Infinitum Family Advent, Week 1Sample

The shepherds in the Christmas story were NOT the popular people in their society. They were left out of all the places everyone pictured God being. Their job prevented them from going to the temple because they were considered unclean. They were outcasts.

But in the Christmas story, love chased them down, went out to the outskirts of society with a heavenly invitation to be included!

“A Savior has been born to you,” the angels said. Can you imagine?!

Have you ever felt invisible? Not in the awesome superhero way (because that would be cool). No, in the way where you definitely KNOW you aren’t invisible, but sometimes in a group of people it can feel like no one ‘sees’ us. The shepherds probably felt that way: invisible to God and others. But in the Christmas story, love chased them down and was born to them. And of course, they had to follow up on what the angels were saying!

And when they found Jesus, and saw Him for themselves, it confirmed what the angels had said: this baby (Jesus, the promised savior of the world!) was for THEM!! And that incredible experience wasn’t something they could just quietly consider. They had to TELL PEOPLE! That’s what we all do when awesome stuff happens to us. We want to share it.

Just like the shepherds, Jesus is for YOU. The love and beauty of Jesus is not just for the popular people, the rich ones, the smart ones, the talented ones … Jesus is for all of us. His love is like a home…a place to belong. It’s a beautiful thing to be included, isn’t it?

Today, as you interact with classmates, siblings, people wherever you go, consider offering that sense of belonging to people like Jesus does. That might be as simple as giving them eye contact, or a hello, it might look like inviting someone to sit with you at lunch or hang out with you on a break time. How can you let Jesus’ generous acceptance of everyone inspire your interactions with people today?

Activity Idea: Create beauty to share—ask God to bring to mind a few people who He wants you to share His beauty with (like the shepherds when they shared the story). Draw them a picture and ask God—“what do you want to say to this person through this image?” Share that with those that come to mind.