Merry Larry and the true light of Christmas

 Hi everyone

 

After all the celebrations of Christmas, it's nice to have a bit of quiet time, snuggled up on the sofa with a hot chocolate and popping on a film.

We thought we would watch a bit of Veggie Tales together today.

We hope you enjoy this little bit of vegetable based silliness!

We hope you are having a lovely Christmas holiday.

Next Sunday, we will be celebrating F@CT together online only.

We hope you can join us here as we look towards the New Year.

Christmas Day

The Three Kings Advent-ure

The kings have made it to the end of their journey. They have found Jesus in the stable. We hope you enjoyed following them around our town.

We hope you are having a wonderful day celebrating the birth of Jesus.

We got a little mystery to solve today. A cheese-eating, mystery-solving mouse has a new noisy neighbour and he's got to work out who he is?

Let's celebrate together with this fun Christmas song. 

You can sing along and join in with the actions.

Thank you popping in on Christmas Day! 

Join us on Sunday for a Veggie Tales Christmas movie and then on the 3rd of January we will be celebrating F@CT together online. We hope you can join us.

Christmas Eve

 The Three Kings Advent-ure

The kings are getting ready for our Christingle service today. 

We hope you can join in too.

Go to the church website to access the online service.

www.christchurch-clevedon.org.uk

December 23rd

 The Three Kings Advent-ure

The kings have found the star!

December 22nd

 The Three Kings Advent-ure

The star has shown the kings the way. It looks like their journey is nearly over.

December 21st

 The Three Kings Advent-ure

I think the three kings' feet might be getting a bit tired.

I think they want to be pushed for a little bit.

Come on kings, you're nearly there now!

Our Online Nativity

 Hello and welcome to Christchurch Kids on the 4th Sunday in Advent. 

Christmas is nearly here!

The Three Kings Advent-ure

First of all. Let's check in to see where the 3 kings are today. They are definitely on their travels.

Click on the video below to find out where they are.

There's only a few more days to Christmas now. Check back here each day to see where the three kings go on the last part of their journey.

This is the Sunday where we would normally be in church for our fantastic, joyful, chaotic, unrehearsed Nativity play. It is always so much fun as we share the Christmas story with all of our church family.

This year we have done things differently. Some of us have acted and some have narrated and we have brought it all together to make our very own ...

Online Nativity

Well done and thank you to everyone who has sent in a clip for our Nativity. You have acted amazingly and narrated beautifully. Thanks to mums and dads too who worked out technologies to send everything in. 

We hope you enjoy watching it.

Our Nativity play is usually followed by our Christmas party. We hope you have time today for some fun and games. What's your favourite board game to play?

Let's carry on with our celebrations with this joyful Christmas song. 

Can you do the J-O-Y actions?

We hope you are able to join us on Christmas Eve for our online Christingle service. If you haven't booked your Christingle pack yet, please click here.

December 19th

 The Three Kings Advent-ure

The kings are feeling a bit tired today so they've stopped for a rest. It looks like they are enjoying a bit of Veggie Tales.

December 18th

 The Three Kings Advent-ure

The kings are popping in to watch a film today. I wonder which film they would like to watch?...

I think "The Star" might be their favourite.

December 17th

 The Three Kings Advent-ure

In this picture it looks as though the star is shining down on the kings. They must be travelling the right way.

December 16th

 The Three Kings Advent-ure

The kings are looking for some help on their journey. I think they've come to the right place.

December 15th

The Three Kings Advent-ure

The kings have stopped off at the skate park. 

Who do you think would do the best tricks on their scooter?

December 14th

 The Three Kings Advent-ure

The kings have found their way down to the beach. Maybe they will stack some pebbles up. It might be a bit cold today for an ice-cream. 

Sunday December 13th

 Hello and welcome to Christchurch Kids. We are looking forward to Christmas now. Have you got decorations up yet? 

The Three Kings Advent-ure

We've been following the three kings all week and today they have made it to the sea. It looks very blue today. I wonder if the kings will stop for a quick swim?

Where does the Christmas Story start? There are four books of the Bible that tell us about Jesus' life. They are Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and they are called the Gospels. Then word 'Gospel' means 'good news'. 

Matthew starts the story of Jesus with his family tree which goes all the way back to Abraham.

John starts the story at the very beginning of creation.

Mark starts the story when Jesus had already grown up and it starts with Jesus' cousin, John the Baptist and Jesus' baptism.

The Christmas story that we are most familiar with comes from Luke and he starts the story with a visit from an angel. It isn't the angel who came to see Mary, but the angel who came to visit Zechariah to say that his wife Elizabeth would have a baby.

Elizabeth was Mary's cousin and her baby grew up to be John the Baptist.

This is a really great retelling of the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth, complete with an unusual looking angel and a tiny bike!

Game

Our story above actually misses a little bit from the end of the story.

When John was born everyone thought that he should be called Zechariah after his father, as that was the custom. Zechariah wrote down that the baby's name would be John, just as the angel had told him. When he had done this he was suddenly able to talk again. 

Our game today is ... who can be the quietest the longest?

This is also a good game to play in the car.

Another variation of this game is deciding a word that no-one is allowed to say and the last person to say it wins. Sometimes this game can last for hours in our house as everyone tries to avoid saying "banana"!

