Christmas unwrapped

CHRISTMAS: JESUS UNWRAPPED

aim To have some Christmas fun!

To think about how the nativity story was actually a lot messier than we often portray it.

To think about how Jesus came to earth not to avoid our mess but to get completely involved in it.

DESCRIPTION

DESCRIPTION

This session unwraps the true meaning of Christmas. It looks at how the birth of a baby boy in a faraway country is still relevant to us now. Jesus Unwrapped takes a closer look behind the nativity story that's plastered all over cards, TV and shop windows; about what it all REALLY means and provides an opportunity for young people to respond to Jesus.

Dear God; thank you for coming to Earth. Thank you that you didn’t come avoiding our mess, but came right in the midst of it. Help us realise that the nativity story was a challenging messy story that you arrived in the middle of, and you want to arrive in the middle of our mess today. Amen

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It’s CHRISTMASSSSSS Time: 5 minutes Preparation: Christmas up your venue! We’re talking decorations, a table of Christmas treats and Christmas music flowing.

You will need: Christmas decorations music mince pies drinks and sweets

Opener: Use the first 5 minutes of your session as a mini Christmas party. Have the Christmas music on full blast, have treats laid out. If you have the ability, turn your place into a bit of a winter wonderland.

Insane in the Candy Cane Time: 8 minutes

You will need: Lots of candy canes chopsticks

Game Split your group into two teams and line them up. (If you have lots of young people then split them into more teams, if you have a few then doing this game as a timed challenge works just as well.)

Hand each person in the line a chopstick.

At the start of the line have a packet of candy canes. A pack of twelve per team should work fine.

The aim of the game is to transport all the candy canes from one end of the line to the other.

The method is simple; everyone must place their chopstick in their mouth. The first player in the line can place a candy cane on their chopstick but from that point the candy cane can only be transported through the use of the chopsticks.

If a candy cane falls to the floor, it can be picked up and put back on the chopstick.

As soon as the first person has passed on a candy cane, they can transport another one. However, two candy canes can’t be passed on at a time.

The first team to transport all their candy canes across is the winner.

Random wrap challenge Time: 8 minutes

Game

You will need: Wrapping paper cellotape scissors

Split your group into small groups of 3.

If possible, place them in different parts of the building so no one is able to spy on the other groups. If this isn’t possible then spread them out in the room and encourage no cheating!

Hand out some wrapping paper, scissors and cellotape to every group.

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The aim of the game is to wrap up some random items for others group to guess. The items have to be on the young people or can be things around your venue.

The items need to be wrapped in such a way that it doesn’t give the contents away easily. So, wrapping needs to be creative.

Give 3 minutes for the groups to wrap up their random items.

After the 3 minutes take all the presents, bring everyone together (though still in their groups) and redistribute the presents so each group has all the presents that another group has wrapped.

Give 2 minutes for the groups to try and work out what’s in the presents. They can shake and feel but they are absolutely not allowed to open!

One group at a time, have people say what they think has been wrapped. A point can be awarded for every right answer. The winners keep their presents! (not really)

Explain Hopefully you’re all suitably excited for Christmas! In this session we’ll be thinking a lot about the real meaning of Christmas, who Jesus was and why he even came. In the game we’ve just played, many of us weren’t sure what we were unwrapping. In the same way, many people don’t actually know why it is we celebrate Christmas; it’s a bit of guesswork based on things we sort of half know.

Today we’ll be unwrapping the nativity story

Create your own nativity scene Time: 10 minutes

You will need: Lots of Playdough

Explain Do This is an activity for everyone in the group to get stuck in with. As a group, the aim is to create a beautiful nativity scene that will last for the entirety of the session (out of playdough).

Delegate different characters and items to different young people in the group. For reference, here are some of the things you’ll need A baby Jesus Mary and Joseph Shepherds Wise men Angels Farm animals A crib A stable A star Stable related items, including straw.

Feel free to add in anything else creative if it enhances the scene!

Design the scene in a prominent place in the room.

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What do you know?

Time: 5 minutes Activity

You will need: Paper pens bibles

Split your group into small groups of no more than 3 young people.

