This Holiday season I have invited my daughter Grace Ladd McDonald to share her Advent curriculum with the Positive Life Principles readers. Each week we will post creative and meaningful ways to prepare your family for Christmas by focusing on the various attributes of Jesus.

Reading
The Teeny Weeny…True king”
Or Read 1st Samuel 8-10

Throughout the Old Testament, we see examples of kings, some were good, some were evil. All were human, which means they were sinners and because of their sin, they were not the leaders that the people truly needed. The Old Testament tells the story of one specific group of people called the Israelites. God chose the Israelites to be His people and to show the rest of the world his great love. There are many stories in the Bible which tell about the redemptive love God has for His people. They keep sinning and God keeps loving them. Early on in the Old Testament, the Israelites pled with God for a king. God sent many kings and prophets to help lead and guide the people, but no king could ever truly give the people what they needed. God promised His people early on that He would eventually send them a king that would loose the chains of oppression and set his people free. This week’s activities, readings and music will help you learn about why we need Jesus and the hope that he offers as a king.

Advent Activities
Nature Exploration: Throughout history kings have worn crowns as a symbol of their authority and dignity. Jesus was unlike any king. He did not wear a crown adorned with jewels or gold. Rather, Jesus wore a crown of thorns. Jesus is the one true ruler over all the earth, as well as beyond what we can see. Did you know that there is a world beyond the one we can see? Spend some time out in nature, collecting sprigs and vine elements that you can weave together as a crown to wear on your head. Use tape or string as needed. Wear it on your head as you go throughout your day. How does wearing a crown make you feel?

Home Discovery: Walk around your house and find all the seating areas such as chairs and/or stools and couches. Choose one chair as your throne for the week. Sit in it, perhaps build a fort around it. Many verses in scripture talk about Jesus sitting on a throne. What do you think the significance of a throne is? Why do you think having a designated place to sit is special?

Baking Activity: Jesus did not consider equality with God as something to be grasped. Unlike other kings who are waited on hand and foot, Christ came to serve, to give of himself as a ransom for many. I am not sure what Jesus’ favorite food was but Martin Luther King Jr. was a leader who stood up for the rights of the oppressed in similar ways as Jesus. He liked to eat Pecan pie. Pick a simple pecan pie recipe or other sweet treat that you enjoy, bake it and share it with your neighbor. My personal favorite is chocolate covered buttered pecans.

Art Exploration: Purple is a color used throughout history to symbolize royalty. Purples, violets and blues were often used in old paintings to signify royalty. What about purple feels significant or special? Using water colors, fill a page with a mixture of blues, violets, and purples. What do you notice about the color? When you picture Jesus, what colors do you picture him wearing?

Adventure Walk: Rather than living in a castle, Jesus had no home while He was here on earth. He slept in the homes of friends or perhaps even outside in nature. Throughout the Bible Jesus spent time in God’s beautiful creation, floating, even walking on water, traveling up  mountains or talking with crowds of people. As my good friend Sarah Gregory once said, people are God’s best creation. Walk to a nearby body of water with an adult and stare at the way the water moves and think about how God is moving all around you just like the waves.

Music
Ride on King Jesus by Jireh Gospel Choir
King of Kings by Hillsong United
Cradle In Bethlehem by Mason Jar Music

Further Reading and Discussion
1 Chronicles 17: 7-10
7 Now then, tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. 8 I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name like the names of the greatest men on earth. 9 And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning 10 and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also subdue all your enemies.

Discussion Questions:

1. Why do you think God provided a king for his people?
2. How do you see God caring for your pains and wounds?

Psalm 47: 1-9
1Clap your hands, all you nations;
shout to God with cries of joy.
2 For the Lord Most High is awesome,
  the great King over all the earth.
3 He subdued nations under us,
peoples under our feet.
4 He chose our inheritance for us,
the pride of Jacob, whom he loved.
5 God has ascended amid shouts of joy,
the Lord amid the sounding of trumpets.
6 Sing praises to God, sing praises;
sing praises to our King, sing praises.
7 For God is the King of all the earth;
sing to him a psalm of praise.
8 God reigns over the nations;
God is seated on his holy throne.
9 The nobles of the nations assemble
as the people of the God of Abraham
for the kings[c] of the earth belong to God;
he is greatly exalted.

Discussion Questions:

1. Why do people need kings or leaders?
2. What about the kingship of Jesus offers hope?

Ezekiel 37:24-28
24 My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd. They will follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees. 25 They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your ancestors lived. They and their children and their children’s children will live there forever, and David my servant will be their prince forever. 26 I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put my sanctuary among them forever. 27 My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. 28 Then the nations will know that I the Lord make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever.

Discussion Questions:

1. Throughout history and the Bible we have seen good and bad leaders. What attributes do you think are important in a leader?
2. What is a king and what does a king do?