• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
  • My Books
    • True You
    • Katharina and Martin Luther
    • 50 Women Every Christian Should Know
    • Spiritual Misfit
  • Blog
  • On My Bookshelves
  • Contact
  • Privacy & Disclosure Policy

Michelle DeRusha

Every Day Faith. Faith Every Day.

December 21, 2012 By Michelle 6 Comments

A Different Advent: Reading the Book of Luke

{Today I’m re-visiting a f post I wrote in 2010 for a series called “A Different Advent.” What’s cool is that two years later, we are still practicing  many of the ideas we experimented with as a family then — including the tradition I write about here today: reading through the Gospel of Luke at dinnertime.}

I laughed out loud a few weeks ago when my friend Dan recounted the first time he read the story of Jesus’ birth on Christmas Day. When his wife asked him to read the “Christmas Story,” as she referred to it, Dan was shocked to see a Bible placed in his lap. He’d assumed she’d meant ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.

I’m with Dan – this will be the first time in my 40 years that I have read the story of Jesus’ birth on Christmas Day…or even leading up to Christmas Day (aside from in church, of course).

Nearly every evening at suppertime this month we’ve read a few lines about the birth of Jesus in Luke or Matthew. It’s been a revelation for me to realize just how little I know about the details of that story. Just this week, for instance, I was surprised to read that Joseph, Mary and the infant Jesus escaped to Egypt for two years to avoid King Herod, who vowed to kill baby Jesus.

I know I’ve read that detail before, but the magnitude of it never stuck with me – that just days after birthing her first child, Mary had to travel nearly 200 miles to a foreign land. Can you imagine bumping along on the back of a donkey just days after giving birth? Can you imagine raising your newborn in a foreign country where you didn’t know a soul? Can you imagine the fear, the terror of having to dash from Bethlehem in the middle of the night because a crazed king was bent on murdering your child?

That’s the beauty of reading the Bible just a few lines at a time – you can soak in the details of the story.

Often when I do my morning Bible study, I feel compelled to rush through the text, to squeeze in as much reading as my limited time will allow. It seems I simply want to “get through” the Bible in order to check it off my daily to-do list.

But because we are following an Advent devotional book, our evening readings are much more concise. We read just a handful of lines, maybe a verse or two, and then ask questions and talk about the scene for a few minutes. I’m not exactly sure what this approach is having on my kids, but for me, at least, it’s allowed me to think about and remember the details of this age-old story.

I’m eager to read the “Christmas Story” in Luke on December 25 this year. After piecing the narrative together line by line this last month, I wonder how the story will read as a whole. I wonder how the kids will react to it.

I’m keeping my expectations low – after all, these are the kids who talked about dead racoons as part of our Advent devotions last week. But I do hope that we can breathe the true Christmas Story into our celebration on December 25 and be amazed, even if only for a moment or two, that he came to be with us.

Do you have any Advent traditions you follow from year to year? Have you tried anything new this year?

Hear It on Sunday, Use It on Monday: Carrying Jesus
When Advent's Not All Pretty and Perfect

Filed Under: A Different Advent, Bible, Bible study, God talk: talking to kids about God, Gospels, New Testament, parenting Tagged With: A Different Advent, Advent devotions, Bible study and kids, Gospel of Luke

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Mere says

    December 21, 2012 at 9:41 am

    When The Nativity Story movie came out I went to see it in the theater and have watched it a few times during Advent. It’s pretty well done and I like the music. It’s PG. The Herod slaughter scenes would be too much for the kids esp. this year so I would FF that part and maybe the part when the Roman soldiers come to collect taxes.

    http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/newline/thenativitystory/medium2.html

    Reply
    • michelle derusha says

      December 21, 2012 at 6:31 pm

      Thanks for the reconmendation, mere! Xxoo

      Reply
  2. David Rupert says

    December 21, 2012 at 10:58 am

    I have always read the Luke account on Christmas eve. My youngest son would ‘act out’ the nativity characters. “here comes the angels.” “Here comes the donkey.” “here comes the wise men.” last year, it was just me. I still acted out the characters!

    Reply
    • michelle derusha says

      December 21, 2012 at 6:28 pm

      I love that tradition, david!

      Reply
  3. Lenore Buth says

    December 21, 2012 at 1:06 pm

    You make a good point, how we can pat ourselves on the back because we read “more” of the Bible, but often take away less. When our four girls were growing up we had four Advent calendars going at once. Opening those windows was the morning ritual. As for family devotions, sorry to say we didn’t manage them every night–but often. Family life is like that, isn’t it?
    By the way, I love the honest way you write, but always with depth. Thanks. I know it’s not easy to be a mom and keep writing, but I know you bless a lot of lives.

    Reply
    • michelle derusha says

      December 21, 2012 at 6:30 pm

      Lenore, thank you so much for your kindness! It’s tricky sometimes this writing and mothering, but it’s such a good outlet and it helps me grow in my parenting and in my faith!

      Reply

Leave a Reply to michelle derusha Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Connect with me on social media

Living out faith in the everyday is no joke. If you’re anything like me, some days you feel full of confidence and hope, eager to proclaim God’s goodness and love to the world. Other days…not so much.

Let me say straight up: I wrestle with my faith. Most days I feel a little bit like Jacob, wrangling his blessing out of God. And most days I’m okay with that. I believe God made me a questioner and a wrestler for a reason, and I believe one of those reasons is so that I can connect more authentically with others.

Read Full Bio

Order My Brand-New Book!

Sign Up for My Monthly Newsletter (and get this free e-book)

Blog Post Archives

Footer

Join Me on Instagram

Follow on Instagram

Copyright © 2019 Michelle DeRusha · Site by The Willingham Enterprise· Log in

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.OkPrivacy policy