Christmas in England
Countries all around the world celebrate Christmas—but they don’t always know what it’s about.

Christmas is a birthday celebration
When it’s your birthday, does your family do anything special? We celebrate Christmas as a special time because Jesus came down to earth to rescue us. 

But what did we need to be rescued from? Well, because we are all sinners and have broken God’s law, we should go to Hell when we die. We aren’t good enough to go to Heaven ourselves.

But Jesus came to earth. He lived a perfect life without sin and then died on the cross to pay for our sins, taking our punishment. He did this so that if we trust in Him, He will be our Friend here on earth and take us to Heaven to be with Him when we die.

Jesus is the very best gift we could ever receive! We made the holiday of Christmas to celebrate His birth. We sing, put up lights, and give each other presents to remind us of the greatest present we’ve been given.

But what’s sad is that in some parts of the world, like England, people don’t understand what Christmas is. They don’t realize that Jesus is a present for us!

Why do we celebrate Christmas?
What is your favorite part of Christmas?
What does your family do for Christmas that reminds you of Jesus?

What is Christmas like in England?
There are many churches in England, and a lot of people go to church and sing carols at Christmas time—even if they don’t normally go to church. There are lights and Christmas trees and pretty decorations. There are also nativity plays in schools where kids act out the Christmas story that we read in the Bible.

Kids in England get to do a fun craft called Christingle for Christmas. They take an orange and decorate it, and each item means something. 

The orange represents the world. They wrap a red ribbon around it to symbolize Jesus’ blood that was shed for us so that anyone who wants to be saved and follow Jesus can. 

Next, they decorate the orange with cloves. Cloves are a kind of spice, and they represent the spices that were wrapped around Jesus’ body after He died on the cross. 

Then the kids take toothpicks to stick in each side of the orange, and they put sweet things on them, like marshmallows and raisins. These show us that God wants us to enjoy and take pleasure in His creation. They remind us that we have a God who loves us and wants good things for us. 

For the last step, they put a candle in the middle, and the candle represents Jesus, the light of the world.

But most people in England don’t understand what any of this means. They don’t realize that Christmas celebrations are about Jesus’ birth. They don’t think about the words they are singing. They don’t realize who Jesus is and what He has done for them.

Why do kids in England decorate oranges for Christmas?
Do people in England know who Jesus is?
If you met someone from England, what would you tell them about Christmas?

How should we pray for England at Christmas time?
Since a lot of people in England don’t know who Jesus is, their Christmas celebrations are empty. Many of them feel sad and disappointed and sometimes even scared because they don’t know what is going to happen next in the world, and they don’t have Jesus as a friend to comfort them.

Pray that the people in England will see Jesus in their crafts and songs and decorations. Pray that God will open their eyes to realize what Christmas is really about. Pray that they can meet Jesus and be rescued so they can have peace and joy.

How should we pray for England?
What is your prayer for the people in England today?