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Christmas Lesson: Inside / Outside by The UKI Territory Evangelism Department
Optional:
Play a game about being inside and outside, e.g., in the water/out of
the water.
Picture
activity
Show
the children a variety of pictures of Christmas celebrations and
Christmas scenes. You could use Christmas cards, works of art, photos
etc. Including some images of homeless people/rough sleepers.
Spread
the pictures out on the floor with space between them if possible,
and ask the children to wander around them and look at each one
carefully. You could play some music while they do this.
Now
invite the children to sit down around the pictures so everyone can
see them.
Questions:
Which
picture do you like best? Why?
What
do you think these pictures are trying to say?
How
do they make you feel, or what do they make you think about?
Which
pictures are about being inside and which ones are about being
outside? Invite the children to rearrange them so the ones which are
about being inside are on one side and the ones about being outside
are on the other.
Inside/outside
Read
out, or give out copies of this poem, written by a school pupil in a
Primary
Seven class at Braehead Primary School in Stirling, Scotland.
(Reproduced with kind permission from the pupil and class teacher.)
Inside/Outside
Inside.
Lying in your bed, waiting for Santa to come.
Outside.
Huddled up in rags, waiting for a remorseful passer-by.
Inside.
Warming by the toasty fire, unwrapping new, shiny presents.
Outside.
Holding up a pleading message, undoing knots tied in grimy bin bags.
Inside.
Enjoying merry chats with friends and family who love and care.
Outside.
Dreading another day of begging and pleading for one penny to shed
light on your day.
Inside.
One bite of homemade succulent turkey and roast potatoes makes every
taste bud tingle.
Outside.
The bitter taste and awful stench of last week’s fish supper, salvaged
from the foul filthy bin.
Inside.
Glancing at the beautifully decorated tree. The baubles glisten and
shine against the bright light, sending a warm glow around the room.
Outside.
Looking into windows wishing you were somewhere. Anywhere but here
in this dark alleyway.
So
while you are inside your warm, cosy house,
Opening
one present after another.
Could
you please give a thought to the adults and children freezing
and even dying on our streets each day?
By
Lisa Ivatt (Age 11)
What
do you like about this poem?
How
does it make you feel, or what does it make you think about?
Who
do you think this poem is written for?
Read
Luke 2:1-7
Questions:
Was
Jesus born inside or outside?
What
do you think the people inside the inns were doing while Jesus was
being born?
Would
you have liked to have been inside the inn, or outside on that night?
Go
deeper
Show
the bus shelter nativity picture (www.churchads.net).
 This
picture was painted by the artist Andrew Gadd for a campaign in the
United Kingdom to help people think about what Christmas is all
about. It’s a picture of the nativity – Mary, Joseph and baby
Jesus, but shown in a modern-day bus shelter. The artist was trying
to make people think about where Jesus might have been born if he was
born today.
Would
you put this picture inside or outside?
What
would you like to say about this picture?
Creative
activity
Write
your own poem, or create a piece of art, which shows a contrast
between Christmas inside and Christmas outside.
This
might mean different things for different people – and different
things in different countries and climates!
Children
& Adult Ministry
Evangelism
Department
United
Kingdom Territory
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