Key Question: What are you hoping for? Christmas is a time of year that is filled with hopeful anticipation. We look forward to spending time with our families. We hope for a certain gift under the Christmas tree. Or maybe we hope there will be a gift under the tree. With all that might seem strange about Christmas in 2020, it’s important for kids to have the chance to process their feelings. We pray this week will not only give them a chance to share their hopes but also remind them that they can put their hope in God, who they can trust no matter what.

We kick off Christmas with one of them most hopeful passages in the Old Testament. In Isaiah 9:6, we read, A child will be born to us. A son will be given to us. He will rule over us. And he will be called Wonderful Adviser and Mighty God. He will also be called Father Who Lives Forever and Prince Who Brings Peace, (NIrV). As God’s people were about to head into exile, God delivered hope through a promise. Someday, this will all be over—a King would come who would make all things new. Christmas celebrates the hope that God sent Jesus to fulfill that promise and rescue creation once and for all.

Bottom Line: We can have hope because God keeps His promises. Throughout the Bible, we see time and again how God followed through on what He promised His people. Knowing that God has kept His promises in the past, gives us hope that God will continue keeping His promises in the future. In a world of uncertainty, we pray that kids discover the hope that through Jesus, God is making all things new.

Key Question: What are you giving this Christmas? Christmas is all about God’s love for us. God loved us so much that He gave us His One and Only Son. God’s gift to us should compel us to give to others. We hope that as preteens answer this question, they start to see the ways they can show their love for others by giving of themselves. We can give gifts, but we can also give our time and attention to help others know how much we love them and how God loves them too!

As we kick off the week of Christmas, we head to Luke 2:1-7 and discover more about when Jesus was born. From a human perspective, this whole situation must have seemed crazy to Mary and Joseph. Not only was Mary expecting the baby who would save the world, but now she and Joseph had to travel to Bethlehem for the census. When they arrive, there’s no room for them to stay except for the place they keep the animals. As hectic as this moment was, this is just how God wanted Jesus to enter the world.

Bottom Line: God loved us so much that He gave us a Savior. Looking back over the stories included in the Bible, time and again it comes back to God’s love for His creation. Right from the start, God wanted to have a relationship with us. Even when we messed that up with our sin, God continued to love and make a way to rescue us. Jesus is proof that God loves us unconditionally.