Play! Listen! Talk!

I have to admit I’m not a fan of Precious Moments figurines. But today in Sunday School was a Precious Moment I’ll never forget. By now if the kids in your class are like the ones in mine, they have heard several retellings of the Christmas story, they’ve sung in Christmas programs, made Christmas ornaments, wrapped presents, and even opened a few early Christmas presents. So today I wondered if they would be interested in the final part of the Christmas story.

To begin with, we tossed pennies and beanbags onto big stars (like the star God put in the sky) drawn on butcher paper, and created craft-foam trains that reminded us that God is with us wherever we go. The conversation was great as teachers and kids told about times we were glad God was with us.

But the Precious Moment came as part of the Bible story. My co-teacher used the Nature activity in the curriculum and made little gift bags tied with gold ribbon for each child. They were just simple fabric squares filled with cotton balls she had scented with either perfume or spices. At first when she handed them out, the kids had great fun smelling them, trading them and squishing them. Then we got to the part of the story when it was time for the wise men to present their gifts to Jesus. We led the kids around the room and over to a nativity scene. Quietly—even reverently—each child knelt down, bowing low to the ground, and placed their “gift” near baby Jesus in the nativity scene. Right then, a Precious Moment took place.

My prayer for these wonderful preschoolers is that this simple reenactment of giving to Jesus becomes a reality in their lives as they grow and discover what it means to give their love to Jesus in everyday life. Merry Christmas!

Have you ever had something turn out completely different than what you expected? (A recipe? A trip to meet relatives you had never met before?) Sometimes the unexpected results are so much BETTER than you could ever have hoped for (that happened to me with the wonderful relatives we met for the first time). Sometimes the results are not so good (I’m hoping that’s NOT happening with the Santa Lucia buns rising in the kitchen right now.)

Today our Sunday School class turned out differently than I expected. I prepared lots of intriguing sensory items to help our preschoolers make a Bible story book. There was sandpaper for the manger, soft fabric for cloth to wrap baby Jesus in, craft sticks for the stable and, of course, cotton balls for sheep. (Really, do you think the inventors of cotton balls had any idea of how many sheep would be made in Sunday School from these little wispy puffs?) With all these delightful things to touch and feel, I assumed our conversation would be focused on the Bible story.

Unexpectedly, however, we ended up talking about a pirate ship toy that needed to stay in the cubbie like grandma had told her grandson, toys that could not be made into guns (not even bubble-gum guns as one little girl tried to do) and what to do when a young boy’s enthusiasm for gathering the bags with nativity scene figures in them meant that several other children didn’t get any at all.

But despite everything that was said and done, I figured it was OK. It was OK to have the story of Jesus’ arrival on earth mixed up with real life situations. That’s kind of how it is today. In the middle of all the unexpected events we face, Jesus is present in our lives. And His presence comes with the guarantee that our lives will turn out so much better than we expected.

Was today the first day of telling the Christmas story in your Sunday School class? That’s what we did! And I have to admit that as I prepared the fun Christmas tree and music shaker activities and practiced the puppet script, I didn’t really think about the story we would be telling. After all, I’ve told this familiar story before!

But my co-teacher had a different perspective when she arrived. “I just keep thinking what an honor it is to be able to tell this story about the birth of Jesus,” she said. That statement stopped me in my tracks! Yes, I’ve heard this story, I’ve read this story, I've told this story, I’ve even sung this story many times, but I've never stopped to consider what an honor it is to be sharing this story—the greatest story ever told!

As Sunday School teachers, we aren’t making big announcements to the important leaders of the world, or preaching to great crowds of people. But we are walking in the footsteps of prophets and believers! They foretold and then told this good news for hundreds of years—and now it’s our turn. What a privilege we have! As I go through the holiday season and all the things that I do to celebrate Jesus’ birth, I’m going to keep this perspective close to my heart. I’m humbled and honored to be telling about the coming of Jesus.