PRAYER / WORSHIP ACTIVITY
OPTION 1
10 mins
Before the session, gather together photographs of babies, toddlers, young children, teenagers and adults (from young adults up to senior citizens) from magazines or catalogues. Mix them up and place them around your meeting space. Ask everyone to wander around them, studying the pictures. Encourage them to talk to each other about the different people shown and what they imagine their lives to be like. Do any pictures remind them of people they know or perhaps themselves? Ask everyone to choose a picture and to take it back to their seat. Lead prayers of thanks for people of different ages within your church or community and allow a moment of quiet for private prayer for anyone in need.
OPTION 2
15 mins
Along the top of a long roll of old wallpaper or lining paper, write ‘Christmas Memories’. Provide crayons and felt-tip pens, and invite everyone (in silence) to write or draw pictures of their happiest or funniest Christmas memories. Afterwards, see whether the various memories have anything in common?. Do they say anything about the importance of relationships over material possessions? If it’s a present, what do we do with a present? What simple gifts can we give that cannot be wrapped (for example, our company, our help, a hug, making up a game)? Say a prayer of thanks that God’s gift to us, his son Jesus, was born in humble surroundings and came to be a friend to each one of us.
STORY
10 mins
You are going to create five freeze-frames or stills from the nativity story: the angel Gabriel greeting Mary; Mary and Joseph with baby Jesus lying in the manger; the angel appearing to the shepherds; the three wise men travelling; and Simeon and Anna at the temple watching the holy family approach. These stills can be quickly practised in advance with helpers. Use pictures on Christmas cards or famous paintings on the Internet for inspiration. You will need a baby doll and a box for the manger, and you may wish to add a few extra items to indicate who the characters are. These stills might be staged around your meeting space or separately at the front. Alternatively, project pictures of these scenes on to a screen.
Before the service, think how people of different ages and in different circumstances may be feeling about Christmas this year (for example, excited, daunted, stressed, lonely, impatient). How might the feelings of each of the nativity characters reflect these? If possible, give everyone at the service a gift tag and pen.
Then tell the story:
I wonder how everyone is feeling about Christmas this year. Perhaps that depends upon how many times we have experienced it! Who has experienced it fewer than ten times? Who has experienced it a lot more? Some people say that Christmas is a time for children. Do you think that is true? (Ask everyone to write one word on the gift tag that expresses how they are feeling about the approaching festivities. It will probably be the first word they think of. Allow a moment or two for this.) Although the first Christmas took place more than 2,000 years ago, each of the characters involved experienced the same emotions we do today. Perhaps some of those emotions will speak to us as we approach Christmas. Let’s start with Mary.
The angel greeting Mary:
Mary lived in Nazareth and was probably about 14 years old. The angel’s message begins with the words, ‘Don’t be afraid, Mary.’ (It is a personal greeting.) But he then goes on to ask her to be the mother of Jesus! How might she have felt about that? Mary asks a practical question. ‘How can this happen?’ The angel reassures her that nothing is impossible for God. On hearing this answer, Mary accepts her role humbly and willingly before joyfully praising God for the part she has been chosen to play. You could ask for suggestions as to how Mary in the still/ freeze frame could change her position to display joy. What about Joseph?
Mary and Joseph with Jesus in the manger:
Here he is watching over Mary and her new baby. An angel also visited Joseph and told him to not to be afraid, but to marry Mary. How must he have felt to be asked to take care of, not just someone else’s son, but God’s own Son? No words of Joseph are reported in the Bible. He just seems to get on quietly with the right thing. Perhaps his actions speak louder than words. What does he do to support Mary and to protect his new family? (He believes in Mary, takes care of her on the 70-mile journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem for the census, he finds shelter for them in crowded Bethlehem, he protects his family from King Herod by taking them to Egypt and then, after Herod’s death, back to Nazareth. Over the years, he brings Jesus up as if he were his own son.) Can anyone suggest how Joseph might change his position in the still/ freeze frame to reflect his caring role (for example, by putting his arm around Mary)? Meanwhile, out in the fields…
The angel appearing to the shepherds:
Here are the tough, hardworking shepherds sitting around the fire, eating their bread and cheese. Perhaps they are telling each other stories to keep themselves awake so that they can keep an eye out for any wild animals that might attack their sheep. They lead a lonely life, in the fields on the edges of the town. Up on the hill, a few lights shine in the town of Bethlehem. Stars twinkle in the inky blue sky. It’s a night like any other. Or is it? Suddenly, the angel appears to them. How do these tough men feel? Terrified! Once again, the angel says: ‘Do not be afraid! I am here with good news for you, which will bring great joy to all the people. This very day your Saviour was born – Christ the Lord!’ The shepherds left their work and hurried to the manger. They understand the significance of this tiny baby and come away singing praises to God. How could the shepherds in the still/ freeze frame change their positions to show their thankfulness? Sometime later…
Mary (carrying baby Jesus), Joseph, Simeon and Anna:
Jesus was probably about six weeks old when Mary and Joseph took him to the temple in Jerusalem. We don’t know how old Simeon was, but Anna was 84 years old and a widow. Simeon has been waiting to see the promised Messiah, perhaps like some of us who are longing for Christmas to arrive! God has told Simeon to go to the temple this day. What does he do? He takes the baby in his arms with much joy and thanksgiving. (Ask Simeon in the still/ freeze frame to take the baby into his arms.) God makes sure that Anna is also in the temple at exactly the right moment. She too thanks God and tells everyone about her exciting encounter with the baby.
The wise men:
Here are three learned men, probably from Arabia, Mesopotamia or Persia. They are scientists who study the positions of the stars and who have wondered at a particularly bright star shining in the eastern sky. They have heard tales of a king who would be sent by God and they decide that the star heralds the birth of this promised king. They set off with real purpose on a journey of discovery. This involves them asking other people questions. ‘Where is the baby born to be the king of the Jews?’ They persevere in following the star all the way to Bethlehem, coming closer and closer to Jesus, until the star stops over a house where they find him with his mother. What do they do when they find the one they are looking for? (Ask the wise men in the still/ freeze frame to kneel and offer their gifts.)
REFLECTIVE RESPONSE TO THE STORY
OPTION 1
5 mins
Since the gift of Christmas is for each one of us, invite everyone to write their own names on the gift tags. Encourage them to think whose story in the stills they liked the most and why.
OPTION 2
5 mins
Say the following prayer, allowing a pause between each line for thinking:
Thank you, God, for Mary. Help us to have a willing attitude this Christmas. Thank you for Joseph. Help us to serve others with kind and thoughtful actions. Thank you for the shepherds. May the true meaning of Christmas fill our hearts with joy.
Thank you for the wise men. Bring alive our sense of wonder.
Thank you for the gift of Christmas to each one of us here. May we welcome Jesus into our lives with open arms, just as Simeon did. Amen.
GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
10 mins
Divide into mixed-age groups and ask the group these questions
- Who do you think feels afraid in this story? How do they overcome this?
- Who is the Christmas gift? How can a person be a gift?
- Why do you think Jesus was born in such a simple place?
- What is Christmas really all about?
Vicki Howie is a storyteller, speaker and the author of resource books, mainly for BRF.
