Savoring the Savior: Celebrating Jesus Throughout the Season Christmas Part 1

Feeling overwhelmed or weary by the holiday season?  What if we told you that there is a way to find simplicity and truly savor the Savior amidst the Christmas chaos? When we went back to the first Christmas, we saw that it centered around three things: a family, a message, and a Savior.  What if we embrace those things this Christmas to make our season simple, meaningful and memorable?  In Part 1 we look at how to savor Jesus all through the season and not just aim at celebrating on Christmas Day. 

Let's explore the heart of Christmas, as share personal experiences,  and offer ways to keep Jesus as the focal point during the season. We dig into different Advent traditions that are not just fun, but also help to cultivate a deep connection to savoring Him.  Join us as we share tips on age-appropriate devotionals, creating joy-filled traditions, and incorporating the nativity into daily activities.

Additionally, we delve into the powerful hymn "O Holy Night," and how it continues to remind us of the true spirit of Christmas. Together, let’s make our Christmas celebrations meaningful and Jesus-focused, taking a step back from the holiday rush to cherish the reason for the season.

Prophecies of Jesus, 25 Prophecies and Jesus’ Fulfillment #1 Find all 25 on Called To Shine’s Instagram Feed ( Scroll down to Dec 1 2022

NBS2GO’S Advent Bible Study

Children’s Christmas Books/ You Tube : The Crippled Lamb, Song of The Stars, Christmas in the Manger, 25 Days of the Christmas Story, A Christmas Story of Light, The Jesus Story Book Bible Christmas Collection, The Tale of Three Tree’s

The Star From Afar
The Kindness Manger Options: The Giving Manger,  Filling The Manger

Redeeming The Season Podcasts with Pam McCune and Kim Wier on Revive Our Heart ( 5 Different episodes)

SOCIAL MEDIA: @called_toshine Instagram.
Follow us on Instagram and enjoy the community as we spur each other on through inspiration, encouragement, and equipping.

And always you can find resources to help you connect to the people around you at NBS2GO! (nbs2go.com)

— A ministry of NBS2GO: Neighbor Bible Studies to Go and Cru

Transcript

Pam McCune: 0:04

Hello, Jesslyn here and Pam, welcome to the community where we explore how Jesus is our light.

Jesslyn Adams: 0:11

And we are here to spur each other on to love God and others, right where we live. We are called to shine.

Pam McCune: 0:18

You know the song oh Holy Night that says the words the weary world rejoices. Have you wondered what is making life weary? The answer can be different for each person, circumstances, people, health issues and maybe, for some, it's even the season of Christmas that is making us weary. As women, we wear many hats, from decorator to gift buyer to organizer of the calendar events, maybe even chauffeur, cook and, yes, weary is a good word to describe what we are. After we wear all those hats. Jesslyn, is there a part of Christmas that makes you overwhelmed or stresses you out?

Jesslyn Adams: 1:00

Yes, Pam, there is, and one in particular is buying gifts. Although it sounds fun, I somewhat get immediately stressed. I think sometimes we have family members asking for Christmas lists, like right after Halloween, and I'm thinking, oh my goodness, it's not even November, thinking through family and teachers and relatives and nieces and nephews, like I love it. But at the same time it's just an ongoing list and I want to get the best deal and sometimes the ads are telling you do it now or it's going to run out. I get kind of stressed about that. Typically I panic a little bit and then remember it's all going to work out. But during the Christmas season many things can be fun, joyful, beautiful and delightful, but truly some parts are stressful. We want to encourage less stress and simplicity. Pam, you told us about redeeming Halloween in episode three, but first came your book Redeeming the Season Simple ideas for a memorable and meaningful Christmas. So how do we simplify this season so we don't end up overdoing, overspending or overcommitting?

Pam McCune: 1:59

I can say that I'm an expert because I did it all wrong and being very teachable to want to learn to do things differently. Have you experienced one of those Christmases where you rush from those hats that you're wearing, from the decorating, the gift buying, the attending event after event? That can be so fun, but maybe you're exhausted and then, after all, the gifts are unwrapped and you're throwing out the wrapping paper and all the boxes and you feel like you threw out Christmas with it and all that's left are the bills that need to be paid and it feels empty and you feel depleted.

Jesslyn Adams: 2:36

So true, there have been Christmases for me personally that by the time the kids are done opening up their gifts and which I think is going to take an hour and it takes five minutes I just want to lie down and take a huge nap. It almost feels like a huge let down, because I was so focused on getting the right gifts and wanting the right reaction when they opened them that I didn't stop and just savor all the moments leading up to that morning. I was more focused on the gifts rather than the gift of Jesus himself. Tell us more about how we can make this Christmas season different.