Prayer

This week is the third week of Advent and in church we will be lighting the third candle in the Advent wreath. This candle is the Joy candle.

Let's take a moment to be quiet and talk to God. 

We can thank him for the joy that comes with Jesus' birth at Christmas, the joy that God loved us so much that he sent his Son.

We can ask God to help us remember that joy at times when we are finding things difficult or sad. 

We've got a joyful song today with some fun actions to get us celebrating together for Christmas. We hope you enjoy getting moving to this one.

Keep checking back here this week as we carry on with our online advent calendar. Where will the kings go on their journey around the town?

We are going to be having our Christmas Eve Christingle service online and we have a pack to make your own Christingle for every family who books one. We hope you can join us for songs, puppets, magic and lots of fun as we celebrate Christmas together.

Click here to book your Christingle pack.

December 12th

 The Three Kings Advent-ure

The kings have found their way here today.

Do you think they are hoping to travel by train?

December 11th

 The Three Kings Advent-ure

The kings are on their way now and this place looks very familiar. 

What can you spot in the background?

December 10th

 The Three Kings Advent-ure

The kings have come somewhere else high up. 

It looks like they are looking around to work out which way to go next. 

Do you know where they are?

December 9th

   The Three Kings Advent-ure

The kings have stopped for a rest and to have some fun. 

Have you ever seen a camel on a swing before?

December 8th

 The Three Kings Advent-ure

The Kings have come somewhere high up today to see what they can see. 

Can you work out where they are?

December 7th

 The Three Kings Advent-ure

It looks like the kings are investigating travelling by post. I don't think that sounds very comfortable.

December FACT

 

Hello and welcome to December F@CT. We are getting really excited about Christmas now. Are you?

The Three Kings Advent-ure

This week we've started following the three kings for our very own online Advent Calendar as they make their way to find Jesus. Have you seen where they've already been?

Today they are going to catch the bus!

Come back each day and find out where they've travelled to.

Oh look! That's a big present. Do you think I should open it now or wait for Christmas?

It doesn't look like I'm very good at waiting for Christmas. What would Christmas look like if we didn't wait? Do you think it might look a bit like this?

Do you have an Advent calendar? Advent is a special time of year and it's all about waiting for a special arrival. 

People were waiting for Jesus for hundreds of years - imagine how big their Advent calendars would have been!

Prophets in the Old Testament told everyone that Jesus was coming. 700 years before Jesus was born, Micah said the Messiah (or God's chosen one) would be born in Bethlehem and Isaiah said he would be from the family of King David.

Jesus is called "The Light of the World" and before he came we were in darkness.

Isaiah was talking about the coming of Jesus when he said

The people who walked in darkness

have seen a great light.

They lived in a land of shadows,

but now light is shining on them.

Isaiah 9 : 2

Advent is a time of waiting for that light but for us we know who is coming on Christmas Day.

Have you played Hide and Seek recently? Maybe our waiting in Advent is like the time when you are hiding in a dark place waiting to be found. Do you stay still and quiet? You know it's going to be funny when the light shines on you because you've been found. In our house, when someone is found after hiding for a long time, there is laughing and chatting.

We are waiting in the dark in Advent, waiting for the light of Christmas Day. When that light shines we are so happy that Jesus has come!

Activity

Maybe you could have a game of Hide and Seek today. When you are waiting in a dark place you can remember what we have been talking about today. 

Have fun!

We've got a fantastic Chat Mat for you to colour and chat about with your family.

You can download it here

Prayer

Let's take a moment to be still and quiet. We can thank God that He sent Jesus to be the Light of the world. 

You can use your own words or you can use these words to help you. 

Dear God,

Thank you for the light you created.

Thank you that you saw your beautiful world needed another kind of light.

Thank you that you sent Jesus to be that light to the world.

Please help us to be lights to those around us.

Amen

We've got a Christmas song to listen to and join in with today. Let's listen together as we praise God for that glorious night.

We hope you've had fun celebrating Advent with us today. Pop back every day and you can see where the Three Kings have been on their travels. 

We would normally be getting ready for our Christmas Eve Christingle service and the good news is that we are getting ready but this year all the fun of the service will be online. We are packing up Christingle kits so that every household can join in and make one together during the online service on Christmas Eve. 

If you would like to book a Christingle pack, you can click here.  

December 5th

  The Three Kings Advent-ure

The kings are trying to work out how best to travel. They've had a go at making a Lego car. I think it's a bit small - the camel is never going to fit in there!

December 4th

 The Three Kings Advent-ure

The kings are definitely getting ready for their journey. I think they are stopping off at the shops to get the last few bits and pieces. Do you think they can buy gold, frankincense and myrrh here?

December 3rd

The Three Kings Advent-ure

 Today it looks like the kings have been baking. I think they might be finding supplies for their long journey ahead of them. 

December 2nd

The Three Kings Advent-ure

 Welcome back to our Advent-ure with the three kings.

Yesterday they went to the library and it looks like they found an atlas. Maye they are planning their journey?

December 1st

 Welcome to our Three Kings Advent-ure. 

Where will the kings be each day as they journey to find Jesus? Do you recognise where they are?

Today it looks like they are going to the library. I wonder what book they are looking for?

Check back here again tomorrow to find out...