Christmas Gifts That Won't Break Youth Study: Expanded Edition With Devotions - Softcover

Moore, James W.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1501840045 ISBN 13: 9781501840043

Publisher: Abingdon Press, 2017

Synopsis

Go on an Advent journey with beloved teacher and storyteller James W. Moore, exploring the spirit of Christmas. As you light the candles of your Advent wreath, reflect on the unbreakable gifts that God has given us: hope, love, joy, and peace. And remember God's greatest gift, who comes to us as a baby and leads us through all the days of our lives. This Youth Study Book takes the ideas presented in Christmas Gifts that Won't Break and interprets them for young people grades 6-12.

About this title

About the Authors

James W. Moore (1938-2019) was an acclaimed pastor and ordained elder in The United Methodist Church. He led congregations in Jackson, TN; Shreveport, LA; and Houston, TX. The best-selling author of over 40 books, including Yes, Lord, I Have Sinned, But I Have Several Excellent Excuses, he also served as minister-in-residence at Highland Park United Methodist Church.

Jacob Armstrong is the founding pastor of Providence Church in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee. Providence's vision is to see those who are disconnected from God and the church to find hope, healing, and wholeness in Jesus Christ. Jacob is the author of Renovate, A New Playlist, Treasure, The God Story, Upside Down, Loving Large, Interruptions, and The New Adapters.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Christmas Gifts That Won't Break Youth Study Book

By JAMES W. MOORE, Mike Poteet

Abingdon Press

Copyright © 2017 Abingdon Press
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-5018-4004-3

Contents

Introduction, 
Week One: God's Gift of Hope, 
Week Two: God's Gift of Love, 
Week Three: God's Gift of Joy, 
Week Four: God's Gift of Peace, 
Christmas Day: God's Gift of Christ, 
Notes, 

CHAPTER 1

WEEK ONE

GOD'S GIFT OF HOPE

Matthew 1:18-21

Reflecting on God's Light

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ took place. When Mary his mother was engaged to Joseph, before they were married, she became pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Joseph her husband was a righteous man. Because he didn't want to humiliate her, he decided to call off their engagement quietly. As he was thinking about this, an angel from the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, don't be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because the child she carries was conceived by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you will call him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."

— Matthew 1:18-21

What Do You Want for Christmas?

If you were an American kid in the late 1970s (and particularly an American boy, though this would apply to many American girls as well), the answer to that question likely had something to do with Star Wars. We couldn't get enough of it! We hung Star Wars posters on our walls, we wore Star Wars T-shirts, we read along with Star Wars book-and-record sets. ("You'll know it's time to turn the page when you hear R2-D2 beep like this ..."). And, of course, we played with Star Wars toys. One year I asked Santa for the Death Star play set. Nothing says "Peace on Earth" like an armored space station that can wipe out a planet with a single laser blast.

Actually, I think we wanted Star Wars toys because part of what made (and makes) that film so great is that it's about hope. The first Star Wars film wasn't subtitled "A New Hope" when it was released in 1977, but no one then missed the movie's hopeful message, or its optimistic faith in the power of good to defeat evil. On some level, we wanted Star Wars toys because we felt playing with them would allow us to participate in an inspiring story of hope.

The most popular Star Wars toys were action figures. But that first Christmas after Star Wars premiered caught Kenner Toys unprepared. Kenner was making mostly coloring books and jigsaw puzzles and couldn't have any plastic people from that galaxy far, far away ready by December. If it wanted to avoid dashing a lot of kids' Christmas hopes, it had to do something unexpected. So, in a move craftier than any Jedi mind trick, Kenner instead sold — an empty box! The "Early Bird Certificate Package" was a cardboard box containing a display stand (with nothing to display), a fan club membership card, and a few stickers. But it also contained a mail-in coupon guaranteeing you — if you mailed it back by the deadline — the first four Star Wars action figures as soon as they became available. Thousands of excited young fans sent in their coupons — and, sure enough, by mid-'78, these kids proudly owned 3-3/4" tall figures of Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, R2-D2, and Chewbacca. According to the collectors' website www.starwarstoymuseum.com, "In 1978, [Kenner] sold more than 42 million Star Wars toys ... earning an unprecedented $100 million." All that success because Kenner made and kept a promise, letting young fans connect with a story of hope in an unexpected way.