Pam McCune: 3:05

So, as Kim and I my co-author thought about Christmas. We decided to go back to the first Christmas and see what can we glean from the original Christmas, to find how we can make it memorable, meaningful and simple. We came down to three things that it centered around. First, it centered around a family, and it wasn't just any family. It could have been today's dysfunctional family a teenager that finds out she's pregnant, that she's betrothed and engaged, and he's contemplating divorce. Here they are in the midst of saying will we say yes to God, right where we are. And then we found out that it centered around a message. It was a message about the Savior is coming. Six months before, the angel came to Mary and to Joseph to say you're going to raise God's son. He went to Zachariah, the angel, and said you're going to have a child and it is going to be the forerunner to Jesus, to tell everybody he is coming, the Messiah is coming. It is about pointing people to him and about saying, yes, the Savior is here and he's coming back. And then the third thing that we found is that first Christmas, it centered around a baby that was worthy to be worshiped because of who he was, that we could stop and savor the Savior. Now, when we tell this, we start with setting apart your family time, and then about seasoning your surroundings, and the third one is usually savoring the Savior. But I've decided we need to do things differently. If we don't start with savoring the Savior, it is really hard out of overflow to set apart and celebrate with a family and to point other people to Jesus. So when we went to that first Christmas about savoring the Savior, luke 2.

Pam McCune: 4:47

There were shepherds living out in the fields nearby keeping watch over their flocks. At night, an angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were terrified. Have you noticed? Every time an angel appears, people in Scripture are terrified. They're not the little cute little chair of kids, they are angels, the warrior angels. And the angel said Do not be afraid, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for you, for all the people. Today, in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you. He is Christ, the Lord. This will be assigned to you. You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. Suddenly, a great company of heavenly hosts appeared with the angel praising God and saying this is the first scantata. They were saying Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace to men on whom his favor rests. And when the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord is told us about. It says that they ran off I don't know if they got a sheep sitter or if they just picked up their sheepies and they ran into Bethlehem to go on this scavenger hunt To find this baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in the manger. And the shepherds found him and they bowed down and worshiped the baby. And it's amazing because it says afterwards they ran and told everybody about this thing that God had done. They were glorifying and praising God for all these things and hurried off and told everybody else.

Pam McCune: 6:16

But they weren't the only ones that stopped and worshiped the baby, simeon and Anna when they took him to the temple to be dedicated and to be circumcised. Simeon had been praying and waiting for the coming Messiah and the Holy Spirit impressed upon Simeon that this is the baby and Simeon held the baby and worshiped the baby. And then Anna was a widow and she had been living at the temple waiting night and day for the coming Messiah. That is great expectation and that is dedication. And God showed her this is the baby and she praised God and she worshipped the baby. Now the Gentiles got there. It took them two years we know them by the name, the wise men but they followed that star that they had heard the prophecy that the Messiah was coming and that the alignment of stars. And they followed it and they got their scholars think it was probably when he was two. But imagine that they praised and worshipped a toddler. I mean, how does a toddler be perfect? And Jesus was. Did he just never say no? Did he just say yes, yes, yes. I don't know what he was like as a toddler. They bowed down and they worshiped, they brought gifts and they celebrated as Gentiles the coming Messiah.

Pam McCune: 7:27

And you and I, in the midst of whatever life looks like, we want to stop and savor the Savior. Now, the reason we say savor is my husband loves food and he has one of his principles is that you save the best bite till last. So if you start eating off of his plate, you better not eat his best bite because he's moved it over to the side so that he wants to savor the best flavors of that last bite, because he says it tastes good. Well, when we're savoring the Savior, he is good and he is worthy to be savoring. So we don't want to just aim for one day, the Christmas day, because who knows what might happen that day? One day my mom woke up with a migraine and we were like who's going to cook the food? Another Christmas we had extended family time and it ended up being chaos. We spent the day trying to get some extended family members out of jail and it was not the day that we had planned.

