Family Christmas Movie and Faith!
Do you love to put on a Christmas movie? Why not have a Christmas movie night AND let it spark a conversation about faith! While the movies included are secular, each one does a wonderful job of embodying one of the core themes - Hope, Love, Joy, Peace, or Believe (faith). Especially if you have children, it’s so important to teach that we can go beyond the walls of the church building to find the message of God’s love in the everyday, including Christmas movies.
The movies selected are:
A Charlie Brown Christmas – Hope
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (animated version) – Love
Frosty the Snowman – Joy
The Muppet Christmas Carol – Peace
The Polar Express – Believe
*Special thanks to Mark Burrows at Worship Design Studio who’s work this was adapted
from
Rev. Kenneth Hardway
Minister of Youth in WV
Week 1--HopeMovie: A Charlie Brown Christmas
Bible Verse: Isaiah 40:1-2 – Comfort, comfort my people! says your God. Speak compassionately to Jerusalem and proclaim to her that her compulsory service has ended, that her penalty has been paid. These words were written hundreds of years before Jesus was born. Isaiah was giving God’s people hope, reminding them that, even in captivity, God was with them and that there would be better days ahead. Hope is such a powerful force. It’s the belief in something happening and the confident expectation that it will. Let’swatch a classic Christmas movie that embodies hope – A Charlie Brown Christmas.
Talking Points:
• Near the beginning of the movie, Charlie Brown feels certain he won’t get a Christmas card…yet he looks in the mailbox anyway. Even though he’s struggling with his feelings, we still see the flicker of hope in him.
• Charlie Brown goes to Lucy to talk. He’s worried about not feeling happy during the Christmas season. Something feels missing. Charlie Brown wants to find what’s missing in his life. All he knows at this point is that material things aren’t going to fill the void.
• A want or a wish is different than a hope. Remember, hope means believing something could happen and having that confident expectation that it will.
After-Movie Discussion:
• The great moment of hope comes when Charlie Brown and Linus go to a Christmas tree lot. Charliesees potential in this little tree, even when the normally-optimistic Linus isn’t sure it’s a good idea. Charlie Brown’s heart is stirred. He sees something in the tree worth saving, worth investing in. How do the others respond when Charlie Brown brings back the little tree? This almost causes him to lose hope, until Linus recites the Christmas story. This is a powerful reminder that, just as we have our own hopes, so does everyone else. We must be kind in treating one another’s often-fragile hopes with care.
• After Linus recites the Christmas story, we see Charlie Brown’s hope once again restored. However, at one point it might seem like all hope is lost, not just for the tree, but for Charlie Brown feeling fulfilled. But his act of hope inspired all the others.
Prayer: Loving God, We have you, And there is hope. We have each other, And there is hope. We wait for Jesus, With confident expectation, And there is hope. Amen.
Do you love to put on a Christmas movie? Why not have a Christmas movie night AND let it spark a conversation about faith! While the movies included are secular, each one does a wonderful job of embodying one of the core themes - Hope, Love, Joy, Peace, or Believe (faith). Especially if you have children, it’s so important to teach that we can go beyond the walls of the church building to find the message of God’s love in the everyday, including Christmas movies.
The movies selected are:
A Charlie Brown Christmas – Hope
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (animated version) – Love
Frosty the Snowman – Joy
The Muppet Christmas Carol – Peace
The Polar Express – Believe
*Special thanks to Mark Burrows at Worship Design Studio who’s work this was adapted
from
Rev. Kenneth Hardway
Minister of Youth in WV
Week 1--HopeMovie: A Charlie Brown Christmas
Bible Verse: Isaiah 40:1-2 – Comfort, comfort my people! says your God. Speak compassionately to Jerusalem and proclaim to her that her compulsory service has ended, that her penalty has been paid. These words were written hundreds of years before Jesus was born. Isaiah was giving God’s people hope, reminding them that, even in captivity, God was with them and that there would be better days ahead. Hope is such a powerful force. It’s the belief in something happening and the confident expectation that it will. Let’swatch a classic Christmas movie that embodies hope – A Charlie Brown Christmas.
Talking Points:
• Near the beginning of the movie, Charlie Brown feels certain he won’t get a Christmas card…yet he looks in the mailbox anyway. Even though he’s struggling with his feelings, we still see the flicker of hope in him.
• Charlie Brown goes to Lucy to talk. He’s worried about not feeling happy during the Christmas season. Something feels missing. Charlie Brown wants to find what’s missing in his life. All he knows at this point is that material things aren’t going to fill the void.
• A want or a wish is different than a hope. Remember, hope means believing something could happen and having that confident expectation that it will.
After-Movie Discussion:
• The great moment of hope comes when Charlie Brown and Linus go to a Christmas tree lot. Charliesees potential in this little tree, even when the normally-optimistic Linus isn’t sure it’s a good idea. Charlie Brown’s heart is stirred. He sees something in the tree worth saving, worth investing in. How do the others respond when Charlie Brown brings back the little tree? This almost causes him to lose hope, until Linus recites the Christmas story. This is a powerful reminder that, just as we have our own hopes, so does everyone else. We must be kind in treating one another’s often-fragile hopes with care.
• After Linus recites the Christmas story, we see Charlie Brown’s hope once again restored. However, at one point it might seem like all hope is lost, not just for the tree, but for Charlie Brown feeling fulfilled. But his act of hope inspired all the others.
Prayer: Loving God, We have you, And there is hope. We have each other, And there is hope. We wait for Jesus, With confident expectation, And there is hope. Amen.
