Christmas stuff for your small group, Sunday school, Christmas party… or general interest

I know some of you are looking for some last minute party games, or devotionals, or things you can do with your family or group over the Christmas season.  Well, my Dad has posted some interesting things at his website, so I thought I’d pass them on.

First of all, there’s the Christmas Bible Quiz, a great one to bring out at the party.  There’s a good mix of easier and trickier questions, and a mix of questions about the Bible and about familiar Christmas carols.

For example, do you know what Christmas carol started out as a single word?  Which prophet predicted the virgin birth?  And by the way, don’t breeze through and think you know everything, then skip reading the answers.  There’s a whole lot of information and discussion starters in the answers too!

Print yourself a copy of the Christmas Bible Quiz here.

Also, my Dad has posted a great collection of devotionals based on Christmas carols.  You’ll learn about the history behind many familiar carols, and at the same time be drawn back to the story of the incarnation and the purpose of Jesus’ coming.

You’ll learn things like – who really wrote Away in A Manger?  What does "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" mean? What famous carol was first published as "A Hymn of Unknown Origin"?

One of the carols even includes a story about my great-grandfather, who got a nickname from a song we often sing at Christmastime.

Here’s an excerpt of one of the Christmas Carol Stories:

John Hopkins (1820-1891) was a clergyman and an experienced hymn writer. Most of his work is now forgotten, but Hopkins wrote the words and music for a Christmas song in 1857 which is still in use. The song was created for a Christmas pageant at the General Theological Seminary of New York. And you would think that Doctor Hopkins, writing for this distinguished body, would take care to get his facts straight. But apparently that did not much concern him … (read more)

See the index of Christmas Carol Stories here.

For more interesting Christmas stuff, here are some articles I’ve written in past years:

• 7 Things you might not have known about Christmas… – busting a few myths
• The Shepherds – ever wonder what happened the the shepherds afterwards?
• The origin of Christmas? – why the 25th of December?  You might be surprised…
• Hope renewed – a song
• If Christmas was all we knew – what would we know about Christmas if we only had the "Christmas passages" in our Bibles?
• And for when Christmas is over – Happy Boxing Day – a new/old tradition