December 2014

The Advent season, which begins this year on November 30, offers four weeks to prepare our hearts for Jesus’ birth. It’s also a reminder to prepare for Jesus’ second coming, when everyone who believes in him will go to heaven to live with God forever.

Advent’s special meaning and pur-pose often get lost in the Christmas shuffle. But your family can take fun steps to focus on what the season truly means.

Pre-Christmas faith boosters needn’t be elaborate or time-consuming. Instead, use material you have on hand to reinforce the good news the angels shared on that first Christmas Eve: Jesus, our Savior, is born!

In the weeks leading up to Christmas, you can engage in old and new tradi-tions, make crafts, have discussions about Jesus’ birthday, and worship him as your newborn King.

Look for ways to spread joy as a family. From caroling and delivering cookies to sending cards and inviting neighbors to church services or programs, there are many ways to let your light shine as you celebrate Jesus, the Light of the world.

One popular way to prepare for Jesus’ arrival is to make and light an Advent wreath as a family. The symbols and colors will add meaning to your devo-tional time together. Turn the page for easy instructions to make a special wreath.

Anticipate Jesus’ Arrival

POWERSOURCE ASK GOD:

1. To bless your family’s Christmas

preparations and to prepare your

hearts for his arrival.

2. To replace stress and busyness

with peace and calm.

3. To help your family stay focused

on Jesus and his joy during the

holiday season.

The Vision of St Peter’s

Children’s Ministry is for all children to

DISCOVER the love of Jesus.

TEACHABLE MOMENTS

Follow the Star Hang a trail of yellow construction-paper stars throughout your house, and near each star, place a nativity-scene figure. Hang the last, largest star over a cake with candles on it, and place the baby Jesus figurine by it. As a family, follow the stars. Stop at each one and talk about that figure’s role in the first Christmas. At the final star, light the candles on the cake. Say: These candles represent the star of Bethlehem that shone bright-ly over baby Jesus when he came to earth to save us. Read aloud John 8:12 and talk about ways that Jesus can shine brightly in our lives each day. Close in prayer: Dear God, thank you for sending your only Son, Jesus, to be born for us on Christmas. Amen. Then sing “Happy Birthday” to Jesus and share the cake!

Christmas Adventures

As with any birthday celebration, much of the fun of Christmas is planning for—and awaiting—its arrival. Traditions are an important part of Christmas for many families. They provide opportunities to keep your unique legacy going, while focusing on the true reason we observe December 25. From the simple to the silly to the sentimental, traditions can impart key lessons and create meaningful memories. For example, you might buy a new orna-ment for each of your children each year. If you don’t already have an Advent wreath, you can make the one described below.

“I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the

city of David!”—Luke 2:10-11

Family Advent Wreath By making this craft together, you’ll have a cherished tradition for years to come. Using a low-temperature glue gun, secure a white tea can-dle in the center of a pie pan. Then glue four purple (or blue) tea can-dles around it evenly. Adults can use wire cutters to cut flame-resistant greenery to glue around the pan’s lip. Use this wreath as the centerpiece of your family’s Advent devotions. The wreath’s circular shape re-minds us that Jesus has no begin-ning or end. The candles signify that he’s the Light of the world and remind us to live—and shine—for him. Traditionally, each candle has a special meaning. Week 1—The first candle is called the candle of hope. People in the Old Testament knew that God had promised to send a Savior. And we’re filled with hope because we know that Jesus came to earth on the first Christmas to save us from our sin. Light one colored candle on your wreath and read aloud Romans 15:13. Then share some ways you’re filled with hope be-cause you know Jesus. Week 2—The second candle represents preparation. Getting our

hearts ready for Christmas is more important than decorating our home or even our church. Light two colored candles, and read aloud Mark 1:3-4. As a family, brainstorm things you do to get ready for house guests. Talk about what you’d do differently if Jesus were coming to stay at your house. Week 3—The third candle, some-times pink, symbolizes joy. Light three colored candles on your wreath. Read aloud Luke 2:10-11 and discuss the angel’s big an-nouncement. Then encourage each person to share one thing they’re especially joyful about this Christmas. Week 4—The fourth candle repre-sents love. Christmas happened because of God’s great love for all people. Light all four colored can-dles and read aloud John 3:16. Talk about why we give nice things to people we love—and why Jesus is the best gift ever. Close in pray-er, thanking our loving God for sending Jesus as a baby on Christmas. The white center candle is called the Christ candle. Light it on Christmas Day (along with the oth-er candles in your wreath) to cele-brate Jesus’ birthday!

