David wrote me an email highlighting some of the things that the Saunders clan does over Christmas to help live into meaning of the year a little differently than many of our traditions.

You can bring this up at youth, but something that my extended family has been doing lately is instead of getting a huge gift for each other, they each donate what they want/can to their favorite charity and then talk about that on Christmas day, as well as still exchanging small gifts like books/cds.

You could encourage the kids to have a donation made in their name (even if it’s not the only “gift” they receive). I am donating money to pay for 2 biosand filters for Bloodwater Mission (as well as asking for another one on to be donated on top of that instead of receiving a gift) to send to Africa and provide clean water for two families for up to 20 years. You can find little ways to cut back on consumerism in your Christmas, even if it doesn’t eliminate it.

-David

This article used with permission from Youth Specialties Real World Parent Series

One of the challenges of parenting for Christians is that we want our kids to be as excited about God’s unbelievable grace and forgiveness as we are—but we still want them to perform. We pray they’ll be absolutely convinced that their place in God’s family (and ours) is not conditional on how well they follow Christ or obey us, but we still stress repeatedly and doggedly that their best option is to follow and obey.

Paul could relate. We’re pulling our talking point for this week from the very beginning of his letter to the Christians and the church in Corinth. It’s a letter that spells out in explicit detail everything they’re doing wrong as individuals and as a group in how they are “doing church.” He uses some harsh-sounding words to reveal their selfish, selfish hearts. He derides them for misunderstanding God’s grace to mean they should have the right do whatever feels good all the time.

But Paul begins his letter to these sinners by expressing his deep assurance that the Corinthians Christians were sanctified receivers of God’s grace enriched with the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts. He states unequivocally—before dismantling their wrongdoings—that God will keep them strong to the end so that they will be blameless on the day of the Lord. He wanted them to choose to do right not to earn God’s love but because they already had it and were empowered to imitate it in serving Him and each other.

We encourage you to read these first nine verses, maybe with your child, and to use the opportunity this week to emphasize God’s endless, perfect grace for His flawed, selfish children. And since we’re just weeks away from Christmas, it will be easy to point to that event as evidence of God’s grace and love in spite of all of our selfish sinfulness.

Talking Points

• Why do you think God loves anyone?
• Is there anyone that God does not love?
• What can we do to make God love us—or love us more? [Parent: Emphasize that we cannot do anything to earn God’s love or increase it.]
• What can we do to make God love us less? [Parent: Again, emphasize that God loves us because that’s who He is, not because we deserve it. Just as we can’t earn His love, those of us who are in Christ—saved by trusting in Jesus alone—cannot do anything to lose God’s love.]
• If Christians are fully loved and accepted by God no matter what, why should we care whether we obey and follow Him or not? [Parent: Good luck! No, actually, it is helpful to emphasize that with His love, God also gives His children the power to live like Jesus. Why would we reject that opportunity to love God and others as Jesus did?]
• In 1 Corinthians, Paul explains to a group of Christians many of the ways they are being selfish toward God and each other, even though they are unconditionally loved and accepted by God. But before He starts, He explains to them that they are already “sanctified in Christ Jesus.” How would you explain the word “sanctified”? [Parent: It means that Christian have been set apart as people who are for God alone.]
• Paul also writes that they were given grace as a gift from God. How would you describe God’s grace? [Parent: Grace is God giving us all the treasures of His love and heaven even though we do NOT deserve it. Emphasize that nobody can earn grace.]
• Why do you think so many people get confused about the idea that going to heaven and being loved by God depends on what we do, not on what God did for us?
• How is Christmas evidence of Gods’ grace to us?
• Paul wrote to these Christians—people who were not doing very well at following Jesus—that God would keep them strong to the end so they would be blameless then. Do you believe that as a Christian you will be blameless when you stand before God? Why or why not?
• What makes us blameless? [Parent: Emphasize that we are only made blameless because Jesus took all of our blame when He was punished and died on the cross; we can’t work our way to being blameless.]
• Have you noticed any ways that God has started to give you His power or make you stronger in Christ? [Parent: Emphasize that growing strong in God can take time but includes things like using our spiritual gifts, resisting temptation, and loving and serving others without being selfish.]
• Do you believe that God will finish making you strong like Jesus, that He will finish what He has started in you? [Parent: Emphasize that God’s grace for everyone who has genuinely trusted in Jesus for salvation means that He absolutely will finish what He has started in us.]
• Will God finish what He started in us because we’ll finally get our act together and start working at being like Jesus—or because He is faithful? [Parent: Think about reading 1 Corinthians 1:9 to help provide a final answer to this question.]

Hey All, thanks for all the outpouring of support and prayers. Sunday was just crazy with txts, phone calls, facebook, and some visits. It was a wild time for Erin & Myself and it was a huge comfort to feel such a large family of support.

For those that have not heard the story. Erin’s water broke (a precursor to giving birth) early Sunday morning. We had 6 weeks to go for an average birth, so we were/are not even close to being ‘ready’ for being parents. But we packed what we could (luckily stuff was already packed from prior day being at my parents in Birmingham for a baby shower) and headed to the hospital. They induced Erin to help along the contractions to avoid an infections for the child. After about 12 hours of labor Brooks Foster “The Pellet” Richardson was born at 4:56pm. Because he was so early he went to transition nursery determining if he was going to be admitted to the NICU or regular nursery. He was a champ & got admitted to regular nursery a few hours after birth. He’s doing great now & we have returned home. If you didn’t get to see. Here are some photos from the last 60 hours.