Tis the season...

On Saturday, I was working with some of my kids. We were working for the Nativity that we are doing for the second service of Christmas Eve. As we were working through our stage plots and reviewing our lines, one of our kids kept talking about Joseph being Jesus’ father. At first, I didn’t think much of this. But, this topic kept coming up. So, I thought I might want to check and see what these kids knew. Turns out, they all thought Jesus was the son of Joseph. Well, Joseph served as Jesus’ earthly father, so they are technically right. However, they’re wrong. So, now I have a predicament. How do you explain this topic to ten and eleven year olds without using the language adults would use? I can say the phrase “virgin birth” all day long and they have no clue what I am talking about. They just don’t understand. I am very thankful they are so innocent. I wouldn’t want it any other way… but, this detail is so important. It is the KEY to the Christmas story. So, here I was, talking to these little ones about Jesus’ birth on a Saturday morning. So, here we go.

It was obvious that they didn’t know what I was talking about at first. So, we started with the Trinity. I explained what each part of the Trinity does and then we put it into perspective of the Christmas story. After we determined what God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit does for each of us, we then moved to the miraculous birth of the Baby Jesus. Basically, this young girl had her “tummy” touched by the Holy Spirit and a baby was formed. That’s incredible!! I think they understood this… I think. J Then we talked about how Mary and Joseph were engaged. One kid said, “So, that’s why they couldn’t have a baby? They weren’t married.” Yes, of course that’s it. J So, this took a little explaining, but we got through it. We discussed how God is the Father of Baby Jesus. If you think about it, that’s pretty hard to understand. How many of us truly grasp what that is? That’s incredible and goes well beyond our realm of comprehension. But, it’s essential for us to have some understanding of this to have a relationship with God.

If Joseph was Jesus’ father, as Christians, we’re in trouble. Jesus had to be both fully God and fully man. So, as one of my kids said, He was two people in one. This is absolutely true. He was man and grew up as a man. However, He was God and performed miracles that only God could do. Talk about mind blowing… Our God, came as a baby, grew up, and died as a sinless, perfect sacrifice for me!! If I think about all the people that God would do this for, my name doesn’t come to mind. Why me? I don’t deserve this at all!! This season is so important. I’m thankful that these kids have helped me refocus and truly think about the Christmas season!!

-Just my thoughts…