Children and Families - Scripture Union NZ

When a new baby is born, everyone wants to visit. People bring gifts and they take photographs. When Jesus was a baby some of the first visitors to meet him were these young guys who looked after sheep for a living. Some of them stayed in the fields to make sure the sheep we re okay, and a group of them travellled into Bethlehem to find this baby that the angels told them about.  This is a photograph of a painting of the shepherds. In this photograph the shepherd is an older man. Can you see how he carries the little lamb safe on his shoulders? They would have been a bit smelly. They lived out in the fields, with sheep for company. No showers, no soap and probably no change of clothes. But that doesn’t matter to God. You see, the Christmas story is full of people who weren’t famous or grea t leaders or seen as important. That’s what make it so amazing. God sent angels to tell the shepherds about the saviour of the world. Not Herod, not Augustus. Shepherds.  Do you think t

Luke 2:8 That night in the fields near Bethlehem some shepherds were guarding their sheep. Can you imagine  a cold winters night? Smell the smoke rising from the small fire. Smell the sheep in the pen next to you. Smelly?  Feel the hard ground under you as you sit by the fire, the cold seeping in. Look up and see the stars shining brightly in the dark night sky, and in the distance you can see the faint lights of fires burning in the town of Bethlehem. Look around and see a bunch of young guys sitting with you. They look to be about 10 – 16 years old. These are shepherds. They have the important job of looking after these sheep. Here they are, on this hillside .  But they are excited! They have such a story to share! Everyone is talking at once, the night air filled with laughter and joy and storytelling. And then, every so often they fall silent, and you can see on their faces that they are amazed. They are at peace. Something incredible has happened to them that has made

Now: These photos are taken of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem; the place some people think is where Jesus was born. It is the oldest Church in Israel that is still used, and one of the oldest churches in the world. The church is actually several churches connected together. You can see how they look different.I wonder which one is your favourite and why?     The door into the church is called the door of humility.  That’s because it is so small you have to bend down to go through it.  It was made smaller by the Crusaders during the Middle Ages to stop mounted horsemen riding into the church. In the photo on the left you can see the outline of where an older doorway was.     Something to think about: People build churches as a place to meet together with other Christians and to meet with God. The decorations of the church help people to stop and be calm, to think and pray.  One of the churches in the photos is dark, another church is light. This tells us

“…while they were there,   she gave birth to her first-born son. She dressed him in baby clothes and laid him on a bed of hay, because there was no room for them in the guest-room.” It was time. God's son was about to be born into the world. Jesus was born, not in a palace, or even in a guest room! Instead, the creator of the universe was born in the room attached to the house where the animals were kept. It may even have been one room shar ed by all the people in the house, with the animals in one corner.  This is what it might have looked like: This image comes from www.psephizo.com The family would have had a mule or a donkey to plough their fields or to carry all their gear when they travelled. They were too precious to leave out in the winter cold. And the animals acted like a heating system for the house. They helped make things nice and warm. This is a beautiful painting on a church wall in Bethlehem, but can you spot what needs to be changed to make it acc

…While they were there,   she gave birth to her first-born son. She dressed him in baby clothes and laid him on a bed of hay, because there was no room for them in the inn [guest room]. Bethlehem is crowded when Mary and Joseph arrive in town. Lots of people are pouring into town and families are squeezing people into every single room. It’s noisy, as people greet each other, excited to see one another. Food is cooked and feasts are held. People are yelling too, as someone claims a room that belongs to someone else. Joseph helps Mary as they walk along the busy street where Joseph’s family live. It’s a full house.  But there is the place where the animals live of course...  This picture comes from a book called 'Daily Life at the time of Jesus'. Let's talk about the Inn for a moment: Lots of Christmas books you might have read will tell you that Jesus was born in a stable because there was no room in the inn. An inn is another word for a motel. Thi