Preparation This Week
On your lit Christmas tree, hang ornaments that carry meaning — heirlooms, symbols of your faith, tokens of God's faithfulness in your family's story. As you hang each one, tell its story. What does it represent? Who gave it to you? What has God done? Leave the very top of the tree bare — that moment belongs to next week.
Have You Listened to What You Have Heard?
I remember being a child and looking into the chest of Christmas ornaments as we were decorating our tree. There were ornaments of all sorts, with all sorts of meanings and origins — most of which had been long forgotten. But what did they mean? Why did we put them on the tree year after year?
In much the same way, many children are taught stories from the Bible from the time they are very young. Like the forgotten ornaments, they can handle the stories, feel their familiar weight, even hang them in the right place — but have lost the story behind the story. Who was this man, and what did He accomplish? Why does this matter to me, here, now?
From the time of Adam through to the present, the messages of God's power, faithfulness and love have been written and communicated in every possible form. Prophecy is memory made certain in advance. When we speak these prophecies aloud with our children — when we show them how Micah pointed to Bethlehem, how Zechariah described the piercing, how Isaiah saw the great light dawning — we are building memorials. Living ornaments on the tree of faith.
"What memorials are you building this Christmas? Are you clearly setting forth God's hope to your children?"M.J. Gallagher — Advent Christmas Tree Devotional
The Ornaments of God's Faithfulness
Choose ornaments this week that are meaningful rather than merely decorative. An ornament given by a grandparent who has passed carries the weight of generational faith. A simple wooden cross carries the whole gospel. A dove speaks of peace and the Holy Spirit. An ornament made by a child's hands declares that this family's faith is being passed on.
As you hang each one, resist the temptation to be efficient. Take the time to speak its meaning aloud. Ask the children what they think it means. Let the tree become a map of your family's story with God — not just a decorative tradition, but a monument to His faithfulness.
And as the tree fills up, leave the top bare. The tree is not complete yet. Something is still missing. The greatest gift has not yet arrived. That is the tension of Advent — the waiting that makes Christmas morning what it is.
Scripture Readings for Week Three
- Deuteronomy 4:1–15 Remember what God has taught you, and pass it on to your children
- Hebrews 1:1–2:4 God has spoken in many ways through the prophets — heed what you have heard
- Micah 5:1–5 A ruler to come from Bethlehem — one of Scripture's most precise prophecies
- Zechariah 12:10–13:9 God's redemption through one who is pierced — a prophecy of the cross
- Luke 4:14–30 Jesus reads from Isaiah in the synagogue: "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing"
- Revelation 3:14–22 A warning against growing complacent with what we have been given
- Isaiah 60:1–10 The glory of the Lord rises over His people — God's promises for the future
Questions for Family Discussion
- What is one ornament on the tree this year that has a story? Tell it.
- How does fulfilled prophecy strengthen your faith? What does it tell you about the God who spoke it?
- What are you passing on to the next generation? What memorials are you building?