MOVIE Title: Annie Genre: Musical comedy-drama Rating: PG (for some mild language and rude humor) Cast: Jamie Foxx, Quvenzhané Wallis, Rose Byrne, Cameron Diaz Synopsis: This contemporary adapta-tion of the popular musical was pro-duced by Jay-Z and Will Smith. The modern retelling adds racial diversity, as well as some new songs. Our Take: After more than 30 years, this beloved movie receives a well-deserved remake. Kids will enjoy the story of a foster child and her encoun-ter with Will Stacks, a Daddy Warbucks-type of politician. By the end, both of their lives are significantly changed for the better.

MEDIA MADNESS

CULTURE & TRENDS

Comfort Food—Children as young as 5 seek solace in food when they’re stressed out. Research shows that the more stressful a child’s life is, the more sweet foods he or she eats. Girls are especially vulnerable to this habit. Kids said bullying, fights with friends, and sib-ling issues made them turn to food. (dailymail.co.uk) Enjoying Creation—According to a study at Michigan State University, when children get time outside, they also have a greater belief in the creator God. (msutoday.msu.edu)

QUICK STATS

Birds & Bees—In a survey, 80% of

parents blamed the Internet for spur-ring a “facts of life” talk with their kids at a younger age than when the par-ents received the same talk. Today, most kids hear that talk by age 10. Half of today’s parents remember hearing it themselves around age 15—if they heard it at all. (kvue.com) Mainstreaming Perks—Language test scores of kids with disabilities who were placed in classrooms with the most highly skilled peers were about 40% better than scores of kids with disabilities who were placed with the lowest-ranked peers. (news.osu.edu)

BOOK

Title: The Contract Author: Derek Jeter Synopsis: This middle-grade baseball novel is the first in a series by the recently retired New York Yankees shortstop. Jeter based the story on his childhood, when his parents gave him a “contract” promising rewards for good behavior and wise decisions. Our Take: With lots of baseball action by a superstar author, this book is sure to be a homerun—especially with boys. The Contract contains positive mes-sages about persistence and pursuing one’s dreams. It doesn’t acknowledge, however, the high level of physical talent required to make it in profes-sional sports.

Games, Sites & Apps

Super Smash Bros. This popular multiplayer “brawling” game is be-ing released for Ninten-do 3DS and Wii U. Characters are from various Nintendo fran-chises. Players try to launch opponents off a stage, so there’s lots of cartoon violence.

BrainBashers.com On this site, older kids can take simple quizzes, complete puzzles, play games, view optical illu-sions, and more. The site is free but requires that cookies are turned on.

Grandma Loves Bugs With this iOS app, pre-schoolers can practice coloring, counting, sim-ple spelling, and letter matching. Children will enjoy catching virtual fireflies and using the app’s magnifying glass on photos of real bugs.

This page is designed to help educate parents and isn’t meant to endorse any movie, music, or product. Our prayer is that

you’ll make informed decisions about what your children watch, read, listen to, and play.

December

SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY

1 2 CPP

6:30-8:15PM

3 Wednesday

Night Connections 5:30 dinner

6:30-7:45pm class

4

Worship 7pm

5 6 CPP

10-11:45am

Worship 6pm

7 Worship

8 &10:45am SS 9:30

8 9 10 Wednesday

Night Connections 5:30 dinner

6:30-7:45pm class

11 Worship 7pm

12 13 Worship 6pm

14 Worship

8 &10:45am SS 9:30

15 16 17 Wednesday

Night Connections 5:30 dinner

6:30-7:45pm class

18 Worship 7pm

19 20 Worship 6pm

21 Worship

8 &10:45am No kids SS or

nursery.

22 23 24 Christmas

Eve 4:30 Family

Service 7,9 &11pm

25 Christmas

Day No church tonight

A Savior is Born!

26 27 Worship 6pm

28 Worship

8 &10:45am No kids SS or

nursery.

29 30 Baptism class will resume in

January.

31

New Year’s Eve

Service 6PM

UNFROZEN Elementary SS Lessons

9:30am Dec 7th & 14th and Wednesday nights Dec 3rd & 10th. Do You Want to Meet a Savior This Christmas?

This Christmas teach kids that Jesus was born to melt away the old, and bring new life and a new kingdom.

Kathy and I both feel we could’ve written this article below, and maybe should have. But since Jeremy Mavis wrote it and we agree with it, we are sharing it with you. Feel free to share your thoughts with us, whether you agree with us or not.

Dear Parents, “Please Challenge Your Children (and Yourself)” Child Development / Parenting / Spiritual Formation // 3 months ago

Author: Jeremy Mavis

Dear Parents, I was recently talking to a mother of a 7th grade student who was sharing with me that her son didn’t want to come to Sunday school and Youth group at church. “Every Sunday morning and every Wednesday evening is a battle,” this Mom shared. “I make him go, even when he doesn’t want to, and he ALWAYS enjoys it at the end and wonders why I show up early to pick him up.” She was fascinated that her son oscillated between the two extremes: not wanting to go prior, but once he is there, then he doesn’t want to leave.

