From the assistant

Wow, a snow day! I thought snow days were just for kids.  I hope you were able to enjoy Sunday with family and friends. Unfortunately, due to the snow day from church, the last lesson of the season will go untaught.  The lesson would have been Preparing for the Saviour — God promised the birth of Jesus would bring new light to the world. The text would have been Isa 9:2 and Matt 1:18-24, the story of Joseph’s Annunciation.Last week we exchanged ideas of how to talk about the unusual circumstances around Jesus’ birth to small children and how to explain Joseph’s role. We came up with a few good ideas, all of them involved dodging the issue, but emphasizing Joseph’s faithfulness to God and to Mary and the baby Jesus. And then, in the end, we had a snow day. But I think this raises a great topic in terms of teach Bible stories to children, what do you do when the Bible story raises a difficult life topic that the children may not developmentally be ready for.We want to teach the incarnation (God taking on human flesh and living among humanity). However, it’s ok if its taught in stages. What you tell a first grader won’t necessarily be the same information you would teach a sixth grader. What’s important for the younger children is to lay the foundation for teaching the more complex theological points. So, telling first graders to focusing on Joseph’s faithfulness creates a mental container that the complexities of the incarnation can grow in over the years. The incarnation is one of the most miraculous parts of our faith, and the Advent and Christmas season, but it’s big enough we can take a few years to teach it to our children.By the way,  Preparing for the Saviour is actually a theme for the second week of Advent. The third week’s theme is Joy and this is when we light the pink candle. I can’t tell you how many unlit pink candles I have. Is it me or is there always a snow storm this time of year? Or is there some other reason why it seems we never get to the Joy candle? Mmmm, I addressed some of these things in the sermon I did not give, which I may post the sermon on the internet.Well, a snow day when you can be snowed in with family and friends, that’s a cause for joy! It’s like God gave us a little special Sabbath where peace and fun wins over busyness. So, I hope you enjoyed your time and I’ll see you next week in church! Enjoy this joyous season, may you stay safe and warm and God Bless.