The Christmas story, winter camp 2013

dec 30, 2013 | Frontpage Content | 0 Reacties

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Plans and ideas for winter weekend Christmas 2013

Attention to Christmas. I start by telling a Christmas story but from the perspective of heaven. What happened in heaven before the birth of Christ? Why did this have to happen.

Starting with Adam and Eve, the mistakes, the attempt to do better, everything gets worse, new chance for Noah, same problems again. Also pay attention to the angels. How they serve God and watch everything that happens.

Those angels have ideas of their own about what God does. God makes people and He loves them. Some angels get into doubts here and the most important of them get jealous. Match. He was the most important after all. No, man, that is the crown of the creation of God and the angels, also Lucifer, must serve God and serve people. Lucifer refuses, tries to be like God, receives a horde of angels but is banished from Heaven and decides to terrorize Earth. That works, everything becomes a mess.

The people are not strong enough. God sends helpers. People like Abraham, Moses, David and many others who show the way. But people want to listen less and less to what God wants. God sends prophets to warn the people, but some are even killed. What is God going to do? Is He giving up? No, He decides it's going to be Christmas.

And so our Christmas story begins. It starts with Maria. Suddenly there is an Angel in her room. She will become pregnant although she has never been with a man. Maria is in love. To Joseph. And Joseph is in love with Mary and they would love to get married together. But God chooses Mary to bring Jesus into the world. Mary says that to Joseph and it is very difficult for him. But then an angel also appears to Joseph. He says he must marry Maria. He must help her and be her husband.

At this time the Romans ruled Israel. The Emperor of the Romans, Emperor Augustus, wanted everyone in Israel to be counted. To count, everyone had to go back to the city where they were born. Because Joseph was from Bethlehem, he went with the pregnant Mary to Bethlehem. That was quite a long journey. Worst of all, the baby wanted out!

Yes, when they entered Bethlehem, Mary went into labor. Yes, the old prophets had said the Savior would be born in Bethlehem, but how did the baby know? Joseph started to sweat and knock on the doors. The baby couldn't be born on the street, could it? Where should they put it in then. But nowhere was room. Didn't they understand that that baby was the king of Israel and the Messiah? No, Jozef, they did not understand that. Joseph almost started to cry. He saw how much pain Maria was in. He knocked on a door again and told the man who answered that they didn't have to go in, they just needed a place with a roof and where it wouldn't be too cold. And so they ended up in a stable. Between the animals. It smelled a bit but it was not cold.

The shepherds were outside. They watched over the sheep. They were sometimes on the road for a few days with the sheep looking for grass and so could not return to the stable every night. And so they stayed out with the sheep all night. They made a fire and it was quite fun. They would tell each other the toughest stories. But the coolest and most beautiful story happened that night. Suddenly the sky was lit. It seemed brighter than the day. And a gigantic song filled the sky. The shepherds looked up in awe and saw hundreds of angels. It was beautiful. It was so beautiful and beautiful and incredible that a shepherd shouted, "I'm dying …!" while another shepherd said, "How beautiful ….".

And suddenly the angels were gone, but the shepherds had understood. The Savior, the King of all kings, was born in Bethlehem, and they followed the light and come to the stable of Joseph and Mary, and found a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, and knowed that was the promise of God. They felt so small. And those tough shepherds, who managed to put wolves and bears to flight, knelt down by this baby and thanked God.

And so dear children, God showed how much He loves ordinary people. The great plan of God was set in motion, and He was born a baby. The firstborn Son of God ……

ASSIGNMENT: Make two nativity scenes with your group. A living and a wooden stall with clay figures. Try to act out that Christmas story on stage in your own way tonight.

The angels in heaven were completely amazed. This was the test. They knew. They could not understand this plan of God. Now it was important to show faith. Faith that says God never makes a mistake, makes no mistakes, and always knows what He is doing. The angels on Earth who had been sent away for chasing Lucifer did not understand either. But suddenly God was there, on earth, in a baby. They only had one plan: that baby had to die. As quickly as possible……..

Wicked King Herod, he loved himself very much. He wanted to be in charge. Lucifer and his angels knew this and went to visit him. Lucifer also wanted to be in charge and maybe they could help each other. And so Lucifer gave Herod a plan: Herod's counselors suddenly knew (hey, how wonderful) that the ancient prophets had said that about this time a king would be born who would be more important than all kings. More important than Herod. Herod did not want that. And he decided what only a devil can decide: all babies and children up to 2 years old had to die! How does this end?

It was horrible. The soldiers drove through the streets with their horses, stormed into all the houses and killed all the babies ….. It was a very black time for Israel …. Joseph and Mary knew nothing about it. There was no Facebook yet, no telephone, and not even a morning newspaper or television. But there were angels. And God again sent an angel to Joseph and he told Joseph to flee with Mary and the little Jesus. To Egypt. And Joseph awoke Mary, put her on the donkey with the baby, and fled all night, all day, and again all night. He fled until he couldn't run anymore. And luckily they were then safe in Egypt.

GAME: We're going to the forest. But first you must try to understand the angel's command per group. Take that assignment with you to the forest.

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