Transcription downloaded from https://yetanothersermon.host/_/ccbrighton/sermons/87892/kids-christmas/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] Well, good morning and welcome everybody to this Christmas for Kids.

[0:21] It's a pre-recorded service for 20th December 2020 for Calvary Church here in Brighton.! As you can see, I can hardly get my face in here because of my two assistants.

[0:35] So let me just say welcome to you if you're regular or if you're dropping in. This is being pre-recorded for Calvary Church, which is a church of 70 to 80 people meeting under normal times.

[0:47] We're based on the south coast of England, directly south of London. My name is Philip Wells. I'm Pastor Elder at the church and I'm leading this morning with the help of Ludwig the Lamb and Covey the Bear.

[1:07] And Ludwig is aiming for a career in being an influencer. Do you want to say anything, Ludwig?

[1:19] Sorry, you're going to have to unmute yourself. Is your microphone working? Okay, right.

[1:29] Let's just sort this out a minute. So if you take those off, because you don't need those. If your microphone isn't working, you'll have to say things to me and I'll use my microphone. So what did you want to say?

[1:41] You didn't want to say hello to everybody. Okay. Hello to everybody. And we'll say a proper hello in a minute. Just to say what we're going to be doing. If you can read that up on the screen, you can see that we're going to be doing some activities, some songs, some readings.

[1:58] And really, this is an opportunity to tell the story of Jesus and just to learn about Jesus. So what should we do now? Say hello. Okay, right. We're going to say hello to everybody.

[2:09] So who should we say hello to? Covey, can you say hello? Sorry, you'll have to unmute yourself. You are unmuted. Okay. Problem with the microphone.

[2:20] Yeah, okay. Right. So he says hello to Eben and Thomas and Seth. Are you watching? They're saying hello to you. And who do you want to say hello to?

[2:31] Eden Rose. Is Eden Rose there? Hello, Eden Rose. He's obviously a big fan of yours. And Sammy and Bethany and Isaac, are you watching? Are you watching? Should we say hello to them? Yeah.

[2:41] Or a big hello to them. And who comes next? Isaac and Gracie. Are they there? Can you see them? Can you see them? Oh, I don't know. We'll say hello in here.

[2:52] Hello. And Tegan and Freya and Peter. Hello to you. And I've got on the list, what, who? Chloe and Matthew and Johnny. They're very grown up.

[3:03] They won't be watching. But we'll say hello anyway. Hello anyway to Chloe and Matthew and Johnny. And maybe somebody called Lottie is watching. If you're watching, a very special hello to you. And who else?

[3:15] Charlie and Ralph and Georgia. I don't know whether they're watching. But we'll say hello anyway. And Jay and Mark and Sam. Hello, Jay and Mark and Sam, if you're watching. And who else? Christian. Yeah, you might be watching.

[3:25] Hello, Christian, if you're watching. And who else? Lily and Daniel. Yeah, Lily and Daniel. Hello. And who else? Oh, who else? There's another Daniel.

[3:36] He's grown up, though, isn't he? Well, we'll say hello anyway, shall we? Daniel and Margo and Carmen. Hello. And who else? They're too small. OK, well, we'll say hello to Arabella and Emma, in case they're watching.

[3:51] Hello, hello, hello, hello, hello. And no. Yes. What? OK, say hello to Corinne. Why?

[4:04] Because she's a lamb. She's not that sort of lamb. Anyway, we'll say hello anyway. Hello, Corinne! Right. So, we're going to sing a song.

[4:15] We're going to have a song sung to us. And it's going to be Joy to the World. And you like this one, don't you? Yeah, why do you like this one? OK, because it says that one day the Son of Righteousness will arise with healing in his wings, and we will skip like lambs.

[4:33] It says skip like calves. Yeah, it does. It does. It's skip like calves. Anyway, so this is about the joy to the world that Jesus has come. Joy to the world. The Lord has come.

[4:44] Joy to the world. The Lord has come. Joy to the world.

[5:03] The Lord has come. Let earth receive a King. Let every heart prepare Him room.

[5:22] Let heaven and nature sing. Let heaven and nature sing. Let heaven and nature sing.

[5:36] Joy to the earth. The Savior raise. Your sweetest songs employ.