Centuries before Jesus' birth, many of the Jewish people were waiting for an "action figure" of a different kind: the Messiah. Messiah is a Hebrew word that literally means anointed one. Christ is a Greek word that means the same thing. The Messiah or the Christ would be anointed, or chosen, by God to settle old scores and set things right on a cosmic scale. Many Jews remembered God's promise to King David: "I will raise up your descendant ... and I will establish his royal throne forever" (2 Samuel 7:12-13). They read Daniel's vision of the future in which "one like a human being" (or "like a son of man") receives "rule, glory, and kingship" and "all peoples, nations, and languages will serve him" (Daniel 7:13-14). They read in Scripture a story about hope — the hope that God would save them, and even the whole creation, from sin, evil, and death; and they waited for one who would usher in that story's ultimate chapter.

So when Matthew says that he's going to write about the birth of Jesus Christ or Jesus the Messiah, he's raising high expectations. He is promising to tell the story of how the long centuries God's people spent waiting and hoping have finally paid off. But this will be the story of Jesus the Messiah. Contrary to some expectations, this Messiah would not be an "action figure" who brings down the evil Empire (of Rome, the political and military superpower of Jesus' day) with a flashing lightsaber.

Yet in the story of Jesus' miraculous conception, Matthew tells us that Jesus is an "action figure" in the way that matters most. Jesus' name, in fact, says it all. The name "Jesus" was common among first-century Jews. It's the Greek version of the Hebrew name "Joshua." Plenty of parents wanted their sons to share the name of the hero who fought the battle of Jericho and triumphantly led Israel's tribes into Canaan. Joshua was a "messiah" who saved God's people, but Jesus the Messiah will save God's people, not from physical foes, but spiritual ones — "forces of cosmic darkness," as the apostle Paul puts it in Ephesians 6:12. Jesus the Messiah will save people from sin. His greatest action will be his shedding of his blood "for many so that their sins may be forgiven" on the cross (Matthew 26:28).

Not everyone who was familiar with Jesus' ministry shared this belief. Some felt their waiting and hoping had been pointless. After all, what "Messiah" goes and gets executed? But Matthew is clear: In the birth of this baby, God has kept God's promises, bringing the centuries-long story of hope to fulfillment in an unexpected way. This Jesus is the "action figure" for whom Israel has been waiting.

Jesus is also the one who you and I and the world continue to wait for. We need hope today. God has given us the greatest hope imaginable in Jesus. When we trust and follow him, we participate in a story of hope that not only spans two millennia but also reaches back to before the foundation of the world "a long time ago," and stretches ahead to the very end of time. In God's story of hope, all things are ultimately gathered to Christ (Ephesians 1:9-10) and all things are finally made new (Revelation 21:5). That is our hope — and we can experience it now, this Christmas, through Jesus the Messiah, who gives freedom from sin, new beginnings today, and life everlasting.

What else could we want for Christmas, when God offers us so great a hope?

Gathering in God's Light

Leader: You will need an Advent wreath and a lighter. Select several readers to read aloud this opening liturgy.

Reader 1: At Christmastime, we hope for lots of things ...

Reader 2: I hope someone picks up on all those gift-giving hints I've been dropping!

Reader 3: I hope we'll have snow!

Reader 4: I hope I can sleep in every day from now until the new year!

Reader 1: At Christmastime, we hope for lots of things ...

Reader 2: I hope this year my family can get along at Christmas dinner.

Reader 3: I hope this year my family will even get together for Christmas dinner.

Reader 4: I just hope this year Christmas will really mean something.

Light one Advent candle.

Reader 1: The Lord's eyes watch all who honor him, all who wait for his faithful love (Psalm 33:18).

Reader 2: Our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and a good hope (2 Thessalonians 2:16).

Reader 3: By God's great mercy we have been given new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (see 1 Peter 1:3).

Reader 4: We wait for the blessed hope and the glorious appearance of our great God and savior Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13).