I laughed because, though I don’t yet have children in middle school and high school, that has been my observational experi-ence at our church. I’ve witnessed countless situations where a parent will walk down the hallway at church on a Sunday morning, arrive at the door to their room, and ask their child if they want to go into the classroom or not.

Think about that for a second:

Does a 7th grade student, let alone a 6 year-old, know what they need spiritually?

Do you give your child or teenager whatever they want even if you know that it might be bad for them? Of course not (hopeful-ly!)! We give our kids and teenagers what they need (not what they want) because they don’t know what they need… that’s why we call them dependents.

The reason I am writing this letter is that I see, not merely a growing trend, but a full fledged pattern of behavior among parents and families to give both kids and teenagers what they want, not necessarily what they need. And what students want is to not go to Sunday school or Youth group. And parents seem to accommodate that want.

Now there are probably a multitude of reasons why a child or teenager doesn’t come to a regular ministry program at our church, and I imagine that there are a few legitimate ones. What I’m afraid of is that most of the reasons are tied to an inability of parents to be willing to do battle with their children and teenagers on doing the right things. One could argue that coming to Sunday school or Youth group is not that important, and as long as one goes to church on Sunday or connects with God spir-itually during the week somehow, then that is enough. No. It’s not enough.

If any of you understand the world of sports you know the importance of practicing, not by yourself, but with a team and doing it regularly. Growing in the Lord and in one’s spiritual life is no different than growing in proficiency in a sport. Actually it’s more important to grow in the Lord (especially if you are a Christian) than it is to invest any and all spare time on a sports team. Athlet-ic seasons end. And while I am not criticizing sports as a whole, what I do see in our community is a religious obsession with sports and a lackadaisical and haphazard approach to growing in the Lord.

Our church’s children and teenagers need to spend time around other believers their age and adult spiritual coaches (we call them small group leaders). This is a phenomenal environment for spiritual growth and proficiency to occur, and our church has intentional spiritual environments doing these kinds of things.

Let’s be honest, if we don’t push and encourage our kids to grow spiritually, then we probably aren’t growing spiritually our-selves. So while I might be imploring families to push their children to engage in spiritual environments with their peers, I also need to implore parents to do the same. This is true in my own life as well. Believe it or not, there are some Sunday mornings where I don’t want to get out of bed to get ready for church and it would be so much easier to have another day of the week where I don’t have to push my kids to get ready to get out the door on time. I know it’s difficult. I understand. Do you want to know why? It’s because my own spiritual fer-vor for the Lord has waned, at times, and I want to take the path of least resistance rather than push for what I believe to be vi-tally important for my family.

Cont’d next page

What’s even more apparent is:

If we don’t push our kids to grow in their faith then chances are we don’t really have a thriving faith ourselves and our kids know it.

Research and common sense all agree that the best predictor of thriving faith in the life of a young adult is because they grew up in a family where faith thrived! So when we don’t push our children and teenagers to engage in their spiritual environments we are teaching them that faith doesn’t really matter.

Now if that’s what you want to teach your kids, I cannot stop you. I cannot make anyone grow in faith. However, my job as a both a pastor and someone who cares deeply about families, is to encourage and challenge you and your kids. I encourage you to do battle against this culture’s drift toward apathy and irrelevance in Christianity with your children and teenagers. And I challenge you to do battle in your own life and grow in faith. The best thing you can do to encourage and equip faith in the life of your fami-ly is to grow in faith yourself.

Our church faith community is here to support, encourage and challenge you. I have been quiet for too long and been far too passive about our culture’s drift toward apathy and our complicity in it. We need to encourage and challenge one another to do the things God wants in our lives. These kind of things are not things that our culture finds valuable, but they are things God deeply wants in our lives.

Doing these things will make our church a light of faith and surrender to Christ, rather than faith and surrender to our cultural drift toward apathy. Can you imagine what it would look like in our town if the families that participate in our community of faith chal-lenged their children and engaged deeply in faith themselves?

Yeah. It would change our community!

Make time to worship with your family a priority.

