Christmas

Video Workshop

Summary of Lesson Activities:

Hear the birth narrative from the perspective of the Peanuts characters in the video, A Charlie Brown Christmas, and remember that Christmas is about the birth of the Savior, who came as a gift of God’s love to us.

For scripture and objectives- see above.

Leader Preparation:

• Read the scripture for this lesson.
• Read and reflect on the overview material provided for this lesson.
• Preview the video and have it cued to the correct starting place.
• Gather the materials.

Supplies List:

• The video A Charlie Brown Christmas
• The TV/DVD will have been reserved for your workshop
• Snack items: goldfish crackers, paper cups, napkins, water pitcher
• Bibles (for 3rd grade); a Bible bookmarked to Luke 2:11
• Story Bible for 1st and 2nd grade – Children’s Picture Bible, pp.176-179

Before Start of Class:

1. In the kitchen, fill a pitcher with ice and water. (Ice machine is under counter just to the left of door from hall. Pitchers are in cabinet above this counter.)
2. Prepare snack by pouring Goldfish crackers into cups. (Probably 1/2 full is good.)
3. Make sure you know how to use the TV/DVD, especially how to move by chapters and scanning forward within a chapter.
4. Cue the DVD to the MAIN MENU.
5. Make sure you select the English subtitles from the set up menu before playing the video. This will help you cue the different scenes you will be discussing.

Presentation

Opening- Welcome and Lesson Introduction:
Greet your students warmly, welcoming them to the video workshop. Introduce yourself and any other adults. Pass around a basket to collect any offering.
[Note: The Shepherd will quietly take attendance, etc. while you are starting your lesson.]

Say: Let’s begin with prayer. Ask for any prayer requests. Ask if anyone would like to lead the group in prayer. Be prepared to say a prayer yourself, working in prayer requests. Use the Lord’s Prayer as the ending. A suggestion: “Dear God, Thank for you for sending your Son, Jesus, to be our gift at Christmas. (End with the Lord’s Prayer) Amen.”

Dig- Main Content and Reflection:
Ask: What do you think people mean when they talk about the true meaning of Christmas? (allow all answers)

Say: In the video we will watch today, the main character is searching for the true meaning of Christmas. First, let’s try to paraphrase (retell) the story of Jesus’ birth.

(Help the children make a quick outline of the story – see overview materials).

Say: Now we’ll read a retelling of this story from a children’s Bible – this version comes from the Bible in the book of Luke.
Ask: Where in the Bible we can find Luke? (New Testament)
Luke is one of the Gospels – what does the word Gospel mean? (good news)
What good news is this story from Luke telling us? (about the birth of Jesus – that he was sent to us to be the Messiah, or Savior, of all people)

Read pp.176-179 from the Children’s Bible.

Ask the children the following questions:

• What was the stable like where Jesus was born? (dirty, smelly, full of hay)
• What was Jesus’ first bed? (a manger)
• When the angel appeared to the shepherds, what did the angel call Jesus? (the Savior, God’s promised king. Another name is Messiah)
• Why do you think Jesus, the promised king, was born in such a lowly place? (answers vary; God promised a king of peace and love, not of gold and riches)

1st and 2nd graders:
Say: This is the key verse for this lesson (read Luke 2:11 from the Bible).

3rd graders:
Distribute Bibles.
Have everyone find Luke, chapter 2, verse 11.
Ask a student to read this verse. Point out that this is the key verse for this lesson.

For all students:
Say: In the video, we are going to meet a character, Charlie Brown, who is looking for the true meaning of Christmas – the key verse is very important in his search! He is going to be directing a play based on the story of Luke that we just read. As we watch the video, we’ll look and listen for these two things:

• Examples of what Christmas means to different characters
• The spot when one of the characters says our lesson’s key verse

Show the Video:
You will be discussing this video as the children watch it, so there are 7 different places that you will need to stop and start the video. Use the English subtitles for the dialogue cues. Total video running time is about 18-20 minutes (without discussion). Fast forwarding is only needed from scene 1 to 2 and scene 5 to 6; the others continually flow into each other with pauses for discussion.

Have the Shepherd distribute the snack.

Scene 1: Christmas time is here /1 minute, 30 sec.
Start: Beginning of the video
Pause: After Linus says, “ You’re the Charlie Browniest.”