Explain that the point of this activity is to write down every single fact they know about the nativity (the story of Jesus being born) within 2 minutes.

However, they have to write them down in order of importance. So not only do they have to write down quick fire facts, they have to number those facts from least to most important.

Read Luke 2: 1-20 See what matches up to what the young people said.

Discuss Why did you label the facts in the order you did?

What do you think the importance of the nativity really is?

Red nose reindeers Time: 7 minutes

You will need: Red craft pom poms or tinsel string vaseline

Game Select a few volunteers to come up the front; about 3 at a time works nicely.

Dollop some vaseline on each volunteer’s nose.

Hand a pom pom attached to string to each young person. Have them put the string end in their mouths so that the pom pom is dangling.

The aim of the game is to try and swing the pom pom onto the nose. No one is allowed to use their hands or any other body part to help them.

Before they were famous Time: 6 minutes Preparation: Print out a few copies of the attachment. Cut out all the blocks and mix them up. Print out one more copy for yourself - this is the answer sheet.

You will need: Before they were famous’ attachment scissors

Do Split up the group into 3s and 4s.

Hand out the cut up attachments to each group.

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The aim of the activity is to match the celebrity with the career they did before what they are now known for.

Give 5 minutes for the teams to come up with some answers.

Read out the answer on the extra attachment sheet. The team with the most correct answers is the winner.

Say: It’s so crazy to think that people so well known had such humble beginnings to life!

It’s exactly the same with Jesus. Sure, we know that the story of his birth is famous now. But here is someone that people had been waiting for for centuries! People were expecting God to come and meet with them. They were expecting a warrior, a leader. Jesus’ birth reflected his life: humble, unexpected and messy.

The nicest things Time: 8 minutes Activity

You will need: Gift tags ribbons pens

Hand out a gift tag and a pen to everyone in the group.

Encourage everyone to write down the nicest things that anyone has ever done for them. This could be someone who has given up something for them, or someone who has done something unexpectedly nice.

Select a couple of volunteers, get them to the front and tie a pretty ribbon round their heads. They are the presents.

Have both of them hand their tags to you.

Read out what is on both tags. The rest of the group have to unanimously guess which tag goes with which person. They must conclude by tying the tag to the ribbon to complete the present.

Find out if they were right.

Play a few rounds of this.

Discuss Why do you remember these times when someone did something nice for you?

How did it make you feel?

Say When someone does something nice for us, it’s like a little present. It makes us feel good, it values us and encourages us to be better.

In that way, Jesus was one of the greatest gifts to us. Not because he brought loads of physical presents to us, but because he ultimately gave something up for us. Not just his time, but his actual life was given to us, sort of like a present, so we might know what it is to be in a relationship with God.

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Christ-mess Time: 5 minutes Film File

You will need: Laptop with internet projector speakers

Watch the film www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjrrmqUguzg Christ-mess (YFC Resources)

Finding Jesus in the mess Time: 8 minutes Preparation: Shred a big load of paper and bag it. Before the session, tuck some baubles and some little plastic figures (any will do) in the bag.

You will need: ‘Hay’ (shredded paper will do) baubles plastic figures

Game Split the group in two and line the two teams up on one side of your room.

On the other side have the bag full of shredded paper with baubles and plastic characters in.

The game works as a relay, one at a time a young person must run to the bag where they have 5 seconds to fish for a plastic toys (you will need a leader loosely timing the 5 seconds).

If they don’t find a plastic toy they must run back to the back of the line. If they do, they must take that toy back to the team.

Baubles are red herrings - you don’t get anything for them!

After 3-4 minutes call time and count the number of toys collected by each team.

Whoever has the most, wins.

Long expected Jesus Time: 6 minutes Film File Watch the film https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLcTLCCpI5A

You will need: Laptop with internet speakers projector

Say The video we just watched traces the story of the Bible up to the point of Jesus coming to earth.The whole of the Bible centres on who Jesus was and why he died. That’s why we celebrate so much at Christmas. The birth of Jesus was the moment the world was waiting for.

The baby Jesus we talk so much about at Christmas is the same one who went to the cross to die 33 years later. Sometimes we think of grown up Jesus differently to baby Jesus. But he didn’t come to earth just to be born in a manger, he came to die for us, so that our mess might be traded for his perfection. He came for you!