Articles to pass along

Knowing the power of movies on our culture, code.org (a nonprofit dedicated to expanding participation in computer science) and Disney Interactive announced a new joint tutorial program that they hope will lure more girls into the world of computer programming. The new tutorial lets budding programmers tap into the story of Frozen sisters Anna and Elsa—helping them make ice fractals and skating patterns using basic coding skills. Disney is also donating $100,000 to code.org to bring computer science education to after-school programs. [usatoday.com, 11/19/14]

1 HOUR – An hour of video game play per day leads to kids who are less hyperactive and more social compared with children who don’t spend any time behind a controller, according to researchers at Oxford University. Kids who played longer than one hour didn’t show those benefits, and negative effects were noted in kids who played longer than three hours. (cbsnews.com)

AS YOUNG AS 5 – Children as young as 5 week solace in food when anxious and stressed. Data shows the more stressful a child’s life, the more sweet foods they eat. Children surveyed said bullying, fights with friends, and sibling issues caused them to eat, and girls were particularly prone to look for comfort food when times were though. (dailymail.co.us)

TUNNEL VISION – Kids as young as six months old experiencing “near-death” situations can recall the inci-

dent years later. Many report having seen tunnels, bright lights, deceased relatives and beautiful gardens.

The most common memory? An overwhelming feeling of happiness. Heaven is for real! (dailymail.co.uk)

DVD – THE PROMISE: BIRTH OF THE MESSIAH – This 45 minute animated film brings the events

surrounding Jesus’ birth to life. The music is fun, the animation is eye-catching, and preteens will

enjoy the humor and message. All kids- whether they’re new to the church or have grown up in it- will

experience the surprising truth and emotion of Jesus’ birth through this film. (christianbook.com)

Download a Family Advent

Devotional to your

tablet, phone or computer.

Kathy and I often attend a CPC (children’s

pastor’s conference) that is sponsored by

INCM (International Network of Chil-

dren’s Ministry). They have provided a

wonderful family advent for us to share

with our families. “This resource was cre-

ated to help you lead your

family to a purposeful and intentional

preparation for the

celebration of Christmas.”

It is hard for us as adults to keep

Christ centered in our hearts during

the busyness of the Christmas sea-

son. For children, it is all the more

difficult. Retailers launch their ad

campaigns, holiday movies talk in-

cessantly about Santa and gifts, and

of course all their friends begin to

talk about the stuff they want to

find under the tree. But this year

can be different. This year, your

family can be different.

Please click on the link to down-

load the entire devotional.

http://incm.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/The-Advent-Book_Digital.pdf

Family Advent Devotionals

You’ve probably heard of “Elf on the Shelf”.

But what about manger on the mantel?

God wrapped a gift for you and placed it in a manger. Make a gift of yourself each day of December in celebra-tion of God's gift with the Manger on the Mantel! Press out this easy-to-assemble manger and put it on display. Each day, a small "present" is taken from the manger in-structing children where to move the manger next. A daily Bible verse and activity starter are written on each gift card. Children of all ages will love the message that the good things we do are in response to God's loving gift of Jesus.

The hidden objects in this seek-and-find devotional tell the story of our Christ's coming from A to Z. Children and adults alike will enjoy the colorful photographs and lyrical rhymes as they search for the Savior that God at the very beginning promised to send us. In the end, all eyes are on the manger bed in Bethlehem for the greatest discovery ever: baby Jesus!

You can find these family advent devotionals located on the

kiosk outside the nursery.

Please, one per family.

Upcoming Events

What does St Peter’s children’s ministry have to do with First Fridays for Families? We’ll be at the Commons Mall January 2

nd to meet and greet

you before 6 and after the show at 7PM. Find us at a table, enjoy a treat, meet a new family! We thought this was a great opportunity to get families together. Hope to see you there!

Details

Date: January 2, 2015

Time: 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Cost: Free

Event Categories:

Children, Comedy, Family,

Music, Theatre

2015 FATHER

DAUGHTER DANCE

Will be held

Saturday, February 28th.

Mark this date on your

calendars. Tell your family,

friends and neighbors.

More details to follow.

Ruditoonz, Indiana’s rockingest, coolest, awesome-est rock and roller for

kids and their rocking parents, returns to Columbus with a highly energet-

ic and interactive show filled with fun and original music.

First Fridays for Families is a free program geared toward children in pre-

kindergarten through third grade. All First Fridays programs begin at 6:00

PM on the first Friday of each month from November through April and

are held in the Nugent-Custer Performance Hall in The Commons in

downtown Columbus. Each program is unique and offers a way to intro-

duce the arts to a young audience. Thanks to our generous title sponsor,

Old National Bank, this is a no cost program.

The True Story

of Christmas

December 24th

4:30PM

This year the children of St Peter’s Lutheran church

will present “The True Story of Christmas” on

Christmas Eve. Please make note of the new time this year.

4:30PM

Join us as “Grandpa” shares the true story of Christmas with his

“grandchildren”.

We are excited that Sara Bishop, Beckie Eckelman, and

Trish Kelly have taken on the task of writing, leading and directing

the musical/drama this year. What a blessing to have them

use the gifts and talents God has given them in this way. Thanks to the children who also shared their gifts and talents and also to the parents and grandparents who provided snacks, crowd control, and made sure the kids got here and learned the songs and lines.