SLE for the month of December: NEEDS OF OTHERS
WEEK OF December 7
Parents and Family,
Preparing Children for Advent
Preparing Ourselves First
The first, and most important thing we can do to prepare our children for
Advent is to prepare
ourselves first. After all, if we are impatient and crabby - pressured by all
the busyness of this
season - we won't be very good at teaching our children anything about quiet,
expectant waiting. If
they never hear us talk about what we long for from the Lord, how will they
learn about this kind of
longing? And, if they hear "the coming of Jesus" talked about at church, and
perhaps at school, but
never hear us talk about the meaning of the coming of Jesus for us, what kind
of message will we be
giving them?
Of course, our children will be watching us and listening to us - what we say
and do, and what we
fail to say and do. So, the first thing we can give our children is our own
commitment to enter
Advent as deeply as we can. We want to clear our own spirits so that we can
be present to theirs.
The graces we receive can be the graces we share with them.
Talking with Our Children
To talk with our chidren about our own religious experience doesn't mean we
have to know all kinds
of "theology" to "teach them," nor does it mean we have to "dumb it down" to
ridiculously simple
terms. We don't have to "burden" children with the burdens we have to bear in
our adult relationship
with God, and we don't have to make their world more unsettling and scary than
it already is. We just
have to find the right time and place to talk with them about our faith.
We don't have to criticize everything in our contemporary culture's
preparation for and celebration of
Christmas. But, what we tell them about Advent, will help temper the
materialism and consumerism
involved in the marketing of Christmas to children.
The Message
We can tell our children about Isaiah, the prophet. We can tell them that God
has wanted to be the
one who would lead and take care of his people. But they rebelled against
God, and demanded
kings, just like all the peoples around them had. So, God let them have
kings. As it turned out,
there was one bad king after another. And God sent prophets to the people and
the kings to remind
them of the agreement - the "covenant" - God made with them: I'll be your God
and you be my
people.
Now the way the people made someone a king was to pour a bit of oil on their
head. The one who
was "anointed" this way with oil became the king. Well, the prophets began to
tell the people that
God would send them "an anointed one" (the word they use to say "anointed one"
in Hebrew is
"Messiah.") In fact, they said that this Messiah would be called "Emmanuel",
which in Hebrew means,
"God is with us."
So, the message of the prophets was about a promise - that God would save his
people from all that
they were suffering. The prophets use such wonderful images to tell the
people that they could
expect and hope for a day when "every tear would be wiped away." It would be
a day of great peace
- "the lion would lie down with the lamb" and the people will beat their
spears into hooks to prune
trees with. And, the most unbelievable promise of all: "death will be no more."
We all know now that what God was preparing his people for was the coming of
Jesus, the Christ
(Christos in Greek means "the anointed one.")
Then, of course, we can tell them about Zachary and Elizabeth and about Joseph
and Mary. We can
tell them the story from Luke's gospel first. What is so surprising about the
story is that he comes,
not like a king, but in great simplicity and poverty. Our God is truly with
us, as a little baby. He
knows what is like to be a child - everything.
We can tell this story to our children in so many ways. We can let them tell
us what it means to them.
Through all this conversation, the message will come through. During these
weeks of Advent, we
want to look forward to celebrating his coming to live our life and to set us
free - free from our sins
and free from death itself.
We want to open up Advent for them, so that they can get ready for - look
forward to - Christmas in
a different way. We want to introduce them to faith-filled meanings for
light/darkness,
hunger/thirsts, and all the other images of Isaiah. We want them to really
know the meaning of "the
Christmas story."
Advent Activities
It would be great to create a Nativity "place" in our home. Before we just
put a nativity scene there,
we can let it be an empty space for a while. We can prepare for setting it
up, by putting things in
that place which represent the longing, the desire, the emptiness. Perhaps
that place can begin with
a basket. Children can place notes in the basket that express what they hope
for, for each member
in the family, for their friends, for people in the world. They can write
special prayers for loved ones
who are sick, for children in their school who are difficult. We can keep
telling the children that it is
into this special place of our longing and faith that Jesus comes. Then, when
we set up the Nativity
scene in that place, it can become a special place for the children.
We can involve children in preparing food for others. If there is a
pre-Christmas party with friends
or family, or even a "pot-luck" event we have to go to, we can involve the
children in preparing
something for the party. And, for Christmas dinner itself, we can tutor the
children in making food
for others to be happy and full and grateful. We can show them recipes they
can make, and let them
"in" on the big plans for the whole thing.
We can make plans to visit someone who is homebound or in a nursing home at
this time. We can
prepare our children for how to go there, how to be there, how to be grateful
for the experience.
We can take an Advent or Christmas song, and copy it for our family reading -
perhaps a prayer to
be read, over and over. We can talk about what the words mean.
With older children, we might find a time to prepare food for a meal program
for the homeless or go
there to help serve and meet the families there. We may even be able to get
them to tell the younger
children about the experience, and why it fits so well with preparing for
Christmas.
And, as we make these special family traditions during Advent, we will come up
with others, that fit
our family well.
ANNOUNCEMENTS...
December 8 School Mass, a community Mass on the Holy Day of Obligation (Feast
of the Immaculate Conception) at OLS Church
December 10 Support 6th Grade Bake Sale
December 14 Corndog Hot Lunch Fundraiser
December 16 Noon Dismissal
SEE Graduation Tab for information on Bishop High's new STEM (Science,
Technology, Engineering, Math) Academy.
Peace to You
Mr. Leon