Meeting the Christmas Characters	10-16-00 dcp
     5 p.m. Family Christmas Eve - First Act

Premise:  Once the children are invited forward, they will personally meet the major characters of the Christmas story.  Perhaps each character could walk down the center aisle and into the chancel when it is their turn.  The song following the appearance of each character allows them to exit.  I envision a conversation between me and the character(s) that is informal -- and children might jump in and ask questions, too!  I’ll need to tell the children about “pretend characters” because many of the little ones will believe the characters are real.

Costumes are essential to this so that the characters are as realistic as possible.  The logistic of having a “path” for the characters to make their way through the children to get to the altar level platform needs to be determined.

Characters needed:	Mary				Baby Jesus
			Joseph				Inn Keeper (perhaps)
			Angel				Magi - three
			Shepherds - a bunch

Prelude
Hymn   “Oh, Come, All Ye Faithful”   (LBW 45 - 1,3)
Combined Children’s Choirs
Invite all children to come to the front
Hymn   “Oh Come, Little Children”   (source?)

Meeting Mary   -   Luke 1:26-56
	A very pregnant Mary
	Mary will have a chance to tell about being visited by an angel and what she was told,
 	her visit to Elizabeth and how Elizabeth’s baby jumped for joy in the womb, and how she
 	didn’t understand everything that was happening to her, she still trusted God.
	
Hymn    “What Child Is This?”   (LBW 40 - 1)

Meeting Joseph   -   Matthew 1:18-25
	Joseph can tell about how troubled he was that the woman he was going to marry was
 	already pregnant by someone else.  He can tell of the angel’s visit while he dreamed, how
 	he wasn’t to worry because the child was from the Holy Spirit, and how he was to name
 	the baby “Jesus.”

Hymn    “O Little Town of Bethlehem”   (LBW 41 - 1,2)

Meeting the Angel   -   Luke 1:26-38
	The angel can tell about visiting Mary and Joseph and the Shepherds.  The angel can say
 	that it is his/her(?) job to be a messenger for God.  For each, the angel had a message.

Hymn    “Angels We Have Heard on High”   (LBW 71 - 1)
Meeting the Shepherds   -   Luke 2:8-20
	We can have numerous shepherds(they can come forward down all three aisles).  They
 	should look a little scruffy.
	The shepherds can tell how they were minding their own business in the middle of the
 	night, when a bright, shining angel surprised them. The angel told them the good news of
 	the Lord’s birth and that they could find the child wrapped in cloth and lying in a
 	manger.  Then there were “tons” of angels singing praises to God!  They then talked it
 	over and decided to go and find the baby.  And they find Mary and Joseph and the child. 
 	They were so excited that they blabbed the news to everyone, and they thanked and
 	praised God.  (I wonder if Christensons will be lambing yet?!)

Hymn    “The First Noel”   (LBW 56 - 1)

Meeting Mary and Joseph and the Baby Jesus   -   Luke 2:1-7
	We could really use a live baby!
	Mary and Joseph can together tell of going to Bethlehem and discovering that there was
 	no place they could stay (maybe walk over to the sacristy door, knock, and have an
 	innkeeper say that there is no room).  They can talk about how cold it is so that they had
 	to wrap the baby in bands of cloth to keep him warm.  They had no crib, so they used a
	cattle feeder, a manger.  And they can tell about the scruffy shepherds who visited.

Hymn   “Away in a Manger”   (LBW 67 - 1,2)

Meeting the Magi   -   Matthew 2:1-12
	Although we do not know how many magi there were, tradition indicates three because
 	three gifts are mentioned.  The magi can tell how they followed a star, how Herod tried to
 	trick them, how they gave gifts from their treasure chests to the new “king.”  Perhaps we
 	can find some gold (fools gold), frankincense, and myrrh so that the magi can show the
 	children (frankincense is a fragrant gum resin in small white chunks and was burned as
 	incense; myrrh is another fragrant substance from plants which was found in both solid
 	and liquid form - it was often mixed in oil for anointing, but was most often considered a
 	perfume). 