Pam McCune: 8:23

And as we went around going wanting to say, oh Lord, we love you, we were saying, oh Lord, but it sounded much different. All I can say is don't put all your stock in one day. Use the season, use the advent to build up to anticipate the arrival. I love babies. I love celebrating babies. Babies are something that I've prayed for a long time. As I went through my miscarriages and I wondered if I would ever hold a baby on earth. And as we had our first born, madison Shae, be born, we had much to celebrate. And then we went through a time of infertility and I wondered will I get to hold a second born? And so when Connor Clarkson McEwen was born, we celebrated and we told Madison all the time how precious a baby he was and how much he was wanted and prayed for and how special he was. So as I was telling the Christmas story one year and talking about Jesus being the most special baby, she interrupted me and said I know, mom, he was special, but not as special as Connor Clarkson McEwen. Well, deslyn, I had a problem. I had not taught the difference. I had told him about how special babies were, but not why Jesus was different, why he was different than every Sunday school teacher that we really love and honor, every other religious leader Buddha, muhammad, why he could be worthy of worship because he was God.

Pam McCune: 9:44

And we decided to look at the prophecies Now there's over 300 in Scripture. So we just took 25 prophecies from the Old Testament of who the coming Messiah would be and we paired them up with the verses in the New Testament that show how Jesus fulfilled that. So each day in December that was our advent is that we would pull out this card. Now we also had boxes with treats. Inside each one I gave him a prophecy saying you're going to get a treat today, and then it came true. I was explaining what prophecy meant, and then they would read the Old Testament verse and then the New Testament fulfillment.

Pam McCune: 10:17

We were building anticipation of why we could celebrate this baby and why he is different than any other religious leader because he is God. And I'll be honest, there were some days we're so busy we forgot to do one of the cards and my kids would usually run to me and remind me and say we need to read the prophecy and as they got older they would already know the New Testament fulfillment as I read the Old Testament verse and I love that they were learning. Now we have on the Instagram account all 25 down of the Old Testament prophecies in the New Testament fulfillment, so you can go to call to shine Instagram and scroll down just a little bit and you'll see an advent one through 25. We want to use advance their arrival so that we can build and anticipate celebrating Jesus all through the season In episode five.

Jesslyn Adams: 11:06

We gave you a taste of the Advent Bible study that you can do personally, with your family or in a group of friends.

Pam McCune: 11:12

And if you miss that, give it a listen Absolutely is such a treat and you'll actually just experience getting to deep dive into one of the passages, and it's fun to do that with other people as well. There are other ways to anticipate and to do advance. Justine, do you do this? Do you do pajamas each year? That family matching pajamas? Yes, much to dad's chagrin. I agree, jerry is a good sport about it. As we pull out those new PJs, maybe you do it for a whole season. Maybe you're just doing it Christmas Eve and Christmas night. I also like to pull out a new devotional for each member of the family and I like to think of the age appropriate when they're little. There's nothing better than the Jesus storybook Bible to start with.

Pam McCune: 11:53

I love that for teens we say short and sweet and full of meat. Don't beat them over the head, don't give them too much. Give them some bite size chunks that they can experience success on. For adults, there's a plethora of options. There are many free online Advent studies that you can do. You could do our study or you can do a devotional with 25 to aim at, because when you aim at nothing, you hit it every time. So I say, give yourself something to aim at, but give yourself grace for when you miss it as well.

Pam McCune: 12:22

My daughter and I, the last few years, have done. She reads truth. There's an app, there's a podcast, there's an Advent study that you can get. We're each doing it and we can text each other and we can talk about the Advent season. Of what stood out to us that day when she was in college and we were separated, there's a book that we love very much for Lent and you know what she did for me she recorded herself reading it each day and would send it to me so I could feel like I was with her. So, wherever your family's at, think through what it might delight them and bring them joy that you could give them not to put them under the pile, but to aim at and get to experience the taste of Jesus.

Jesslyn Adams: 13:01

Pam. Those are wonderful ideas, so many ways to be creative and interact with others and bring them in God's word together. I love the idea of being able to hear one another's voice even though you're afar, because a lot of times we're not spending time with God at the exact same time in the day, but we can continually mutually and spur one another on.

Pam McCune: 13:19

Another idea read a children's book each day in December. Now I've seen some people wrap them up and make them a surprise in the wrapping paper with the bow on with a number on them, and then each day they pull them out and, no matter where your kids are at, hit all the different ages and I've learned that older kids love to own it, to read it to the younger kids and as adults, we enjoy the themes in the Christmas books. Now, justin, this works for us because we collected Christmas books. Every year we would get a new one, we would write the year and we would write a dedication. You could do 25 books in a basket or you could wrap them up, and it's also a sweet time to have family time together.

