For years I have wanted to create a little parent discussion guide for those of us who are reading through Luke with our kids during the Christmas season. And then the Christmas season happens and I get totally overwhelmed with just normal life. So this year I am going to try to get this in your hands and we’ll see how it goes.
First, a preface:
I am not a Bible scholar. I’m a mom who has grown up in the church, went to a Christian college, took lots of great Bible classes and has continued to be involved in leading and participating in Bible studies throughout my adult life. I recognize that is not everybody’s experience and sometimes reading the Bible with your kids might feel intimidating. In hopes of helping take some of that intimidation out of it, I’m going to walk you through an approximation of what I’m doing with my kids. If you are looking for advanced degrees in Biblical theology and a bunch of references to the original Greek, that won’t be here. But I fully support you looking for that information! There are lots of great advent devotionals out there. This is one way of doing it, but it’s not the only way.
I also need to acknowledge that I bring my own filter to the process of reading through Luke. You’ll see that in the questions I discuss with my kids throughout. We are a multiracial family formed through adoption and surprise pregnancies after an infertility experience. Those themes will come up and we address them. Your family may have different issues that feel relevant that you’ll want to have discussion about. Go for it! But I am going to include those issues that are especially relevant for my family in the content and questions I’m providing because I know there are other families like mine, and I also think it’s great for all families to be thinking through these issues.
So here we go!
Before you start each night, think about the environment you’re creating for this experience. Check your heart. Lower your expectations.
I like to ask the kids a couple questions before we even start the chapter. You can tailor these questions to the age and background knowledge your kids have. Here are some examples.
Questions before you read Luke 1:
Do you know why the book is called Luke?
Who was Luke?
How do you think Luke’s perspective might be unique as a doctor and a non-Jew?
(If this isn’t information you know off the top of your head WELCOME TO THE CLUB. Your Bible might have this information on the page before the book of Luke, the Bible app you use likely has this info, or you can find it here.)
I ask my kids to listen for this information while we’re reading and I’ll ask about it after we’re done:
Who is Luke writing to?
What is the first thing the angel says to Zechariah?
What is the name of the angel who appeared to Zechariah?
What is the name of the angel who appeared to Mary?
How long will the Kingdom of Jesus last?
(Asking them to look for the information before you start reading is super helpful in keeping little learners engaged. They tend to listen pretty hard when they’re listening for something specific. I might even write the questions out so they can hold them and look for the information while we read. I will assign these questions to my youngest kids and target the longer discussion questions to my older kids. If my younger kids need to go to bed while we’re deep in discussion, they still had a chance to participate.)
Questions after you’ve read Luke 1:
Were Zechariah and Elizabeth unable to have children because they did something wrong?
Why was Zechariah able to go into the temple and burn incense, but the rest of the people had to wait outside?
The angel tells Zechariah that his prayer had been heard. Do you think Zechariah was still expecting God to answer his prayer? How do we respond when God doesn’t answer our prayers in the way we think he should or in our timeline?
Luke describes Zechariah and Elizabeth as righteous and blameless, but Zechariah still struggled to believe what the angel was saying. Do people who love God always have an easy time trusting him?
Why would Elizabeth say God has now taken away her “disgrace” among the people? Why might infertility feel like “disgrace” in their culture or ours?
What does it mean to be a virgin? Why would that be important to know about Mary?
How would you feel if an angel suddenly appeared to you?
How does Mary respond to what the angel told her? How do you think you would have responded?
Why do you think it mattered what they named Jesus and John? How does your name impact you or tell a story about you?
What is a favorite attribute of God you see highlighted in either Mary’s song or Zechariah’s prophecy?
Was there anything else that stuck out to you or surprised you?
(We might get through all of these questions, or just focus on one or two, depending on how deep the discussion is getting. And some nights, we might listen to the chapter in the car and not have a chance for a great discussion at all. Be flexible.)