Come and Join the Celebration

Do we know what Christmas is all about?

(no text)

Props

A baby doll wrapped in a towel

A camera with flash

A present for the wise men to hold

A newspaper

Actors (15 children)

The photographer (me)

Mary and Joseph

3 cows

the inn keeper and his wife

5 shepherds

3 wise men

I want to begin by telling you a story. It's a story that some of the children may have seen already in their school assembly, ...and if they have I would like them to help me.

It's a story about a photographer, (what's a photographer?)

Now do we have any children from Sowe Valley, or St. Barts infants here?

(Ask other children to come out - 15 in all)

Set the scene

I'm going to play the part of the photographer, so what do I need? (A camera)

He works for a local newspaper.

The newspaper boss has heard that a very important baby has been born in the town, ...and he has been sent to get a photo.

He goes to the mayor's house...

He goes to the house of the bank manager...

He spends all morning looking for this baby, and eventually finds him in a cold and dirty stable.

Bring on the baby and his parents

"That's lovely, ...just stand here, ...my boss wants a nice picture of the baby, ...a bit closer together, ...look at the camera, ...smile, ...say cheese..."

...But he didn't take the picture.

"No, no, no, ...that just won't do. You look so ordinary. We need something to make the picture more interesting."

Bring on the cows

"People love photos with animals in."

"That's lovely, ...just stand here, ...a bit closer together, ...look at the camera, ...smile, ...say cheese..."

...But he didn't take the picture.

"No, no, no, ...that just won't do. This photo is for the local paper, but you three don't even live here, nobody knows you. We need some local people in this picture. Who's the owner of this stable?"

He goes off to find the inn-keeper.

Bring on the innkeeper and his wife

"That's better, a bit of local interest."

"That's lovely, ...just stand here, ...a bit closer together, ...look at the camera, ...smile, ...say cheese..."

...But he didn't take the picture.

He was just about to when there was a knock at the stable door, ...and in came a group of shepherds.

Bring on the shepherds

Tell their story about the angel.

"You saw an angel?" said the photographer, "Well we must have you in the photo too. I can just see the headline in tonight's paper. 'Humble shepherds hear holy heavenly host!'

"That's lovely, ...just stand here, ...a bit closer together, ...look at the camera, ...smile, ...say cheese..."

...But he didn't take the picture.

"No, no, no, ...that just won't do. Everyone looks so scruffy! The shepherds have been out in the fields all night, ...the cows need a good wash, ...and even mum and dad are in need of a good bath. We need something to brighten the place up, ...to add a bit of colour."

Just then there was another knock on the door. An in came three wise men, ...all dressed in lovely colourful robes.

Bring on the wise men

Tell there story about the star.

The photographer was only half listening. "So you've come from 'The Daily Star' have you. Well you can go right back, and tell your boss that 'The Bethlehem Post' has got the exclusive on this story!"

...but then he had a good idea. He saw their bright coloured robes and said, "but before you go, ...would you like to join the photo, ...we need a bit of colour to brighten up this scruffy lot."

"That's lovely, ...just stand here, ...a bit closer together, ...look at the camera, ...smile, ...say cheese..."

...But he didn't take the picture.

"No, no, no, ...that just won't do. There's just too many things in this picture. We've now got cows, and shepherds, the innkeeper, and these reporters from 'The Daily Star'. ...It's all far too cluttered, something will have to go.

The photographer scratched his head for a while, ...and then said "I know...

Remove the baby

"That's better" he said.

Everyone say cheese.

Flash.

That was a lovely photo!

Everyone can now sit down (give them a round of applause).

Application

Can any of the children tell me what was missing from the photo?

It's quite sad really. The baby was the most important person there. In fact the photographer was sent to take a photo just of him. But in the end, the baby was the one who was missed out.

I told that story, because that's it illustrates the way that our society often thinks about Christmas today.

Why do we have Christmas?

(because Jesus was born)

Yet with everything else that goes on at Christmas, (the presents, the turkey, the Christmas pudding and the crackers, the Queen's speech), ...it's easy for Jesus to get missed out.

Our society likes to have Christmas, without Christ.

(VISUAL AID).

People sometimes talk about 'the true meaning of Christmas'.

And even religious people say things like:

"Christmas is really for the children"

(Have you heard people say that?)

Or people say,

"Christmas is a time for families";

or,

"the true meaning of Christmas is giving".

Now don't get me wrong. I'm glad that Christmas often is a good time for children, families, and giving. But all those comments have something missing.

If we want to know the true meaning of Christmas, we have to start with Christ.

At Christmas we remember that God (point) became human.

People often have some funny ideas about God. And one of the more common ones is the idea that God created the universe but now he is simply sitting back and watching to see what happens. It's as if God is like a great clock-maker. At the beginning of time he wound the universe up, and since then he has had no further involvement.

Well Christmas reminds us that God is not like that. God is actively involved in the universe he made, and 2000 years ago he actually became part of it.

He became human just like us. And because of that we can be confident that he fully understands us.

"As an engineer I used to spend some of my time in the design office in Coventry, and some of my time getting my hands dirty at various construction sites throughout the country.

When on site I would sometimes here criticism of other engineers who had designed things from their 'ivory towers', but had never come to site to see how things worked out in practice.

Well God's not like that. He knows what it's like to be human, not from heaven looking down, ...but from first hand experience.

God knows what it means to be happy, ...but also to be sad.

God knows what it means to be filled with joy, ...but also to be full with grief.

God knows what it means to laugh, ...and to cry.

God knows what it means to be surrounded by friends, ...and to be left all alone.

At the first Christmas the God of heaven became one of us, and as it in one of the carols:

"He was little, weak and helpless;

Tears and smiles like us he knew;

And he feeleth for our sadness;

And he shareth in our gladness.

That's what Christmas is all about!

So however you are feeling this Christmas, we can be confident that God understands what we are going through, ...because he became one of us.

...And let's encourage people to put the 'Christ' back into Christmas.