This is the fourth and final Sunday in the season of Advent. You know what that means!? Christmas is this week! After all the waiting, it is finally here. Slow down and enjoy these moments. Today, we light our fourth Advent candle. We will light our last candle on Christmas Eve.

Today's story is from Luke 1:26-49. It tells about when an angel came to Mary and announced that she would be Jesus' mom (this event is also called the Annunciation). Wow! How would you feel if an angel showed up at your house and started talking to you?

You can read this story in your SPARK storybook Bible on pages 196-201.

Here are some questions to help you talk about the story together:

• What was Mary's response to the angel's announcement? How do you think you'd respond?
• What do you think it was like being Jesus' parents?
• Do you think Jesus cried a lot as a baby? What were you like as a baby?

Here are some activities for you to do together:

• Act out the story. We weren't able to have a Christmas program this year because of the virus, but you can still enact the Christmas story at home! Option A: grab your nativity set and use it to tell the Christmas story. Option B: create your very best costumes and act it out! 
• Imagining an Angel. Throughout history, there have been many different portrayals of this story in art, movies, and Christmas pageants. In the movie The Star, the angel was just a bright light! How can we know what the angel looked like? We might have to use our imaginations. Write or draw what you imagine the angel looked like in this story. 

Have you ever wondered what this verse means? It is referring to a time in Israel's history when their cities were destroyed and they were taken away from their homes. They were taken as captives to live in a foreign land called Babylon-- this is called the Exile. No wonder they were lonely and mourning! 

Let's try to live out this story. Grab some blocks, Legos, or other building supplies you have at home and build yourself a city. Include your home, church, school, sports arena, etc. Once you're done building, knock it over. Imagine seeing the important places in your life taken away. Now we can try to understand what the people were feeling.

Today's reading comes from Isaiah 61:1-11. Open your Bibles to read the story, or read this paraphrased version (from Be the Story Curriculum):

One of the prophets named Isaiah was speaking to the people of Israel. They were all very sad and thought God had forgotten them. But Isaiah told them that it was his job to help them. He said:

“The Spirit of God is with me, because God has chosen me.
God has sent me to bring good happy news to forgotten people,
To help the people who are sad in their hearts,
To give freedom to people who are stuck and trapped,
To say this is the year when God is fixing everything.
We will fix the broken houses and build the old cities.
Strangers and visitors will come back to Jerusalem and say how nice it is.
You will have food and money and nice things once more.
For God loves it when a wrong is made right.
God will not leave any of you, and your children and grandchildren will be known by everyone around them for having a good life and a good God.
I praise God with all my heart because God has given me good things!”

Here are some questions for you to discuss:

• ​How do you think it felt to hear these words from Isaiah? How do these words make you feel?
• How does this situation relate to our lives right now, in the pandemic? What do you think God is telling us today?
• What does this reading have to do with Jesus and Christmas?
• What is your favorite part of this reading? What stands out the most?

Activity: Rebuilding the City
Remember when you built a city and then destroyed it a few minutes ago? God promises that all the broken cities will be fixed. Put your city back together again-- make it even better than before! 

Activity: Christmas Cards
Write and decorate Christmas cards for people in your life-- this may include the families you got paired up with in the Christmas card exchange, a neighbor, or a grandparent you haven't seen in awhile. Be sure to express the good news that God is coming to us in Jesus to fix things!

Activity: Researching Local Organizations
There are a lot of local nonprofit organizations that are working to share good news with people who are struggling. Some of the ones we partner with at Glen Cary are Family Promise of Anoka County, Hope4Youth, NACE Food Shelf, and Lutheran Social Services of Minnesota. Pick one (or more) of these organizations to  research. Go to their websites and answer the following questions:

• What does this organization do to help the community?
• Who is this organization helping? (E.g. people without a place to live, people without enough to eat, youth, adults, kids, etc.)
• What can you do to help? 

It's the second Sunday in Advent! Are you getting ready for Christmas?  What are some things your family does to get ready for Christmas? My family puts up our tree, unpacks our Nativity set, wraps presents, and watches Christmas movies! 

As you worship together today, you get to light TWO candles. Only TWO more Sundays to go until Christmas is here! As you light the candles, take some deep breaths and remember that God is with you. Do you have a favorite Christmas hymn you can sing together?

Today's Bible reading is Joel 2:12-13, 28-29. Can you look this up in your Bible together? Joel is a minor prophet from the Old Testament-- one we don't read from very often at church. Use your Table of Contents if you need help!

Joel calls us to repent-- a word that means to "turn around." We are to turn back to God and the way God wants us to live. Sometimes this means we need to turn away from something else-- things that get in the way of us following God, or things we've done wrong. But, Joel reminds us that God is merciful and slow to anger. We know that God will forgive us when we make mistakes. Turning back to God is one way we get ready for Christmas! 

Joel also tells us that God will pour out God's Spirit on all people. We celebrate this moment on a holiday called Pentecost. But as we get ready for Christmas, we can look forward to the new dream God has for all of us in Jesus!

Here are some questions for you to think about today:

• What are some things you can do to turn back to God as we prepare for Christmas?
• Have you ever made a mistake that made you sad, but then you were forgiven? How did the good news of forgiveness make you feel?
• Think about the new dream God has for us in Jesus. What do you think this perfect future will be like?  What does your family. the church, the world look like in this dream?

Activity: God's perfect future
Either write a story or draw a picture of the perfect future you talked about in the last question. Younger kids might simply draw a picture of everyone getting along. Older kids, dig a little deeper as you think about how God's dream affects how we treat each other. 

Activity: Handprint prayers
Share prayer needs with your family members, then follow this pattern to pray from Spirit & Truth Publishing: