Bible Study – First Sunday after Christmas – Trust and Go
Share: Your highs (something that made you happy) and lows (something that made you sad) this week with others around you or write them down.
The world – that played Christmas carols all through the penitential season of Advent – has packed away the ornaments, taken down the Christmas trees, and has moved on to after Christmas sales. We gaze in wonder at the gift shimmering before us that we have barely unwrapped, let alone begun to understand. God among us – the Word made flesh. So we make the only response we can: we celebrate! We keep the greens in the church and sing the Christmas carols. We are being nurtured for the work that will be given us to do.
Today we hear from the Gospel of John – his version of the birth story. “The Word was with God and the Word was God.” This Jesus, whom we can begin to grasp as the baby born on Christmas, is obviously something infinitely beyond our understanding. This is light no darkness can blot out. This true light is now loose in the world. This is light born into the world by God simply speaking.
This is a very different rendition of the Christmas Story. There is no baby in the manger, no star or shepherds or Wisemen. It is a passage full of symbols.
Opening Prayer: Dear God, thank You for loving us so much that You gave Your Son so we too can become Your children. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Please open your Bibles to John 1:1-18 and read or read the scriptures below.
John 1:1-18
The Word Became Flesh
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome[a] it.
6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
15 (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) 16 Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
Questions:
- What images have you heard in today’s reading?
- What images come into your mind as you hear this passage? Share in a word or two all the pictures you saw in your mind as you listened.
- What do you think the writer means by "the Word" was there from the beginning?
- What does "the light" mean to you? What do you associate with light?
- Why do you think the writer chose these images to talk about Jesus?
Bible Memory Verse: John 1:12 - Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.
Click here for the young learner’s lesson:
Videos (Click on url)
A Reading of John 1:1-18 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGuXA1foALA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2qjPDtQnk4
Gospel of John Summary: A Complete Animated Overview (Part 1) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-2e9mMf7E8
Song: This Little Light of Mine - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au5kbFG3iC4&list=RDAu5kbFG3iC4&start_radio=1
Activities:
Retell Christmas to a Stranger: "Whose birthday was this past week, Jesus or a jolly man in a red suit? ‘Santa’, I think you call him. Or was it a reindeer with a red nose? Where was this Jesus born and what are his folks’ names? What did their house look like? Who came to see the new baby?“
Create a Christmas card and draw the elements of Christmas – the manger, the baby, shepherds on a hill, angels – even the wise men approaching from a distance on their camels. Then give it to someone in your family or a friend.
Candle Creation: Decorate a candle on a sheet of paper in honor of Jesus birthday. What words can you put on or around the candle to describe God or Jesus? What words would you want to add to remind them of Jesus’ love for them?
Symbols: You will need colored modeling clay, markers, colored paper, white paper, glitter, glue, and scissors. Think about the passage and create a symbol that stands for what you feel when you think of God entering the world as a human being.
If art isn't someone's thing, they might prefer to write a haiku poem to express their feelings of God becoming human. The formula for haikus:
Line one: 5 syllables
Line two: 7 syllables
Line three: 5 syllables
Normally the first two lines describe something in nature and the final line compares that to a feeling or something human.
The Light of the World - Crossword: https://sermons4kids.com/activities/light-of-the-world
The Light of the World – Cryptogram: https://sermons4kids.com/activities/light-of-the-world-1
Is Christmas Over – Fill in the Blank: https://sermons4kids.com/activities/is-christmas-over-2
The Light of the World – Multiple Choice: https://sermons4kids.com/activities/light-of-the-world-3
The Light of the World - Word Search: https://sermons4kids.com/activities/jesus-turns-water-to-wine-4
Prayer: Almighty God, you have poured upon us the new light of your incarnate Word: Grant that this light, enkindled in our hearts, may shine forth in our lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
