Truth in the Tinsel: The Light of the World

I happened upon an Advent ebook called, "Truth in the Tinsel: An Advent Experience for Little Hands." This is a book for Christian families, with the purpose of teaching children about "the greatest story ever written and the greatest gift ever given - God's own Son, Jesus the Christ!" While the premise of the book doesn't fit like a glove for my own family, I think it is a great resource. However, if you're a bit like me and want to tweak the book to better fit your own values and beliefs, I'm going to give it a try and will post my alterations here. I will probably not be doing every activity and craft during advent, and let's be honest - it may completely fall by the wayside if I'm feeling overwhelmed with holiday obligations. No activity, tradition, or outing is worth a stressful and irritated Momma. 

So, here is the topic for Day 1: The Light of the World. How could I not do this one when I wrote just yesterday about this very topic? 

The image of an inner light permeates many world religions. In talking with my children about the "light of the world," this Christmas, I'm going to make sure to emphasize that this idea is shared by lots of people all over the world.

We will watch a video from Brain Pop about the festival of Diwali. "Diwali, or Dipawali, is India's biggest and most important holiday of the year. The festival gets its name from the row (avali) of clay lamps (or deepa) that Indians light outside their homes to symbolize the inner light that protects us from spiritual darkness. This festival is as important to Hindus as the Christmas holiday is to Christians." (National Geographic)

We will talk again about Hanukkah and the ritual lighting of candles each night. The Jewish Torah, or what Christians refer to as the Old Testament, says in Proverbs 20:27 "A candle of God is the soul of man." 

Then we will read Matthew 5:14 where Jesus said, "You are the light of the world." 

The light is in us. 

Jesus, then, is important to remember at Christmas because he brought in him a new kind of light - a brighter light - and spent his life trying to remind us of the light residing in ourselves, and how to make that light stronger. 

I will talk with my kids about how they feel when they're in darkness. Is darkness scary? Are things hard to see? How do they feel when they find a light, or turn on a light? Can they see things more clearly? 

Jesus wants them to always remember that they have a light inside of them. And the more attention we give that light, the more light we'll spread to others, and the more connected we'll become to God [or insert the word that works for you here - the Universe, the Divine, etc.], the source of all light. 

We will wrap up our lesson about our inner lights by making a light ornament, found in the "Truth in the Tinsel" ebook. 

Photo taken from here. 

If you'd like to purchase your own copy of "Truth in the Tinsel", please head here. 

Do you have any suggestions to add to this lesson and activity? I'd love to hear them!