Hymn    “We Three Kings”    (WOV 646 - 1)

Give Ornaments to Children

Children return to their seats
Hymn    “Your Little Ones, Dear Lord”   (LBW 52 - 1,2,3)
Reading of the Christmas Story - Luke 2:1-20
Offering   (No processional forward with offering plates; usher keep them in narthex)
	Anthem or Solo - “Breath of Heaven”
Prayer & Lord’s Prayer
Silent Night
Benediction
Hymn   “Joy to the World”    (LBW 39 - 1,4)
Questions for the Biblical Characters
Mary (Luke 1:26-56)
--	Mary, you’ve got a pretty big tummy.  What’s going on?
	   (I’m pregnant.  I’m going to have a baby pretty soon.)
--	Who is your husband?
	   (I don’t have a husband.  I’m going to marry Joseph, but he’s not the father of my baby.)
--	Who is the daddy of your baby?
	   (This will be hard to believe and understand, but the daddy is God.)
--	How do you know this?
	   (An angel came to me.)
--	What did the angel tell you?
	   (The angel told me that I was going to have a very special baby.  It would be a boy named Jesus and he
 	    would be the Savior of all humankind.)
--	Did you just sit around waiting to have a the baby?
	   (No, I went and visited my cousin, Elizabeth.)
--	Tell us about your visit with Elizabeth.
	   (She was pregnant, too.  And when I approached her, the baby in her tummy jumped for joy right inside of
 	    her stomach.  Her baby must have recognized my baby as the Savior and jumped around because he was so
 	    happy!)
--	Wow, that’s amazing!  Were you ever scared?  I mean, you’re going to have a baby and
	   you aren’t married; and, an angel came and talked with you.
	   (No, I wasn’t scared because the angel told me not to be afraid.  I just trusted that what God told me through
 	    the angel would be true.)

Joseph   (Matthew 1:18-25)
--	Who are you?
	   (I’m Joseph, the carpenter from Nazareth.)
--	Oh yes.  We just talked with Mary.  She told us that the two of you are going to get
	    married.
	    (Yes, but for a while I wasn’t going to go through with the wedding.)
--	Why not?
	    (Because she is going to have a baby, and I am not the father.  It is very embarrassing.  I thought that
 	     perhaps I should just break up with her and go my own way)
--	Apparently you have changed your mind.  How come?
	   (Because an angel appeared to me in a dream.
--	You, too?   One also appeared to Mary.  What did the angel tell you?
	   (The angel told me to go ahead and take Mary as my wife because the child was of the Holy Spirit and
 	    would be the Son of God.  We are to name the baby, Jesus.)
--	Do you like the name, Jesus?
	   (Oh yes, very much.  In our language, Jesus, or Jeshua, means “he who saves.”  It is a wonderful name
 	    because one day Jesus will save us from our sins.)
--	So what did you do after you heard the angel in your dream?
	   (I did as God commanded.  I took Mary as my wife, and we are going to have a baby.)

Angel    (Luke 1:26-38)
--	Are you an angel?
	   (I sure am.)
--	Are you the same angel who spoke first to Mary and then to Joseph?
	   (Yes I am.  My name is Gabriel.)
--	Have I got a lot of questions for you!  Can you fly?
	   (I can do anything I want, go anywhere I want, be anywhere I want.  Silly, I am an angel, after all.)
--	Wow, do you spend much time with God?
	    (Yes, I spend most of my time with God.  I like to sing praises to God and to worship
	     him.  I also like going on errands for God.)
--	What do you mean?
	    (Well, I’m a messenger for God.  That’s what I do--I speak God’s word to others.  Like Mary and Joseph: I
   	    visited each of them and gave them news from God.  And were they ever surprised when they found out that
 	    Mary was going to have a baby!  In heaven, we’ve been waiting for this special baby for a very long time. 
 	    Finally, he will soon be born and he will be the Savior of all.)
--	Have you visited anyone else lately?
	   (Besides you, I recently talked with some shepherds in the fields outside of Bethlehem.  They are the first
 	    ones to hear that Jesus has been born.  And now I’m giving that news to you: “For to you this day has been
 	    born in the city of Bethlehem, an child who is Christ the Lord.”   Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got other
 	    angel work to do.  I need to let others know that Jesus has been born.)

