In a culture where Christmas trees are on sale before turkeys, it is too easy to loose track of the heart of this great holiday. Santa is looked for on Christmas eve but He who came and is coming is ignored or left to only an illuminated depiction of the manger scene somewhere in the corner of our lawns. There are many who have written books to turn our minds back to this Child King but I have found one which stands out among the rest. Machowski writes with this aim in mind and moves forward to the consummation of the Messiah's arrival, and ends in the glory of the Risen King. Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus but as this author reminds us there is more to the story than wise men and shepherds and the virgin birth. This babe in a manger grows up to teach others and to heal the sick, Jesus feeds thousands with little more than a boys sack lunch and he even raises Lazarus from the dead. Never raising far above his humble birth Jesus lives with very little and "finds no place to lay his head" He stands up against the rulers of His day and insites a plot to kill him. Jesus is betrayed by one of his own disciples and abandoned by the rest. Being led to the authorities Jesus is beaten and scourged for His teachings and despised by all. The people He lived among and poured out His love to have now demanded His crucifixion. This child of Mary who was praised by the angels at his birth is now led to the cross where He gives up His life and dies for our sins. Three days in the grave and death cannot hold him, He rises in power and his resurrection is seen my many. Before ascending to the Father our risen savior commissions his church to proclaim his resurrection to all the earth and await a new day when He comes not as a humble child but as the glorious King.
Prepare Him Room is designed to be a four week devotional for the Advent season. Each week has three lessons which can be used throughout the week and there is included a chapter from the fictional short story of the Bartimaeus Orphanage about the joy of our adoption in Christ. The direction of the lessons each week are meant to lead up from the ancient prophecies of the Old Testament telling of the coming child to the days of Jesus's birth. The climax of the lessons leads the reader from the manger to the cross and from the cross to the glory of the Risen King. The final lesson is finished on Christmas day with the reading of Luke 2:1-20. Each lesson includes activities for the kids that bring attention to the lesson and there is a selection of scripture to be read with a short commentary by the author. After the lesson there is a "think about it" section where Machowski has questions for the family that can be used to bring about discussion for reflexion of the text. Every lesson includes a prompt to prayer and Christmas hymns to be sung. Overall the lessons and activities should take less than an hour and are great for younger age groups up to teenagers. I think this book could be used for older ages but I would hope the leader would include further and deeper discussion during their teaching.
The activities included in this book are fun and great ways to help bring focus on the lessons for the day. My favorite example is towards the end of the book. The text is Revelations 7:9-12 where John witnesses the countless multitude around the throne of God praising the Lamb who was slain. The kids are asked to watch as you sprinkle a small pinch of sand on a sheet of white paper and then they are to try and count the number of grains on the paper. Amazing how much sand is in one little pinch and the author points us to the promise of God to Abraham that his offspring would be as numerous as the sand on the seashore. (Genesis 32:12) These activities are sure to be a great time together with your family and hopefully a wonderful opportunity to teach your little ones about Jesus Christ.
Machowski's use of the traditional Christmas texts is fresh and insightful all the while being honest to the wholeness of Scripture and always directing us to the truth about Christ.
There must be a word here about the fictional story read each week and finished just before the last lesson. The story is tittled "Bartimaeus: A Christmas Story" I don't want to give anything away but the story is about an orphanage house in New York during the time of the civil war. This story teaches the joy of being adopted in Christ. My wife read aloud each chapter as we reviewed this book together, tears welled up in both our eyes both for sadness and for joy. The reading is well done and both parents and the kids will enjoy it. This is not some silly addition meant to entertain young minds which tend to yawn at devotions but rather through the telling of this story there is a lesson of great joy and truth to be learned This tale leads our hearts to the love of the Savior and brings glory to God.
If you are looking for a great resource to lead your family in a thought provoking and God honoring teaching this advent season I encourage you to pick up a copy of Marty Machowski's book Prepare Him Room.
I received this book from New Growth Press in exchange for an honest review.
No comments:
Post a Comment