[5:50] While fields and streams and hills and plains. Repeat the sounding joy.

[6:13] No more let sins and sorrows grow. Nor thoughts infest the ground.

[6:26] He comes to make His blessings flow. Where Eden's curse is found.

[6:39] Where Eden's curse is found. Wherever Eden's curse is found.

[6:50] He rules the world with truth and grace. And makes the nations prove.

[7:04] The glories of His righteousness. The wonders of His love.

[7:16] The wonders of His love. The wonders of His love.

[7:28] Did you enjoy that song? Good. Right. We're going to say a prayer. Just a very quick prayer. Lord, thank you that we can have this time together.

[7:40] Please make it a good time. And may each of us learn something that will help us to know whether we're going to follow Jesus. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[7:51] Right. The next thing that's happening is going to go to make something Christmassy. And we've got a little tiny, tiny video of Ralph making something Christmassy.

[8:05] So that's what we're going to see next. Okay. Well, we're going to think about this little bird to do with Christmas. Do you know what bird this is?

[8:17] It's a robin, isn't it? Something that people particularly notice at Christmas and associated with Christmas. And you see the colours of the robin.

[8:29] He's got on his front and on his face at the front a very orangey red, sometimes called robin redbreast. And on his back, the colour of the feathers there is brown.

[8:41] A very pretty little bird, isn't it? So we're going to take a look at Ralph. And Ralph is going to be making a robin.

[8:52] And you could do the same if your mum or dad or whoever looks after you at home can help you. So what mummy's done here is drawn out on paper the picture of a robin.

[9:05] And she's given Ralph that paper. And there's a brush there. She's had some glue. Let's put some glue on the paper. And then he's stuck onto the paper some of that orangey stuff.

[9:18] Same colour as the robin. That looks like lentils to me. And some brown stuff. Same colour as the wings and at the back.

[9:33] And he's been making that picture by sticking those things on like that. So there's a little activity that it might be allowed to do with a bit of help from mum and dad. Let's see what the finished article looked like.

[9:45] Oh yeah, very nice. So he's got lentils on the front. And it looks like he had different sort of lentils on the back. And some white rice for his fluffy tummy. And there is a little thing that you might be allowed to do to make a Christmas robin.

[10:00] I like that. Well, that was nice, wasn't it? That was a robin. And robins are very Christmassy sort of animals. They're not in the Bible.

[10:10] But we can enjoy making Christmas sort of animals anyway, can't we? Yes, we can. And we're going to have a reading now. And it is by a Rayfield person.

[10:22] I don't know which Rayfield person it's going to be because at the time of recording I haven't got the file. But it will be a Rayfield person. And we have a word search.

[10:32] So we're going to have some word searches. And here's the word search. It says S something something. And a new word something F.

[10:46] And then another new word something something D. And that's in this reading. So see if you can work out what this says. And we're going to have the reading from Luke chapter 1, 26 to 38.

[11:00] It's when the angel came to Mary. So thank you. Rayfield person. Thank you very much for reading. See if you can guess what this is from the reading. In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David.

[11:21] The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, Greetings, you who are highly favored. The Lord is with you. Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.

[11:38] But the angel said to her, Do not be afraid. Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.

[11:52] He will be great, and we will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord's God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever.

[12:08] His kingdom will never end. How will this be, Mary asked the angel, since I am a virgin? The angel answered, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.

[12:21] So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth, your relative, is going to have a child in her old age. And she, who is said to be barren, is in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible with God.

[12:40] I am the Lord's servant, Mary answered. May it be done as you have said. Then the angel left her. Well, thank you for reading. Now, did you guess what that was?

[12:52] Did you guess what that was? So I'm going to pause it for a minute, and I'll see if I can put you where you can see that, like that. Now, what is that? S something something.

[13:04] New word. Something F. New word. Something something D. Okay, you have a minute to think about that. Okay, taking a minute to think about that.

[13:20] Did you get that one? No. Oh. Did you get that one? No. Oh, well, I hope the boys and girls at home did, because that was what I think the answer is.

[13:34] Oh, where is it? Son of God. Son of God. That the baby to be born in Mary, inside her tummy, is the Son of God, because God himself made the baby happen inside the mummy.

[13:53] And it says that, therefore, he will be called the Son of God. Okay. Right. We're now going to have another song, and this time it's Anya and Lilia, and they're going to sing Silent Night.

[14:06] Silent Night, Holy Night, All is Calm, All is Bright. A song about the birth of Jesus. Sorry? You like that one? Okay.

[14:17] Here we go with the Silent Night. Silent Night Silent Night, Holy night.

[14:48] Be a dream.

[15:11] Be a dream. Be a dream. Be a dream.

[15:24] Be a dream. Be a dream. Be a dream.

[15:35] Be a dream. Shepherds quake at the sight Glories stream from heaven above Mary, Lord, sing hallelujah Cry the Savior is born Cry the Savior is born Silent night, holy night

[16:49] Son of God, I ask you why May you be of thy holy way Be the dawn of redeeming grace Jesus, Lord, and I know Jesus, Lord, and I know May you be of thy holy way

[17:55] Now we're going to have another Christmas reading and this is from another Rayfield person, I hope and this is going to be about the wise men or magi as they're called and this is another big part of the Christmas story that these wise men or kings or whoever they were came to visit Jesus and they'd been told in a particularly special way why they should come and they came all the way from, I don't know, Babylon or somewhere like that all across the desert or round the side of the desert in order to come and worship Jesus because they knew the king was born and we've got a word search for this so this is what it says it's K, something, something, something and a space W, something, T, something and then a word all on its own it's just an A and then something, something, something, R have a look at that this is in this reading not the exact words but this is a description of what's in the reading

[19:06] K, something, something, something new word W, something T, something then a little letter all by itself and then something, something, something, R ok so thanks for the reading which is coming up just now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea during the time of King Herod Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked where is the one who has been born King of the Jews we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him when King Herod heard this he was disturbed and all Jerusalem with him when he had called together all the peoples chief priests and teachers of the law he asked them where is the Messiah to be born in Bethlehem in Judea they replied for this is what the prophet has written but you Bethlehem in the land of Judah are by no means least among the rules of Judah for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared he sent them to Bethlehem and said go and search carefully for the child as soon as you find him report to me so that

[21:12] I too may go and worship him after they had heard the king they went on their way and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was and they saw the star they were overjoyed on coming to the house they saw the child with his mother Mary and they bowed down and worshipped him they and then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold frankincense and myrrh and having been warned in a dream not to go back to herod they returned to their country by another route ok thanks for the reading now then that was the that was the word searchy thing if I can get it straight k something something something space w something something w space t something then a little word all by itself and then something something something r now did anybody get that anybody at home get that any of you guys get that no you didn't get it why not you can't read ok right let me fill this in and we'll see whether we agree on it well that's what I think it is king with a star king with a star because the wise men knew that a star signified the birth of a king and this baby had his own personal star that's very unusual isn't it babies are always wonderful but they don't usually have a star to go with them so this is very special

[23:29] God was doing something very special when Jesus was born the king with his own star and these men came from a far off country they weren't really people who had anything to do with the king of Israel or the promises of Israel or God working with Israel they were foreigners but God drew them in and you know God started with them and he's been drawing in people from all sorts of backgrounds even today and that's us he's drawing us we've been brought in from a long way away to the king with a star so thank you very much and now we're going to make something Christmassy and we're going to turn to a making something Christmassy so that's what we'll do just now right we're going to try an activity this time making a Christmas star and wow this is really like being on YouTube showing people how to do things isn't it you just go right ahead and press the subscribe button so

[24:35] I've got a sheet of A4 paper sort of paper that you'd have in a printer and first of all I'm going to I'm going to crease it in along the middle in sideways like this and sideways like that and it's nice to use your fingernail to get a nice sharp crease okay so we've got a piece of paper that looks like that that's going to be the star now we want to get some more folds in it and I want to fold along here so this is me trying to do this nice and carefully there's the fold that shows where to go but I've got to make sure that it folds backwards so that's the and go that way and I want this to come out and I want these to go backwards so I'm going to refold along that line just so that it goes backwards that way and that wasn't very good and backwards this this way like that so

