what would please Jesus?

Family Activities

BIBLE READING: Read Luke 2:1 14. Have the children arrange the crèche as the story is read, with Christmas music quietly playing in the background. Have each person tell who is their favorite character in the manger scene, and why.

ACTIVITIES: Your preparations for this Christmas day are about complete. If you are like most people, you have perhaps succumbed to some of the commercialism of the celebration of the Lord's birth. If you wish, have the adults write these things down on slips of paper and put them in the non shalom box. During this time the of their favorite thing about children can draw a picture of Christmas.

  1. Have each member of the family write one sentence to each other member of the family that starts "I love you because ... (Dear Mom, I love "you because you hug me; Dear Tina, I love you because you smile at me; etc.) and put these in the shalom box.
  2. Decide as a family to include the larger global family in your planning for Christmas gift giving. Commit to trying to get your extended family, as large as you wish to make it, to consider setting aside a portion (maybe 5%) of their gift buying dollars to go toward a joint family gift to some group of victims of war/hunger/injustice or a group working to help these victims. Use the groups mentioned in earlier weeks here, and make the decision as part of a family gathering. Give the children's preference special consideration to increase their sense of participation.
  3. Decide as a family what you might all do together in the coming week: baking and making things for friends, neighbors and teachers; learning to bake bread or make jelly; visiting shut ins; following up on some of the commitments' previous weeks.
  4. Select some or all of the following as promises to keep in preparing for Christmas in the future, and put them in the Shalom box:
    •  earn/save money for special donations.
    •  have a family fix it night to repair worn clothing and toys.
    •  plan a neighborhood/parish/community exchange so that toys and other items can be recycled, and families will not need to purchase so many things.
    •  plan to purchase more gifts next year from self help groups (Jubilee Crafts, Self Help Crafts, Koinonia Partners, etc.) and initiate alternative gifts tables at church bazaars.

Then take the non shalom box, and put it into the pot. Light the four Advent candles and use them to set the non shalom box afire with the following prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, You have the power to take away all that is negative in us and in our world. As we destroy these symbols of darkness with your purging fire, we ask that you grant us a spirit of trust in Your presence with us and with our world. AMEN.

Read John 1: 1 5. Light the Christmas candle from the fire of the burning non shalom box. Read the Christmas Litany again, concluding with the following prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, as we celebrate the Good News of Your coming again into this broken world, we thank You for the love that binds us together for the blessings that bring US JOY, for Your spirit of hope, and peace, love and forgiveness. Be with us in the year to come, that our family may be Your family, and that You may use us to bring about the kind of world ' for which You died. Thank You for the Light that You bring, that always has, and always will be stronger than anything we might fear AMEN.

Sing "Silent Night," and then exchange hugs all around. Open and review the shalom box at the end of opening your Christmas gifts, and save it and took at it again at your first Advent celebration next year. SHALOM!

GRAPHIC 4-A548

How to fold a paper crane

  1. Fold a square piece of paper in half horizontally. Then fold A back to bottom center (D), and B forward to front bottom center (C).
  2. Your paper should look like this.
  3. Pull C (the front) and D (the back) apart all the way until you have a flat diamond (as in small diagram).
  4. Fold top layers of C and D inward to center line at E and fold down F along dotted line.
  5. Your paper should look like this.
  6. Now here's the tricky part: Unfold step 4. Take top layer only at G and pull it up making use of the crease (dotted line). This allows points C and D to fold back to center line along creases. Turn paper over and repeat steps 4, 5 and 6, ignoring new flap topped by point G.
  7. With split at bottom, fold H and I inward so that edges meet center line. Turn paper over and repeat.
  8. Temporarily open flaps at L1 and L2. Pull J up to top between flaps and close flaps (1 1 and L2). Repeat with K. Fold down head. Fold down wings.

GRAPHIC High Upon a Mountain

HIGH UPON A MOUNTAIN

Key of
D Arr. E. Gallop

High up-on a moun-tain Je-sus spoke these words
High up-on a moun-tain Je-sus spoke these words
High up-on a moun-tain This is what I heard
Je-sus wants all his peo-ple To be free.
Blessed are my people, though they be so poor.
Blessed are my people, though they be so poor.
Blessed are my people, heaven's at their door.
Jesus wants all his people to be free.
Blessed are my people, for their mourning fills the land.
Blessed are my people, for their mourning fills the land.
Blessed are my people, help is near at hand.
Jesus wants all his people to be free.

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