Jesslyn Adams: 13:59

You know I was thinking, pam. What I love is I'm seeing more and more stores sell advent things together. In fact, my sweet mother-in-law, Marcy, gave our kids a couple years ago an advent calendar that already had a book wrapped up for each day, and they were so eager they were wanting to jump days. It was really fun, but the idea of doing 25, something to look forward to, something to get excited about, and I like the intentional of it being Christmas and reading those together. I think even in our time of living in Louisiana, someone gave us the Cajun night before Christmas and, though it's a tongue-tie thing to read, we tried reading it to our kids every year and we die laughing, more so than they do, to be honest.

Pam McCune: 14:35

I think that's a fun tradition, just laughing through that book. Traditions can be really meaningful, but they can also just be something you happened upon that brought you laughter, that you want to keep doing One of the things to know about traditions they can change.

Pam McCune: 14:49

You can have a tradition that's been passed on from family members, but don't be afraid to try new ones and to let go of some, because different years you don't want to just keep adding and end up with 25 traditions that you're just trying to checkmark and get through. That will make you stressed and crazy. Oh, so true, pick the one that works for this year and that your family might need. Maybe it's a season that you need more laughter. Maybe it's a season that you need more serious. Both are important. Now, one of the ones that brought us much laughter it didn't start this way but our nativities. Now I collect nativities.

Pam McCune: 15:23

Before we had children, I had a very precious moments nativity set. I loved my precious moments nativity set and I caught myself one day yelling at my three year old don't touch baby Jesus. It didn't sound right, like what is wrong with me. I should be delighted that she wanted to touch baby Jesus, so a new tradition started and that I found the non breakable nativity pieces. We started with Mary Joseph and baby Jesus so wise, and then every year we added a new piece and my kids each had their set that they played with and I loved it that they were interacting with baby Jesus Now with my daughter.

Pam McCune: 16:05

I mean you wouldn't believe if you listen to the conversations of how sweet Joseph was to carry Mary when the donkey got tired while she was pregnant. I loved reliving it through her eyes. Now for my son it was like war war one going on at the first nativity. You have no idea the animals that were fighting over who got to lick baby Jesus clean. I mean it was crazy, but I love that they were telling the story. So maybe you bring out a new piece each year that you add to theirs, or maybe you do it throughout December and you add a new piece. We've also done it where the wise men travel throughout the house. We don't wait two years, we just let them arrive Christmas Eve Either way, let them touch and let them play with baby Jesus.

Jesslyn Adams: 16:45

You reminded me of something that our family does when you were talking about moving the wise men closer to baby Jesus each day. You know the elf on the shelf. That's quite popular over the past several years. We found something years ago a little bit different but a similar idea of something you hide at night and the kids have to discover it the next morning, but the focus is on Jesus. It's called the Star from afar and it comes with the book, a little devotional to read, and each night you move that star after the kids go to bed and in the morning the kids come looking for it and once they find it, then they go grab the wise men and then they bring it over to the star for the day and then you repeat it each night until you get the. You know the star over the nativity set over Jesus and put the wise men there greeting Jesus.

Jesslyn Adams: 17:26

I love the idea of a nativity set and you're right, it's interactive, it's a visual. I love that. It's each day, because I got to be honest, a lot of times I forgot to move the stars. But you're right, they remind you. I love it. They're built in accountability. It became something they were eager to get out of bed for even before Christmas morning, so that's kind of fun. They understood the point and I think even my sweet sister-in-law, jennifer.

Pam McCune: 17:48

They usually do a happy birthday Jesus cake on Christmas, celebrating his birthday One thing I can do is bake, so I could bake a cake, let the kids decorate it saying happy birthday Jesus and add it to the meals. The thing I love about the Star from afar, it sounds like it would be easy to travel with. Yes, I love the idea of the kindness manger, where you put straw in the manger all through the month of December by the kind deeds that you do for family and friends and you are preparing the way of Jesus to be a soft entry. In that you're part of living out Christ-like characters. That will make it even easier to celebrate, and so each time you would do a good thing.

Pam McCune: 18:29

You put your straw in. Well, I loved it so much that I had my husband build a three-foot manger so that we could put real straw in it. I never thought about it. We travel every single time while the kids were growing up for Christmas to either my parents' house or my in-laws' house, and it got old having to travel with that three-foot manger. So the Star sounds like that. Maybe traveling with your nativity set is not as big a deal as a three-foot manger.

Jesslyn Adams: 18:56

No, it's easy. It comes with a box you can put it back in, and you're right. We always take it with us. Portable, not breakable, are the ways to go.

