The Christ Child by Adam Miller is a short but impactful read that will make your holiday season more magical and more Christ-centered.
The book is a Christmas meditation that examines the scriptural accounts of Jesus’s birth and the characteristics of children, inviting us to consider how we can become more like them during the holiday season and throughout the year.
Keep scrolling to find some of our favorite quotes from the book and discussion questions. Ponder the questions on your own or join the Magnify book club to discuss with others! Join discussions online for the next few weeks @magnifycommunity.
Then, wrap up your read with the Magnify Zoom book club gathering hosted by Melinda Brown on Thursday, December 5, 2024, at 7 p.m. MST. Register here!
Favorite Quotes and Discussion Questions
“The kingdom of God is hidden in plain sight. To see it, I just have to see the world as Christ sees it. I have to see the world through his childlike eyes, through the eyes of the Son.” (p.9)
- Perhaps Christmas is the easiest time to feel childlike wonder. We often talk about keeping this feeling alive throughout the year, but how do we actually do this in practice?
- What keeps us from feeling this kind of awe about our relationship with Christ?
- How can we remember to be as a little child, to always have that kind of faith?
“Every true act of repentance is, at least in part, a childlike act of imagination.” (p.49)
- One theme of the book is becoming like little children, being born again. We take the sacrament every week to be born again through Christ’s Atonement. Is it easier to feel born again at Christmastime than other times of year? Why or why not?
“I have a Christmas photo, also from 1984, of what counts in my family as an exotic and legendary gift.” Reread the passage where Adam’s dad gives his mom a horse for Christmas. (pgs. 68-69)
- Describe a special gift you received at Christmas, or at another time.
- What made that gift so memorable?
- How does that particular gift make Christmas more meaningful to you now?
- What about the gift points you to Christ?
“Everyone is smiling. Everyone is playing. Everyone is imagining they were there when God was born.” (p.36)
- Did you ever participate in a nativity story dress up/pageant? Who did you want to be? Who did you actually have to be?
- Which of the people in the Nativity story do you want to be more like now?
“For thousands of years now, we’ve been pretending to be wise men. We’ve assigned the parts, dressed up in costumes, and acted out the stories. We’ve imagined we were shepherds and kings.” (p.45)
- As you learn about the wise men from the book, what surprised you?
- We profess to know a lot about the various people who show up in the Christmas story, but we know quite little. If you could go back in time, who would you talk with to know their story better? Why? What would you ask first?
- If you only had an hour to be with them in their story, what hour would you choose to walk by their side?
“Like Christ, children are quick to love, quick to trust, quick to forgive, quick to embrace. They’re built for empathy. They feel what others feel. They cry when we cry. They smile when we smile. They laugh when we laugh. All their windows are open and all their doors unlocked.
This is atonement: in the garden and on the cross, Christ feels everything we feel.” (p.56)
- How could thinking like a child improve your outlook on life right now?
- How could it increase your faith?
- How could it strengthen your relationships?
- How could it change your life?
“Awe, like love, is often difficult and inconvenient. ... If you think you can find God without living in awe— without worship—good luck. Filled with awe, the whole world—including you—is born again. Everything is seen (again) for the first time. Everything is new.” (p.25)
- What brings you a sense of wonder and awe during this time of year?
- What reminds you to look at the world in wonder and awe daily?
- How can we push past the difficulty and live with a sense of wonder and awe?
- How do we keep our minds flexible and imaginations strong?
To download this Magnify Book Club Guide for The Christ Child as a PDF, click here.