One or all pray:

Powerful God of promises, You are able to do so much more than we can ever ask or even imagine. May your Spirit help us find, as we celebrate the coming of your Son, renewed hope in your presence and your love, and renewed strength to share that hope with the world around us.

This we pray in Jesus' name.

All: God's gift of hope in Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever! (based on Hebrews 13:8)

Share signs and words of peace with one another.

Reflecting on God's Light

Read Matthew 1:18-21. Then read "What Do You Want for Christmas?" (pages 10–12). Discuss some or all of the following questions:

• When you were a child, what was the one Christmas gift that you wanted more than any other?

• What does it feel like to open a gift that you have been asking for and eagerly anticipating?

• Many ancient Jewish people were eagerly anticipating the coming of the Messiah. How was their hope in a Messiah similar to your hope for a Christmas present?

• When has a Christmas gift that you had been eagerly anticipating disappointed you?

• Why might some of the people who had been eagerly awaiting the Messiah have been disappointed in Jesus?

Responding to God's Light

Leader: Choose one or more of the following activities and discussion starters.

Defining Our Terms

• What does the word hope mean?

• How do we use the word hope in our culture?

Look again at the Bible verses about hope quoted in the Advent candle ritual above (Psalm 33:18; 2 Thessalonians 2:16; 1 Peter 3:1; Titus 2:13; Hebrews 13:8). What, if anything, makes the Bible's idea of hope different from other ways we understand hope?

Singing of Hope

Leader: You will need your congregation's songbooks or hymnals (or some other songbooks that include Christmas carols).

Think about Christmas carols you know, and/or look through the Advent and Christmas sections of your congregation's hymnal or songbooks. Find as many references as possible to hope.

Discuss the following: How do these carols, hymns, and songs describe God's gift of hope in Jesus Christ? Which song contains your favorite reference to Christmas hope? Why?

Spend some time as a group singing these carols of hope. Consider planning a caroling trip to a local neighborhood or a nearby nursing or retirement home.

Symbols of Hope

Leader: You will need a markerboard, a camera, paper, markers or colored pencils, paint, and soft modeling clay.

As a group, brainstorm words and symbols that you associate with hope. List responses on a markerboard.

Which of these symbols, if any, do we find in Advent and Christmas decorations, songs, and traditions? (This could include church traditions or secular traditions.)

If possible, tour your church building looking for symbols of hope. Document these symbols with a camera.

Now think of all the symbols of hope you've identified, then draw, paint, or sculpt your personal symbol of hope in Jesus.

Jesus' Job Description

Not all Jews in Jesus' time shared the same beliefs about who the Messiah would be or what the Messiah would do (or whether a messiah would come). There is no easy way to summarize the diverse beliefs that people held about the Messiah. But most messianic hopes fall into three categories: hopes for a great prophet, hopes for a great priest, and hopes for a new king:

• A prophet is a spokesperson for God. While we often think of prophets as persons who foresee the future, prophets more often teach God's people how to understand God's will for the present.

• A priest is a mediator or "go-between" for God and God's people, representing each to the other. In Jesus' time, priests were responsible for performing sacrifices that made atonement for sins and put people in a right relationship with God.

• A king is the ruler of a nation or group of people.

Read the following Scriptures, which Christians often identify as promises of the Messiah. Put a "P" next to Scriptures that seem to indicate hopes for a prophet; a "PR" to those that seem to indicate hopes for a priest; and a "K" to those that seem to indicate hopes for a king. (See the Answer Key on page 20.)

___ Deuteronomy 18:15-18

___ 2 Samuel 7:12-16

___ Psalm 110

___ Isaiah 50:4-9

___ Ezekiel 34:15-16, 23-24

___ Micah 5:2-5a

Based on what you know about Jesus, how, would you say, did he fulfill messianic hopes for a prophet, a priest, and a king?

Great Expectations

The angel tells Joseph about God's great hope for the baby Jesus: "He will save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21). Other Scriptures about Jesus' birth, childhood, and youth also tell us about the expectations people held for the baby born in Bethlehem. Read these Scriptures and then try paraphrasing them, writing them in your own words to tell what the character(s) in each expect of Jesus.

