For God So Loved the World (2014)

By Penny Chou, Summer 2014

This children’s Christmas play tells the unchurched about God’s love for us. There are no solos in this play, but there are songs sung by the cast as a group. You can download the modifiable Word Document here.

Mission connection: When advertising, ask the audience to bring an unwrapped “baby gift for Jesus” to the play. At the end, they can bring them up to the communion rail. They can be given to a children’s home.

Kids walk into the sanctuary in twos (older one with a younger one) and sit in front pews while “God So Loved” by Jaci Velasquez. http://youtu.be/vEx9hQi-ARc

Director makes introductory remarks.

SCENE 1 First Christmas Gifts

(Casually seated on right side of stage are 2 or 3 residents and 2 caretakers. Reduce the count to 2 residents and 1 caretaker if necessary. Two young children, dressed as grown-ups approach the stage with one gift each for the young teens. Dress the children in too big clothes as a “cute” moment. If girls, consider oversized high heels and a woman’s dress. If boys, consider a man’s suit and maybe a fake mustache. There should be one wrapped gift for each resident.)

(One of the little kids knocks on the “door” or play a door-knocking sound such as http://youtu.be/q-Ar7M-NKW4 . Caretaker 1 opens the “door.”)

Visitor 1: Hello. We have Christmas gifts for the children.

Caretaker 1: Thank you so much. They will be so excited to receive them. Won’t you come in?

Caretaker 2: What do you say, kids?

Residents in unison: Thank you!

Caretaker 2: It was so nice of you to bring gifts for the kids.

Visitor 2: We wanted them to know that they are loved and to remind them of the gifts that the magi brought for the baby Jesus.

Visitor 1: Jesus said, “ask, and it will be given to you.” (Matthew 7:7) We hope that you all have a blessed Christmas!

Caretaker 1: We wish you a merry Christmas too. Thanks again!

(Caretaker 1 closes the “door” as the Visitors leave.)

Resident 1: I can’t believe they brought us gifts.

Resident 2: I’ve never had a Christmas gift before. Can we open them now?

Resident 3: Who is Jesus? Who are the magi?

Caretaker 2: I think you should save your gifts to open on Christmas morning, but we will tell you all about Jesus right now.

SCENE 2 God’s Promise

(Residents and Caretakers are still casually sitting on the right side of the stage.)

Caretaker 1: It all started thousands of years ago. God created people and loved them but they sinned a lot. They had to make animal sacrifices to atone for their sins.

Resident 1: Dude! Are you telling me that they had to kill animals for God to forgive them?

Caretaker 2: Sacrificing animals was like a reminder that when they did something bad, there was a consequence. They had to make up for the bad things that they did.

Caretaker 1: God loved the people and decided to send a Savior to them so they wouldn’t have to keep sacrificing animals for their sins. This Savior would be sacrificed for their sins once and for all.

Resident 2: I don’t see how this relates to Christmas and presents.

Caretaker 1: (sigh) Be patient. We’re getting there!

Caretaker 2: God made good on His promise to send a Savior to his people by sending his own son.

Resident 3: Wait a minute! How did God have a son? This should be interesting.

(all residents giggle softly)

Caretaker 1: (rolls eyes before answering) Well, it didn’t happen the way you’ve learned in biology class.

(more giggling from residents)

Caretaker 2: It started about 2,000 years ago with a teenage girl who was not much older than you.

SCENE 3 Mary, Mother of Jesus

(If you have a small cast, you can let the caretakers also be the narrator.)

(Mary, Gabriel, and the Narrator come to the left side of the stage. The residents and caretakers turn to watch the unfolding drama and occasionally ask questions.)

Narrator: God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, the town where a teenage girl named Mary lived. She was a virgin, pledged to marry a man named Joseph.

(The Narrator leaves the stage.)

Gabriel: Hello. You are highly favored. The Lord is with you.

(Mary looks afraid but curious.)

Gabriel: Do not be afraid, Mary. You have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.

Mary: How will this happen, since I am a virgin?

(residents look at each other with confused faces)

Gabriel: The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.

Mary: I am the Lord’s servant. May your words to me be fulfilled.