[25:56] I've got these this fold coming out this fold coming out and those two other folds going backwards so what I'm aiming for is this star like this so to get to there I need to do some cutting so here's one I've started cutting and you see I'm going to need to get this sort of shape so it doesn't have to be exact but I'm going to cut here like this like so as I used to say on Blue Peter so that's the shape and then I need to make I need to copy that onto each of these sides so why don't I just fold it like that and kind of cut along here and I'm going to cut along here so it's now looking like this and then I want to do the same thing over this side but if I was clever

[27:11] I could just do it and all fold it together like this couldn't I and there is hopefully a nice Christmas star so now I've got that one and this one and I can make one out of that when you're not looking Christmas star there we are you could colour that in and remember that there was a star that guided the wise men to see Jesus I'm quite pleased with that okay so we made a Christmas star that was nice and this is the Christmas star that Ludwig and I made you did that okay didn't you yeah do you enjoy making that yeah okay so that's a Christmas star which we can put up in our window so now we're going to sing a song about what was under the Christmas star which was the little town of

[28:18] Bethlehem and Anya and Lily are going to sing this to us and it says that the hopes and fears of all the years are met in you tonight so that's the place where Jesus was born was the centre of everything that God focused all his plans on that birth so thank you Anya and Lilia a little town of Bethlehem how still we see the light where mouths I dream and dream the sleep the silence stars go by and hear the dark fish shining the everlasting light the hearts and tears of all they hear all that in thee do die the light!

[29:37] Christ is born of Mary and gathered all and by my Lord thus leave the angels keep safe wash of money now and the morning starts together!

[30:02] praise thy holy birth and praise us sing to God's name and this new man of earth night How silently, how silently, the one has given his gift.

[30:36] So by him I, the human heart, the blessing of his death.

[30:46] By him I hear his promise, in his heart a sin.

[30:57] By any soul there is in his soul, died in night and night.

[31:07] Thank you.

[31:37] Thank you.

[32:07] Thank you. OK, we're going to have another reading now from a Rayfield person. And this one's got a word search to go with it.

[32:19] So this is the word search. Let's put it in front for everybody who can see. S something V something something something something something.

[32:30] That's one word. And then C something something something something. and then L something, something, something. And this is the reading of the shepherds and the angel came and spoke to them and then there was a huge number of angels and they said these things about the baby that was to be born and then the shepherds went to see whether it was really so and they found it was.

[32:58] So we're going to have the reading and then we'll come and look at that word searchy thing. And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby keeping watch over their flocks at night.

[33:10] The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were terrified.

[33:21] But the angel said to them, Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a saviour has been born to you.

[33:34] He is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you. You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. Suddenly a great company of heavenly hosts appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men on whom his favour rests.

[34:00] When the angel had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has told us about.

[34:11] So off they hurried and found Mary and Joseph and the baby who was lying in a manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told about this child.

[34:27] And all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.

[34:39] But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen which were just as they had been told.

[34:58] OK, so we had the reading and that was the word searchy thing. S something V. Something, something, something, something. That's one word.

[35:10] And then the next word C. Something, something, something, something. And then the next word L. Something, something, something. So let me fill in a few letters. And then see whether you can get this.

[35:22] So I've filled in some of the letters. And you can see I had to cheat because I haven't got enough spaces on the middle one. But now I've got S A V something, something, something, something. R. And then C H something, something, something.

[35:36] T. And L something, R. Something. Can you get that one? I'm going to press pause and fill that in and see whether you agree with me.

[35:49] So this is what I came up with. Did you agree with me? The angel says a saviour who is Christ the Lord. So a saviour is somebody who rescues us.

[36:03] Christ is God's chosen king. Christ means anointed. Same word as Messiah. That's why Jesus is called Jesus Christ.

[36:15] And Lord means that he's the master of everything. And he, if he's going to be our Lord, he needs to be the master of us. So in a moment we'll just put all those word searchy things together and see where we've got to.

[36:37] So let's put all those word searchy things together that we've got. In the first reading we had that Jesus was this, the Son of God. There's something really extra special about Jesus, something deep and wonderful, that he's not simply human, he is also God himself come down to earth.

[36:58] That's very special and very remarkable. So we've got that from one reading. And then we've got this one. And he is that king, whoops, with a star.

[37:10] So something very supernatural about Jesus. But in some ways very ordinary because he was born in a stable. But he is king. And in fact king of kings.

