Scripture: Luke 1: 67-70
“His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied: ‘Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David.”’
Welcome
As Thanksgiving has come and gone, we can all be on the same page that it is Christmastime! For parents, this means a host of things from shopping, countless tasks and events, as well as honoring all the seasonal traditions. Then somewhere on that list, we want to make sure our kids know the Christmas story. There are so many good and helpful resources available: Christmas devotionals, nativity sets, crafts and activities galore which promise to teach the true meaning of Christmas. When I am honest with myself, teaching the Christmas story can quickly become another task on the list. Then, when I scroll on my phone and see these amazing Christian resources, it can induce guilt in me, as I consider all the things I could be doing, but am not.
So, that is my precursor as I introduce what we will be looking at for the next few weeks, Zechariah’s song, the Benedictus. Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, has been unable to speak since he found out his barren wife was having a child. Now John is born, he is able to speak, and the Benedictus is his song upon regaining his speech. At the core of what Zechariah is saying, he is praising God for rescuing his people. (And isn’t this the heart of the Christmas message?!) Yes! The heart of the Christmas message is that Jesus came. He came to live a perfect life, to die and be resurrected so that we may live with Him for eternity. This is something that we need to continue to remember, so we will focus on this truth for the next few weeks. If FortheFours can be a guide for you and others to remember and to teach these truths, that’s great! If you have other resources to do that, that is great too! But rather than fall into a spiral of guilt from all you should be doing, I encourage you to focus on the good news of Christ’s coming and trust that helping your family fix their eyes upon that truth is enough.
Specifics and Logistics:
This week all the ages are mostly honing in on Luke 1:69. This verse says “He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David.” Questions will look at the definition of salvation and consider how it empowers us as a horn empowers an animal. I have loved this imagery for a while, and a few years ago did a deep dive on the symbolism of the horn. I then used that information for our church’s advent devotional and have linked it here.
User Update:
We opened up this week’s devotional with a good debate on the opener question, Who in your family can go the longest without talking? I am thinking this is something we are going to have to test out… maybe a couple of times… But from there we migrated into a good conversation about the “horn of salvation.” It is hard explaining to a small child who has everything they need why they need saving. That is a conversation we will continue to have, but we also discussed that our salvation strengthens and protects us each day as a horn does. At some point someone yelled out something along the lines of “I know you just gotta put your horn up!” See picture below of my husband heeding the command.
I encourage us to think about what this gift of salvation means for each of our lives. With our horns raised, we have an eternal gift of salvation that should empower us each and every day to fight in the spiritual battles of this world, fully confident in the protection offered by our Savior’s gift. This week’s devotional is linked below and is accessible to everyone! Have a wonderful week!
Love,
Anne