Imagine being a child and having an entire season focused on Jesus as a baby. God, the Creator of the universe, became a little child just like you. And, the church is singing songs that you know the words to and sing throughout the week, so you can sing along without needing to read. Plus, add candy, cookies, presents, lights, family, friends, and celebration. Wow! Advent and Christmas sound a lot better through little eyes than through the adult eyes of to-do lists, spending money, and busy calendars.
As adults, we can get bored with the Christmas story and the Advent season because it is not new. Where children often experience repetition as a form of safety, we tend to lose interest. This month, as churches and Christian families begin to plan their Advent and Christmas season, we want to help you think about Christmas through little eyes… and ears, hands, noses, and mouths, too! Together we will wonder, what if the children in your ministry are showing you something you’ve lost—and what if recovering it changes how you lead and experience this season?
Christmas as Safe AND Exciting
Even though Christmas is exciting and full of surprises, there is a predictability to it that helps children love Christmas even more. We often discuss this predictability in talking about faith traditions, but Christmas is often the epitome of practicing traditions. Children can settle into their joy and excitement through the same songs, the same story, and the same meaningful moments. For children, this isn’t boring. It is safe. When children feel safe, they are better able to learn, enjoy, express themselves, experience a sense of belonging, and encounter God.
And, in this safety, there is a genuine enthusiasm for Christmas and the beautiful story that we celebrate. This teaches us something crucial about spiritual formation: safety and excitement aren’t opposites. They work together and are both necessary for all of us to learn and grow. We need to hold a tension between predictability and novelty to best create safe environments for joy.
As adults, we can learn from children to appreciate the safety of repetition. Instead of glossing over the Nativity story, we can relax into the story. Feeling secure in the never-ending love of our God who came to earth as a baby to show us how to live a life of love, abundance, and service. We never outgrow the need for our incarnate Savior. Immersing ourselves in the Nativity story year after year is a beautiful gift. We can know the story and still be transformed by it again and again.
As we imagine Christmas through little eyes this year, may we be reminded that safety is where joy flourishes.
Say What?
As adults, we can learn from children to appreciate the safety of repetition. Instead of glossing over the Nativity story, we can relax into the story.
What Children See and Experience
With all the safety, anticipation, wonder, and joy, what do children see and experience that we as adults might miss? First, I think children see opportunity and potential, not obligation, to-do lists, and busyness. Kids are fantastic at “getting” to do things adults might “have” to do, like baking cookies, shopping, staying up late, or even wrapping presents. Children have a genuine excitement.
Young children also see Christmas as concrete. They can understand and visualize a baby and mother, presents, and sheep. While other stories and theology may be abstract or out of context, Christmas is when Jesus became human. In a little body, just like theirs. Jesus isn’t a symbol of the season; he is the birthday boy. And kids love to celebrate their friends’ birthdays.
Advent and Christmas also engage all the senses in a way that most other seasons don’t. I have never heard of Easter or Pentecost smells, the way we have Christmas scents. There are yummy things to eat, bells to hear, lights to see, and so many things to touch. It is a sensory buffet, and that is how young children learn.
Children also see the magic of the season with the sacred. They can sing about snowmen and angels without question. They can be filled with wonder and faith. Kids are incredible.
What We Will Explore This Month
Throughout November, CFC will dive into Christmas through little eyes on the blog and social media by exploring:
- Sensory play ideas
- Ways to Share Christmas Through Little Eyes
- Christmas Wonder
- Christmas Traditions that form faith
- Hands-on Nativity Play
Our hope is that we, as adults, will experience a Christmas through little eyes in ways that will help us reimagine church where a child’s faith can flourish at Christmas, but also that we may be inspired in our own faith.
Looking Through Little Eyes
Can you remember what Christmas felt like to you as a child? What magic did you experience? This season, let the children in your ministry remind you what you might have set aside. Perhaps, replace the to-do lists with wish lists or prayer lists, say you “get to” do something instead of “have to”, linger with the Nativity as you set it up, and look at the world through their lens.
Let their joy and comfort become your guide and help you rediscover what makes Christmas the most wonderful time of the year.
Think about it!
What is one thing you loved about Christmas as a child that you've somehow lost or set aside as an adult—and what would help you to recover it this season?