Ask: Why do you think Charlie Brown is always depressed about Christmas? (point out that he is searching for the true meaning of Christmas, beyond trees and presents)

Scene 2: Holiday Letdown/2 minutes, 10sec.
Start: Fast forward to Charlie Brown sitting down at Lucy’s booth
Pause: After Lucy says, “ I’ll meet you at the auditorium.”

Point out that Lucy’s booth says Psychiatric Help – explain that she is offering a listening ear to problems.
Ask: Is Lucy really a doctor? (no, but it is funny that she has the sign on the booth) Charlie Brown says he doesn’t understand Christmas. What do you think he does not understand about Christmas? (that Christmas is a time of love & appreciating God’s gift of Jesus)

Ask: How does he feel about being director of the play? (very excited and happy that Lucy has asked him)

Scene 3: Holiday Letdown/1 minute, 40 sec.
Start: Hit play again
Pause: After Sally says, “All I want is my fair share!”

Ask: According to the decorating contest that Snoopy enters, what is the true meaning of Christmas? (having the best decorated home and winning prize money)
Do you agree with this?

Point out that “gone commercial” means Snoopy is wrapped up in the superficial part of Christmas – decorating, getting presents, shopping, decorated stores, etc.

Ask: Why is Charlie Brown so upset with Sally’s letter to Santa? (she seems to only want money and gifts for Christmas)
What does Christmas seem to mean to Sally? (all the presents that Santa will bring)

Scene 4: Director Charlie Brown/7 minutes, 30 sec.
Start: hit play again
Pause: After one of the girls says. “Do something right for a change, Charlie Brown!”

Ask: What is the play that the kids are going to perform? (the story of Jesus’ birth from the Gospel of Luke)
How do you know that? (the characters that Lucy hands out are an innkeeper, innkeeper’s wife, sheep, cow, and shepherd)
Why is Charlie Brown getting so frustrated with the kids? (they are not listening to him and they are dancing around all the time. They don’t seem to think the play is very important)

Scene 5: The Perfect Tree/1 minute, 20 sec.
Start: hit play again
Pause: After Charlie Brown picks up the tree and says, “Besides, I think it needs me.”

Ask: What does the tree that Charlie Brown picks out look like? (it is small, scrawny-looking)
How is that tree like the stable and the manger where Jesus was born? (it is not the biggest and best – very small and lowly and ordinary)

Scene 6: The Perfect Tree/2 minutes, 20 sec.
Start: Fast forward to Charlie Brown bringing the tree into the auditorium
Pause: After Linus says, “That is the true meaning of Christmas, Charlie Brown.”

Ask: What kinds of mean things are the kids saying to Charlie Brown? (he is stupid and never gets things right; he is undependable and hopeless)
Do you think they understand the true meaning of Christmas?
Why or why not?
What did you hear in this scene that is familiar? (the story from Luke & our key verse of Luke 2:11)

Scene 9: The Meaning of Christmas/3 minutes
Start: hit play again
Pause: end of video

Ask: Why do you think Charlie Brown is happy as he is going to decorate his tree? (he finally understands about God sending Jesus to us as a gift of love)
What happens to his tree when he tries to decorate it? (it falls down)
How do the kids finally show that they know the true meaning of Christmas? (they help decorate the tree for Charlie Brown)

Closing:
Point out the examples of the characters showing how they do and don’t understand the true meaning of Christmas:
Don’t Understand
Snoopy – decorates dog house for money
Sally – asks for lots of gifts and money for herself
Lucy and kids at the play – want a big fancy Christmas tree; call Charlie Brown lots of names
Do Understand
Linus – tells the story from Luke
Kids at the end of the video – help Charlie Brown with his tree

Have the kids repeat the key verse with you: (Luke 2:11)

Resources:

• A Charlie Brown Christmas. DVD. Copyright 1992, United Feature Syndicate. All rights reserved.
• Children’s Picture Bible. Retold by Carol Watson. Illustrated by Lucy Su &Mary Lonsdale. Copyright 1995. Quadrillion Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.

A lesson written by Debbie Houghton for First United Methodist Church

Ann Arbor, MI 

Copyright 2006 First United Methodist Church, Ann Arbor, MI. 
Permission to copy materials granted for non-commercial use provided credit is given and all cited references remain with this material 

If you use this material, even in a modified form, please include the following reference:
Houghton, Debbie. Lesson set posted at rotation.org:"Birth Narrative - Video Lesson." December 2006. Place URL where lesson found inside angle brackets<>.

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