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Your mess for his perfection Time: 10 minutes

Preparation

You will need: plastic baubles (the type that you can open) slips of paper pens

On slips of paper, write out ‘I have come to give you life and life to the max. John 10:10’ Explain The nativity is a great picture because it shows how Jesus came into a messy situation.

Throughout his life Jesus got messy, he hung out with messy people, got stuck into messy situations and died a messy death. Yet he was always perfect, without his own mess. He came to trade his perfection for our mess.

Read Philippians 2:5-8 Explain This passage talks about how Jesus, even though he was perfect and holy, chose to become nothing and die a humiliating death in order to take away the mess in our lives.

We all have mess! Our mess could be things we’ve done wrong, things that people have done that have wronged us. They could be difficult situations we’re facing, past hurts or future worries. Whatever our mess looks like, Jesus came to take it from us and trade it for a full exciting life.

Activity Hand out a slip of paper and a pen to everyone in the group. Also, hand out a bauble to everyone in the group.

Give a couple of minutes for the young people to write down whatever the mess might be in their lives.

Get the young people to place these slips of paper in a bauble and hand them in.

(If you have the shredded paper from the module ‘finding Jesus in the mess’ then they could place their baubles here) Encourage them to spend a moment with their heads bowed, realising that Jesus wants to take their mess.

Replace the slips of paper in the baubles with the slips of paper with the John 10:10 verse on it and hand one back to everyone in the group.

Have everyone take a look at the new slip of paper in the bauble.

Encourage them to keep these baubles for the next module.

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The Christ of Christmas Time: 5 minutes Preparation: Take 3 pieces of A4. On one write a small ‘yes’, on the second write a medium sized ‘yes’, and on the third write a big ‘Yes’. Tape these pieces of paper to 3 individual buckets.

You will need: baubles buckets paper pens tape music

Say Jesus came to offer us the most exciting gift ever. But in order to receive that gift we have to say yes first!

We’re going to spend a moment thinking about whether or not we want to say yes to Jesus. Now saying yes might mean different things for different people so there are options.

We have a small yes. Thats for those of you who maybe aren’t ready to fully become a Christian but are interested in knowing more about Jesus. That might mean keeping on coming to Rock solid, or coming to church once in awhile.

We have a medium sized yes. That’s for those of you who are quite interested in being a Christian but maybe have a few hesitancies. We encourage you, if this is for you, to come and talk to us leaders about what they might be. We’re here for you.

Then there’s a big yes. That’s for those of you who are ready to accept Jesus’ gift of life to you. It’s the most exciting thing you can do to choose this yes. It’s an all in thing. We’d love you to choose this option, but it’s your call!

Activity Place the 3 buckets in the middle of the room. Give young people a minute to think about which kind of yes they might want to say to Jesus. Play some music as they are making this decision.

Pray for everyone after they have sat back down.

N.B. Make a note of those that put their baubles in the big YES. Make sure you grab them for a minute and pray with them before the session is over.

#sharethejoy Time: 5 minutes Challenge

You will need: Christmas chocolates

Hand out 2 christmas-related chocolates to everyone in the group.

One of the christmassy chocolates you can allow the young people to have. Encourage them to keep hold of the second one to share with someone they love.

Explain As Christians we believe that the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus is good news! This is because Jesus came to get rid of our mess and give us a fuller life. We like to share this with other people because we think it would change their lives.

With the other chocolate you have, go and share it with someone you like. If they’re your age, invite them to Rock Solid next session! This is a small picture of what it’s like to share the good news of Jesus.

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Before they were famous Christmas: Jesus unwrapped

Brad Pitt

Dressed up as a chicken to advertise a restaurant

Johnny Depp

Sold pens

Emma Stone

Worked at a dog bakery

George Clooney

Worked as a shoe salesman

BeyoncĂŠ

Swept hair at a hairdressers

Morgan Freeman

Worked as a Dancer

Angelina Jolie

Applied to become a funeral director

Nicole Kidman

Worked as a massage therapist

Hugh Jackman

Dressed up as a clown for children’s parties

Barack Obama

Scooped Ice cream