W/C 5th December
Our reading this week is: Matthew 3:1-12
John Prepares the Way for Jesus
3 When it was the right time, John the Baptizer began telling people a message from God. This was out in the desert area of Judea. 2 John said, “Change your hearts and lives, because God’s kingdom is now very near.” 3 John is the one Isaiah the prophet was talking about when he said,
“There is someone shouting in the desert:
‘Prepare the way for the Lord.
Make the road straight for him.’”
4 John’s clothes were made from camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. For food, he ate locusts and wild honey. 5 People came to John from Jerusalem and the rest of Judea and from all the areas along the Jordan River. 6 They confessed the bad things they had done, and John baptized them in the Jordan.
7 Many Pharisees and Sadducees came to where John was baptizing people. When John saw them, he said, “You are all snakes! Who warned you to run from God’s judgment that is coming? 8 Change your hearts! And show by the way you live that you have changed. 9 I know what you are thinking. You want to say, ‘but Abraham is our father!’ That means nothing. I tell you, God could make children for Abraham from these rocks. 10 The ax is now ready to cut down the trees.[b] Every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
11 “I baptize you with water to show that you have changed your hearts and lives. But there is someone coming later who is able to do more than I can. I am not good enough to be the slave who takes off his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 12 He will come ready to clean the grain.[c] He will separate the good grain from the straw, and he will put the good part into his barn. Then he will burn the useless part with a fire that cannot be stopped.”
Prayer for the week:
Dear God,
Thank you for the fun and excitement that we have during Advent.
Thank you for the cards we get to write, the Advent calendars we get to open and the Christmas presents we get to wrap.
Thank you for this time of preparation, when we can think about the birth of baby Jesus.
May we all enjoy this time of preparation and seek to bring happiness to others at this time.
Amen.
Song for the week:
In school:
We thought about what it means to be prepared. We then thought about what people might be preparing for with the following objects:
We thought about what we are looking forward to at Christmas and what preparations might need to be made.
Christians believe that God wants us to use Advent to prepare our hearts for Christmas. It is a time when we can take a quiet moment away from the busyness of Christmas preparations to think about the birth of baby Jesus. Christians also take time to remember the reason for Jesus’ birth. They believe that 33 years after Jesus was born, he would die on the cross to show his love for people and to make a path of forgiveness for the wrong that people have done.
Questions to think about at home:
Have you ever welcomed a friend, family member or stranger to your home? What did you do to prepare for their visit? What did you do to let them know they were welcome?