Prayer tables for December classrooms.

There are so many options for Christmas-themed prayer tables that it would be hard to do a bad job with it.  Do a search for “Nativity” at my favorite art site, and you’ll find 163 options.  Even the generic term “infant” yields 124 options.  You could display Christmas card images on your table or simply use your nativity set.

I’d like to encourage you to move in a slightly different direction though.  Stick with more of an Advent theme for December and wait until next month for your Christmas prayer table.  The main theme of Advent is that we’re waiting – Jesus is not yet born and we are symbolically waiting with all of ancient Israel for the coming of the Messiah.

The perfect images for this time are those of the Annunciation and the Visitation.  We’re waiting.  (He’ll be here soon, but not yet!)

If you have a nativity set with a removable Christ child (separate from the manger bed), you could use the pieces that are relevant to this period of waiting – Joseph, Mary, and the empty bed.  As you’re reviewing the Christmas story with your students, refer to your nativity set and ask them why there are no shepherds, angel, or wise men yet and it becomes a great part of your lesson.

* For more information on the title of this post, refer to the bottom of the November post for an explanation.