LIFT is back!  Let's play some games, chat, and focus on the LIGHT! 

 

Today is January 6th, which some of us know as Epiphany; it is the day that commemorates when the Wise Men finally made it to the LIGHT OF THE WORLD — our JESUS — the Christ Toddler! 

Before Christmas, I had a fun little exercise with the LIFTers when I showed them some different Christmas cards and asked them, "What's wrong with this picture?"  One of the illustrations was an artist's rendering of three kings, on tall camels, bowing their heads to a little baby in a manger.

"We don't know that there were three kings, only that there were three gifts," one particularly sharp young LIFTer answered.

"Very good, Mason!"

While an astute observation, the answer I was looking for was the fact that the Three kings/Wise Men would not have visited a newborn baby, but rather a Toddler.  I "reminded" them that Jesus may have even put the gifts in his mouth or asked his parents, "Who's this?"  Or he may have shyly hidden behind his mother.

 

We've just come off of Christmas where "all things Jesus" have been romanticized and "Hallmarked."  I believe we do a disservice to our young people if we don't start telling them the real stories of Jesus.  If we keep feeding them the fairy tale of baby Jesus in the cradle, they will be confronted with the reality around Jesus which could be completely at odds with what they’ve been raised to believe, and they could be understandably disheartened and disillusioned. It’s no secret that some young people leave the church for this very reason. I believe we fail them when we don't start teaching and talking about the "hard stories" of Jesus, and there are a bunch of them.  There's nothing wrong with singing about a Silent Night and a cleaned up Mary kneeling in light blue robes.  Let's just not stay there.

 

Peace,

Miss Kay

LIFT Leader