Where Would You Walk For Jesus? Advent Session 1. The Magi

This is part of the ‘advent in the youth group series’ I’m doing looking at the first ‘in-the-flesh’ worshipers of Jesus – for the intro & explanation click here.

So this isn’t a session plan so much as a ‘well this is what we did’ run down.

10-Minute Meal
We open each week with a 10-minute meal – if you’re 11 minutes late, you miss the food! One of our leaders organizes this each week and this time is was chocolate, in all its glory in every variety!

Quirky Nativity
The 10-minute meal closes with a short youtube ‘quirky nativity’ video – to set the basic theme/ context. This time it was:

Ice Breakers
After introducing everyone (we had some new faces), we played a game called ‘6 Minute Tree’ – basically they had 6 minutes to build and decorate a Christmas tree from scratch. Great community fun!  Following this we had a ‘Christmas Toast’ – using grape juice and champagne flutes we clinked glasses and begun advent with some class!

Worship Through Music
In redefine we sit in a big circle, have bongos, guitars, ukeleles, and a cajon out and put the chords up on the screen. Some bring guitars with them – there’s no leader really, we just go for it together. This week we did:

> Come Let Us Adore Him
> Hark The Herald (bluegrass style!)
> My Lighthouse (Rend Collective)
> Never Once (Redman) – during this song a young person walked to the middle and lit the first advent candle.

Following a time of thanksgiving prayer we opened up the topic for the week: The Magi.

Reading – Matthew 2:1-12
We always do readings together in a variety of ways. This time simply with two readers from two versions.

Did you notice?
Every time we read the Bible we have an open time of ‘what did you notice.’ This gives them the chance to point to anything that bugged them, poked them, confused them, excited them – anything! Some nights this has lasted the whole study!

Mythbusting
We look at three common ‘Christmas Card Myths’ to begin with about the Magi. These were:

> Kings – no they weren’t. They we’re royal astronomers. Rich nerds.
> 3 – no, we don’t know how many there were, probably more like 12.
> At the crib-side – no, they arrived two years later

Content
Now we get to the main chunk of the night. We focused this around three main Magi-related areas and had aims and questions for each one. After each section we asked them the question; ‘what does this reveal about the Jesus we worship?’ The three sections were:

> The Faith and the Danger – Focusing on the dangers of their relationship with Herod and what it cost them and the country to find Jesus and lie to the king. Specifically we looked at Herod’s incredible response by murdering all boys under 2 years old.
Teaching point: Jesus is controversial even from His birth – but well worth the risk!

> The Gifts – We looked at the three gifts. Gold – bringing their best, a gift fit for a king! Frankincense – An incense burned to carry prayers to God; a symbol of divinity. Myrrh – An ointment given to grieving families to embalm their deceased loved one.
Teaching point: From the beginning, the Magi recognized Jesus as King, as God, and as one who would die an important death.

> The Journey – Focusing on where they went, how they got there, what they left behind, and what it cost them to go. We looked at their first interaction with Jesus and how they physically made themselves lower than Him. We looked at worship as sacrifice.
Teaching point: They were committed to worship Jesus no matter what the cost.

Application & Response
After thinking about what the Magi’s feet must have been like at the end of the epic journey we thought some more about feet. We tried to come up with ‘feet’ verses in the Bible – of which there are plenty! Particularly, there are a few linked with bringing good news and with purity and sacrifice in worship. We thought about where our feet have been, where they might take us, and where they would be willing to go or do for Jesus. We challenged ourselves to walk for him.

To help this sink in we spent ten minutes reflecting on our own. We had sharpies out so if we’d like we could write Jesus’ name on the soles and insides of our shoes. In the background I played this song & video through twice.

Final ‘Send Out’ Response
We prayed together and sang one final song:

> One Thing Remains (Stanfill)