Pam McCune: 19:04

The main part is being with each other and getting to talk about what we're getting ready to celebrate and focusing on Scripture truths about who Jesus is. Some have done attribute ornaments that you put character qualities of Jesus. You can put them on your own stars and put them on the tree, whatever it is. There are so many different options. There's not one perfect one. The perfect one is the one that fits into your family. That'll help you stop and aim at talking about Jesus and celebrating him throughout the season, and not putting stock into that one day of December 25th, but of building up and celebrating, pointing your kids, pointing yourself, but marinating on who he is and why he's worthy of worship, so that we really can overflow with loving other people because we love God.

Jesslyn Adams: 19:56

So true, pam. Thanks for sharing that. Please do not try all of these ideas. Pick one or two that would work for you personally and for your family, and ask God to show you what you need this year and savor the Savior throughout the season On.

Pam McCune: 20:11

Christmas Eve in 1906, reginald Fessenden, a 33-year-old university professor and former chief chemist for Thomas Edison, did something long thought impossible.

Pam McCune: 20:23

Using a new type of generator, fessenden spoke into a microphone and for the first time in history, a man's voice was broadcast over the airways. And it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. He began in a clear, strong voice, hoping he was reaching across the distances he supposed he would. Shocked radio operators on ships and astonished wireless owners at newspapers were amazed as their normal coated impulses, heard over tiny speakers, were interrupted by a professor reading the Christmas story. To those who caught this broadcast it must have seemed like a miracle to hear a voice somehow transmitted to those far away. Perhaps they may have thought they were hearing the voice of an angel. Fessenden was probably unaware of the sensation he was causing on ships and in offices. He couldn't have known that men and women were rushing to their wireless units to catch this Christmas Eve miracle. After finishing his recitation of the birth of Christ, fessenden picked up his violin and played O Holy Night, the first song ever sent through the air via radio waves. O Holy Night was first sung at a small Christmas Mass in 1847. The song has been sung millions of times in churches in every corner of the world and since the moment a handful of people first heard it played over the radio, the carol has gone on to become one of the most recorded and played spiritual songs. This incredible work, requested by a forgotten parish priest, written by a poet who would later split from the church, given soaring music by a Jewish composer, and brought to Americans to serve as much as a tool to spotlight the sinful nature of slavery as tell the story of the birth of a savior, has become one of the most beautiful, inspired pieces of music ever created. The Lord can work in amazing ways to his word to proclaim Pondering the baby that came to earth, who left heaven to do for us what we couldn't do for ourselves, to pay the penalty for our sin, for our separation from God, and being thankful that he came. And stopping and worshiping the Savior, to bow down and to praise him, means that we stop and ponder and think on, think and we delight in Jesus the Savior. It doesn't mean that we don't wear those many hats that we have, but it means that as we wear them. We want to keep our priorities right, to remember why we're celebrating, why we're going to events, why we're getting to have fun with family and friends, why we're buying gifts. It's all in honor of the one who is worthy to be praised.

Pam McCune: 23:10

Here are the words to oh Holy Night. Oh Holy Night, the stars are brightly shining. It is the night of our dear Savior's birth. Long lay the world in sin and error pining till he appears in the soul, felt its worth, a thrill of hope. The weary world rejoices for yonder breaks and new and glorious mourn fall on your knees. Oh, hear the angels voices. Oh night divine. Oh night when Christ was born, oh night, oh holy night. Oh night divine. Let all within us praise his holy name. Christ is the Lord. Oh, praise his name forever. His power and glory evermore proclaim. Christmas can be wearing. But if we listen to those words of oh Holy Night, we are reminded of the answers.

Jesslyn Adams: 24:03

We have so much more to explore together, so be sure to subscribe to our podcast, and if today has inspired or encouraged you, you can help others find us by taking a moment to give us a review on your favorite podcast streaming site.

Pam McCune: 24:16

And as our thanks for joining us here, we invite you to follow us on Instagram at called to shine. As part of our called to shine Instagram community, you will get encouragement and ideas to help you connect to the people around you.

Jesslyn Adams: 24:31

And, as always, you can find resources to help you shine the light of Jesus at mbs2gocom neighbor Bible studies to go. In our next episode we will look at how to set apart family time during the Christmas season as well as point people to the Savior. You don't want to miss part two of having a meaningful and memorable Christmas.

Pam McCune: 24:50

Thanks for joining us today. We are called to shine.