• Matthew 2:1-6

• Luke 1:26-33

• Luke 1:46-55

• Luke 1:67-79

• Luke 2:25-38

• Luke 2:42-51

Based on what you know about Jesus, how did he meet these "great expectations"?

Option: Consider acting out these Scriptures, either as brief skits or pantomimes. Record your performances on video so that others can view them.

High Hopes

• As you have been growing up, what hopes have you had for your life? Which of these hopes do you still have?

• As you have been growing up, what hopes have your parents, guardians, or other adults had for your life? Which of these hopes do they still have?

• What hopes do you think God has for your life? What are you doing to realize those hopes today?

Shining With God's Light

God's gift of hope in Jesus Christ is a Christmas gift that won't break!

Divide into groups of three or four. In your groups, discuss the questions on the following page. Work together to come up with ideas to which you can commit.

• What gift will you give this Christmas that will bring someone else God's gift of hope? Perhaps you and your youth group could collect gifts or money for a charity such as Heifer International (www.heifer.org). Gifts of animals and agricultural supplies given through Heifer International's "gift catalog"— from gift packages to water buffalo! — help people in developing countries become self-reliant, leading to a future filled with hope.

• What gift will you ask for this Christmas that will help you be a giver of hope? Perhaps you could ask for a book of devotionals from a classic or contemporary Christian author. It is difficult to share hope with others when our individual hopes are low. Reading and reflecting on fellow believers' insights can keep us aware of God's presence and power in the world and in our lives, rekindling and increasing our Christian hope.

Daily Devotional Readings

Commit to reading, reflecting on, and praying about one of the following devotional readings each day during the coming week.

DAY 1: Psalm 146

Why does the psalm-singer call those who hope in God, rather than people, "happy"? Is the psalmist talking about good feelings or something else? Why does the psalm-singer believe that God is worthy of our hope? How have you seen God doing these things (setting prisoners free, opening the eyes of the blind, upholding the orphans and widows, and so on) today?

DAY 2: Psalm 130

Hoping in God can be hard sometimes. When have you felt like you were in "the depths"? How did you handle it? How will you express hope in God when you are (as we all will be) in "the depths" again? Try paraphrasing this psalm — what might a modern equivalent of "the night watch" be?

DAY 3: Romans 4:16-25

The apostle Paul presents Abraham as a model of hope. What can we learn from Abraham's hope in God? Paul says that Abraham's faith remained strong even when he considered his body "as good as dead" (verse 19). What situations today — in your life, in your community, or around the world — seem "as good as dead"? How will you hope against hope that God will redeem and work through these circumstances? How do we know that our hope in God is not in vain?

DAY 4: Luke 1:46-55

Mary's song of praise (called the "Magnificat") is a triumphant song of hope. How does the coming birth of her baby confirm Mary's hope in God? Find and listen to a musical setting of the Magnificat. (Many recordings of the Magnificat are available through iTunes and other online music stores.) How does the music reflect the hope in Mary's words? How does being "high" or "low" in the world affect how you hear the hope of this song?

DAY 5: 1 Timothy 4:7-10

Paul tells his protégé Timothy that our hope "set on the living God" should motivate us to train "for a holy life." What do you think this training looks like today? How are you training yourself in godliness? Who is (or could be) "coaching" you as you train? What does this training have to do with hope?

DAY 6: Ephesians 1:17-23

Paul says that we only come to understand what we're hoping for in Christ gradually, as we are guided by the Spirit. How has your understanding of hope developed over your life of faith? When and where have you witnessed the "overwhelming greatness" of God's power (verse 19)?

DAY 7: John 6:60-69

Where do people in our culture look for hope? How will you, as a Christian, help others know that only Jesus Christ is the ultimate hope?

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Christmas Gifts That Won't Break Youth Study Book by JAMES W. MOORE, Mike Poteet. Copyright © 2017 Abingdon Press. Excerpted by permission of Abingdon Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Edition details

• Publisher: Abingdon Press
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1501840045
• ISBN 13: 9781501840043
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 64