You, along with many people, were likely born in a hospital where nurses and doctors took care of your mom and you. The location was clean and safe but probably not super fancy. Think about a king whose birth and life is very different from yours. A king would be born somewhere grand with all the best of everything. A king lives in a fancy castle and has lots of money. A king is the most important person in all the land and is in charge of everyone who lives in the kingdom.
When Mary gave birth to Jesus, there wasn’t a nice place to stay in crowded Bethlehem. Instead, they were offered a place where animals lived, probably a dirty and stinky place. The bed where Mary laid Jesus was normally used for animals’ food. As for riches, His family didn’t have much, and they lived very humbly. Nothing about Jesus’ life was like a king’s should be, but this was part of God’s plan. Jesus came to establish a different kind of kingdom, an upside-down kingdom, where He would spend time with people no one else would, serve others instead of being served, and create a kingdom that would never end.
Play the Upside-Down Cup Game. You’ll need about a dozen plastic cups and a timer to play. Divide into two teams. If your family is small, you could invite others to join you. Put the plastic cups in the middle of the room, half of them right-side up and half upside-down. Teams gather on opposite sides of the room. One team will be the upside-downers; the other will be the right-side uppers. Set the timer for 5 minutes. At the same time, the teams try to get as many cups as they can to match the direction of their team’s name. When the timer goes off, the team with the most cups in the right direction wins.