Shepherds      (Luke 2:8-20)
--	I think I know who you guys are.
	   (In scattered voices:   Shepherd; we’re shepherds.)
--	That’s what I thought.  Perhaps you should have left your sheep out in the field!  What
 	   are you doing tonight?
	   (We’re just going back to our pastures.  We have just seen the Jesus, the Savior.)
--	You’ve seen him?  How did you know?  Where did you find him?
	   (Yes, we have seen Jesus.  He’s just a baby, but he is the Savior.  We were out in the fields during the night,
 	    minding our own business, when a bright, shining  angel appeared to us.  The angel told us that Jesus had
 	    been born.)
--	You got to see an angel too?
	   (Not just one but lots and lots and lots of them.  They were everywhere!)
--	What were they doing?
	   (The angels were all singing praises and songs to the newborn Savior.)
--	What did you do?
	   (We just stood there and watched and listened until they went away.  And then we decided that we’d go and
   	    find Jesus.  And we did.  He’s just a little fella, you know.  We found him in a barn where they keep cattle
 	    and sheep.  Not a very good place for a baby.  Not a very good place for the Savior.   . . . .    Say, we’ve got
 	    to be getting back to our flocks before they scatter too far.)
Mary, Joseph, Baby    (Luke 2:1-7)
--	Look, children . . . it’s a man and a woman with a baby!  Who do you suppose it is?
	   (Children identify the holy family.)
--	You are Mary and Joseph, aren’t you?  Don’t you live in Nazareth?
	   (J: Yes, but we had to go to Bethlehem because the Romans were counting everyone and because I am of the
 	         house of David, we needed to go to Bethlehem for the census.)
	   (M: Yes, and it was a very hard journey because I was about to have a baby.)
--	What did you do when you got to Bethlehem?
	   (J: Unfortunately, there were lots of other travelers and we had trouble finding some place to stay.  I went to
 	         a motel.  Watch what happened [Joseph goes to a door and knocks]  
	     Innkeeper: Can I help you?
	     J: We’re from out of town and need a place to stay for the night.
	     Innkeeper: I’m sorry, my inn is full; there is no room for you here. [Joseph returns to Mary’s side.]
--	What did you do?
	     (M: We found a barn.  It wasn’t very nice because it was smelly and dirty, but at least we weren’t out in the
 	     cold.  It was there I had the baby.  Here, have a look.  We named him Jesus because that’s what the angel
 	     told us to do.   You can see that I have wrapped Jesus in bands of cloth in order to keep him warm.  That
 	     night, we didn’t have a crib for Jesus, so we placed him in the hay of a cattle feeder, a manger.)
--	I’m sorry you had to spend the night with your new baby in a barn.
	   (M: It was OK because we had visitors who were very comfortable in barns.  A whole bunch of
 	          shepherds came to see Jesus.  They were so excited because they had seen a whole host of angels
 	           singing because they were happy Jesus was born.
	     J: This is all pretty exciting for us, too.  This is our first son and God said he will be special to all the people
	          of the world.
--	What are you going to do now?
	    (J: Well, we’re going to go back to the barn for now because we still haven’t been counted.  Who knows,
 	    maybe we’ll have more unexpected visitors.)

Magi    (Matthew 2:1-12)
--	I wonder if Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus had any more visitors?
	   Look, look at those men in fancy clothes!  Who are you?
	   (M1: We’re wise men from the East and we are looking for the newborn king.”
--	Wise men, huh?  Why are you called “wise?”
	   (M2:  Some call us wise men because we study the writings of all cultures and study the stars.  We have
 	              studied the writings of the Hebrews which tell of a king to be born in Bethlehem.)
--	How are you going to find the new king?
	   (M3:   There is a star in the sky and we’ve been following it for days.  It will lead us to the place where the
 	               new king has been born.”
--	What do you have in the treasure chests?
	     (M1: We brought the baby King some gifts.  Would you like to see? This is gold.  It is very, very valuable,
 	               Therefore it is fit for a king.
	       M2: And see here, I brought some frankincense.  See, it looks like little rocks, but it is actually resin from
 		special plants.  When you burn frankincense, it smells sweet.  And it is very, very expensive--a gift
 	   	worthy of a king.
	       M3:  And look what I’ve got.  This is called myrrh.   Like frankincense, it smells very sweet.  It can look
 		like frankincense, but it is also made into a liquid like this.  It is used as a perfume.  Because it is so
 		rare, it too is very costly.  It was a special gift that I have decided to give the baby King.)
--	Gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  Those are very nice presents for the Savior.
	      (M1: Yes, we are honored to present them to this special baby.
--	Well, before you go and visit King Jesus, I hope you can stay with us just a little longer?  
 	   Because while we sing, I’d like to have you help me give out gifts to the children who
 	   are here tonight.  Can you help?
	        (M1,2,3: You bet.  Sure we can.  etc.)