[37:23] The biggest king of all. And we also got this one. That he's the saviour. He comes to rescue us. And he is Christ.

[37:35] And he is Lord. So those things all make Jesus very special. And they make Christmas very special. And so we've learnt something from that, haven't we?

[37:48] We've learnt something from that, have we? Yes. Yes. Have you learnt something from that? Very good. So, that's about it. Oh, hang on. You want to say something, do you?

[37:59] Okay. What do you want to say? That you're very pleased that it's Christmas. Okay. Well, I expect a lot of people are pleased that it's Christmas. So what is it that you're pleased about? Is it the presents?

[38:10] No. Oh, a lot of people look forward to the presents. Is it because it's going to be snow or anything like that? Do you like the weather? No. No. Is it because you like the singing?

[38:23] Lambs can't sing. Okay. What's special about it then? Okay. Your great, great, great, great grandfather lived in Israel, in the place that Jesus was born.

[38:35] Okay. And what, what in the time of Jesus? Oh, a long time before that. Before that. Okay. So what's that got to do with Christmas? Sorry.

[38:47] He was a lamb. Yeah. Well, I presume he was a lamb. He was a sacrificial lamb. Oh, wow. He was a sacrificial lamb. Oh, in what, in the old, in the temple and everything like that.

[38:59] Yeah. And, so he was one of the lambs that, well, I don't like to say this. You can tell me. He was one of the lambs that was killed, um, to show people that God takes people's sins away.

[39:17] Oh, right. So how did that work? The priest would put his hand on the lamb, yeah, to show that the sins had gone on to the lamb.

[39:29] Um, and, and what? And then the lamb was sacrificed to God. And God would be pleased instead of angry.

[39:41] Wow. That's a big thing that the lamb did, isn't it? But it's a little bit, um, uh, I don't know. It's a little bit uncomfortable to think that your great, great, great, great, great grandfather did that.

[39:51] Is he uncomfortable about it? No, you're not uncomfortable about it. Why? Oh, really? Because he was glad to give his life in the Lord's service.

[40:03] Wow. that's a big example to all of us, isn't it? Um, but you haven't actually explained why you're glad that it's Christmas. So why are you glad that it's Christmas? Because there are no more sacrificial lambs.

[40:17] Hmm. And why not? Sorry. Because Jesus was born to be the sacrificial lamb, so there'd be no more lambs sacrificed as sacrificial lambs.

[40:31] Right. That is good, isn't it? I can see why a lamb would be pleased about that. Yeah, Jesus came to be the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Yeah.

[40:41] So you didn't have to suffer like that, did you? No. Okay. Well, I can see why, why you'd be glad about that. And, uh, to know that Jesus is the lamb who takes away sins, I'm very glad about that too.

[40:53] So are you glad about that? Yeah. Okay. Well, we're all very glad about that. So now, um, now we are going to finish and, uh, we're going to have a song that comes from Aaron.

[41:05] Once in Royal David's city stood a lowly cattle shed. There a mother laid her baby in a manger for his bed. And it talks about Mary and Jesus.

[41:15] So we're going to have this last song. Once in Royal David's city stood a lowly cattle shed. Once in Royal David's city stood a lowly cattle shed.

[41:37] Where a mother laid her baby in a manger for his bed. A manger for his bed. A manger for his bed.

[41:48] Mary was a mother of mine. Jesus Christ, a little child.

[42:00] He came down to earth from heaven. Who is God and Lord of all.

[42:11] And his shelter was a stable. And his cradle was a stone.

[42:22] He came down to earth. When the poor and mean and lowly In the land of the Savior are holy And our eyes at law shall see him Through his own redeeming love For that child so dear and gentle Is our Lord in heaven above And he leads his children up To the place where he is gone So, we've come to the end.

[43:16] And have you enjoyed that? Yeah. I like your scarf. And have you enjoyed that? Yeah. Okay. Thank you. So, Ludwig and Covey, thank you very, very much indeed.

[43:29] And everybody at home, watching at home, I hope you've enjoyed it. So, until the next time, we're going to wish you a happy Christmas and say goodbye, aren't we? Bye-bye!

[43:41]  Yeah, don't go mad. Don't go mad. Don't go mad. Don't go mad. Bye-bye, everybody. Bye-bye, everybody.