Don’t forget that there are two great resources for families with younger (grand-)children that are particularly helpful during Advent.  The first is the travelling crib, which gives you a chance to make the Nativity scene a centre piece in your home for a few days, and to reflect together and worship.  You can find out details and get ideas from Lizzie Kent, who does so much to support our Family’s and Children’s ministry at MIE.  Alternatively, you can use the Jesse Tree Resources, which can be found [here].

If you are focussing on this week’s passage (Lk.1:39-45), you might want to read the introduction to the Bible Study I’ve written for Homegroups to use.  It reflects on the humanness of those caught up in the events leading up to and surrounding the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.  These are people capable of great faith and great fragility.  I try and capture that with the idea that we are a blend of dust and glory.  You could explore this with your child(ren) or grandchild(ren) as you mix gold glitter with play-dough and form it into the figures of the Nativity. 

We can also reflect in our Family’s worship on the importance of encouragement.  Mary is so vulnerable to gossip and slander.  At this point she remains misunderstood and rejected by those closest to her.  That is in part why she gets ready and hurries to a town in the hill country.  But Elizabeth and Zechariah can support her in ways she can’t even begin to imagine.  They too have experienced an angelic visitation and a miraculous conception.  They understand far more deeply than Mary could have anticipated.  Imagine her relief when – after all the defamy she and her Child have been subject to, Elizabeth assures her that both she and her Child are in fact ‘Blessed’.  Who can you encourage in these days running up to Christmas?  Someone in MIE?  Someone further afield who is perhaps experiencing marginalisation for their faithfulness to God? 

For the more artistic, why not copy out Elizabeth’s song, and decorate it as you meditate on what she exclaims by the Spirit?    How does Mary – as the mother of Jesus – have a unique love and worship for Him?  How can we honour her as ‘Blessed among women’ without venerating her in  a way that would be inappropriate?  What is the Spirit doing for Mary as she visits with Zechariah and Elizabeth?  And what is the Spirit doing for them?

For older children...  how does this short story help a ‘Theophilus’ to ‘know the certainty of the things you have been taught’ (1:4)?

As a family, have think about the place of hospitality in your home.  Why not discuss passages such as Heb.3:1-3, or I Peter 4:9.  How can this become a more significant place in your discipleship together?