Jennifer Lambert

A Sacred Balance

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Celebrating Epiphany

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Three Kings Day or Epiphany or Twelfth Night on January 6 celebrates three events:

  1. the arrival of the Magi, or Three Wise Men, or Three Kings, in Bethlehem to see the child Jesus
  2. the baptism of Jesus
  3. Jesus’ first miracle.

In Germany and other places in Europe, chalk is used to write the initials of the three magi over the doors of churches and homes.

The letters stand for the initials of the Magi (traditionally named Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar).

Also the phrase Christus mansionem benedicat, which translates as

“May Christ bless the house.”

In Spain, there are processions of the Three Kings through city main streets and big festivals.

In France, they eat lovely almond cake. And in New Orleans, it’s King Cake!

Read more about the extensive world traditions of Epiphany.

We were so happy to finally visit Köln/Cologne to see The Shrine of the Three Kings before we moved back to the States. It’s a beautiful cathedral.

I love this image so much from an old holiday card that I saved it:

We learn about frankincense and myrrh as we read books about the Magi.

I have our family nativity scene displayed through January 6, and have the magi travel throughout the living room until they reach the Holy Family.

May Christ Bless This House

And Yours.

Celebrating Epiphany

  • Make a King Cake or Galette des Rois
  • Read about Daniel (precursor to the Magi?)
  • Watch The Star (for little ones)
  • Watch The Star of Bethlehem (for older)
  • Put on a funny skit or play
  • Crafts
  • Read books about the Magi
  • Visit, make, or learn about the Nativity scene
  • Listen to Bach
  • Sing carols about the Wise Men (I love We Three Kings of Orient Are)

Activities:

Books:


Linking up: Create with Joy, Maryandering Creatively, Our Holiday Journey, Jessi’s Design, Our Three Peas, Gingersnap Crafts, LouLou Girls, April Harris, My Pinventures, Uncommon Suburbia, Inspo for Moms, My Life Abundant, Sarah Frazer, Abounding Grace, Purposeful Faith, Heartsie Girl, Mommynificent, Debbie Kitterman, Penny’s Passion, Rachel Marie Lee, CKK, TFT, Life Beyond the Kitchen, Being a Wordsmith, Easy Peasy Pleasy, Blended Blog, Simply Sweet Home, Susan Mead, Momfessionals, Firemans Wife, CWJ, Counting My Blessings, Bright on a Budget, Lyli Dunbar, Crystal Waddell, Anna Nuttall, Answer is Choco, Creative K Kids, Coffee With Us3, Our Mini Family,

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Epiphany: Grapevine Studies in a Classroom

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I love using Grapevine Studies in our home as part of our homeschool curriculum and personal Bible study.

I was recently asked to lead the children’s program during our new Wednesday family nights at church. I immediately thought that I could incorporate stick figuring through the Bible! I contacted Dianna and received her blessing. I do love her!

 For our first lesson, I chose to teach on the Three Kings, or Magi. Epiphany had just been last Sunday and I thought this would be a fun topic. The adults “de-greened” the church (took down all the holiday decorations) while I kept the kids occupied.

I began with a story about the “other” wise man that follows a lost fourth Magi through the crucifixion of Christ. It is so beautifully written and illustrated and I got all choked up in front of the kids!

I showed the kids pictures of the gifts the Magi brought baby Jesus. I brought some frankincense essential oil to let the kids apply to their wrists. They thought that was the coolest thing ever.

I divided the white board in the classroom into 4 quadrants and taught the lesson from the Bible and Grapevine Studies text. The kids weren’t sure about it all at first.

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I had the kids at two tables. I taught students ranging from age 3 to 10. The three older girls were “helpers.”

One table ended up being almost all girls. I had one helper at this table. Katie and Tori knew what to do!

The three older girls were primarily in my classroom as “helpers.” They sheepishly asked me for pages to do while I taught the lesson. I think that is the perfect testimony to how great Grapevine Studies are! The big kids wanted in on the fun too!

The other table got the boys and two helpers.

Those boys really enjoyed drawing their stick figures. I know this was a new concept for them. That’s my Bubba there with his new Traceable page too!

Katie modeled what to do with her Traceable page. She loves this new concept! It helps her focus.

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I gave the boys different pages according to their ages and abilities. One Traceable and one regular page.

For this lesson, the Traceable page only has two scenes whereas the older kids had four scenes on their pages.

I handed out some take home Bible verse pages about the Wise Men. After the lesson, we did this really fun 3 Kings paper chain craft. I prepped it all by tracing them out and all the cutting. The kids just colored them. It saved time and was still fun. Most didn’t even finish and had to take them home to complete them.

I’m pretty excited about using Grapevine Studies to teach the Bible to these kids every Wednesday night! I can’t wait to gather materials for my weekly themes.


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