(Gabriel leave the stage and Mary begins to leave, but stops when she hears Resident 1 call to her.)

Resident 1: Hey, Mary!

(Mary quickly turns her head to see Resident 1 and looks surprised.)

Mary: What?

Resident 1: Aren’t you a little young to be having a baby?

Resident 2: Yeah, and what is your fiancé going to think about this?

Mary: God, my Father, will take care of it. It will work out. You will see.

(Residents slowly nod silently to acknowledge Mary’s response. Mary leaves the stage.)

Scene 4 Joseph, Mary’s Betrothed

(Joseph, with a hammer, goes on stage and mimes hitting nails with his hammer.)

Resident 2: Hey, Joseph!

(Joseph, with a surprised look on his face, turns to face Resident 2.)

Joseph: Are you speaking to me?

Resident 2: Yeah. Did you know that your fiancé, Mary, has a bun in the oven?

Joseph: I love freshly baked bread! But how do you know what she is doing?

Resident 2: (snort giggling a little) No, man, Mary is knocked up. (Joseph looks confused.) She is with child. Expecting a baby.

Joseph: (looking cross) But we have not… been together. She is a good woman. I will not disgrace her. I will send her away secretly.

(Joseph sighs, then walks away from the residents and lays down on stage for a nap.)

(Gabriel walks onto the stage.)

Gabriel: (to the sleeping Joseph as part of Joseph’s dream) Joseph, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. Her child’s father is the Holy Spirit. Name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

(Gabriel leaves the stage, then Joseph wakes up.)

Joseph: (speaking to the audience) I will do what the angel told me in my dream. I will take Mary as my wife and raise Jesus as my own son.

(Joseph leaves the stage.)

Resident 3: (Speaking to the caretakers) I still don’t see what any of this has to do with Christmas presents, but that Joseph seems like a pretty honorable man.

Caretaker 2: I’ll give you a hint, then you have to be patient while you learn the rest of the story. Christmas is Jesus’ birthday.

(The residents make a “knowing” face to indicate that they sort of understand the possible connection between Jesus’ birthday and Christmas presents.)

Scene 5 The Son of God Arrives

(The Narrator goes on stage. While the Narrator is talking, Joseph and Mary slowly walk up the aisle to the stage, then sit down on either side of a manger. When the narrator gets to the part about the baby, Mary retrieves the doll from a hiding place on stage, wraps it in a blanket, kisses it softly on the forehead, and lays it in the manger.)

Narrator: Way back then, Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. Everyone had to go to the town of their origin to be counted. So Joseph and Mary went from Nazareth to Bethlehem, the town of David, because Joseph was from the line of David. It was about 70 miles and Mary rode most of it on a donkey because she was nearly ready to deliver the child. The town was jammed with out-of-town visitors who had come for the census and so Joseph could not find a place for them to stay. They ended up in a barn behind a hotel where Mary gave birth to the son of God. She wrapped him in swaddling cloths and placed him in a manger.

(All actors come to the stage to sing UMH 217 Away in a Manger.)

(After the song, everyone leaves the stage except Mary, Joseph, the children’s home group, the shepherds, the sheep, and the angels.)

Resident 1: What’s a manger?

Caretaker 1: It’s a trough for feeding livestock.

Resident 2: Wow, Joseph was poor, wasn’t he?

Caretaker 2: Yes, he was a humble carpenter.

Resident 3: I wonder why God gave Jesus such poor parents?

Caretaker 2: They may not have had much money, but they were God’s loving and obedient servants.

Caretaker 1: I think that God wanted everyone to feel that Jesus was common, like them. He wanted Jesus to experience life as most of us experience it.

Resident 1: Jesus didn’t experience having bad parents and having to live in a children’s home.

Caretaker 1: (compassionately) No, he had good parents, but he had some other really bad experiences. We’ll save those for when we talk about Easter.

Scene 6 Celebrating His Birth

(Narrator steps onto the stage while the shepherds and sheep walk down the aisle to the stage. The narrator reads while the shepherds and sheep are arriving. They mill around on stage briefly, then Gabriel comes to the stage.)

Narrator: (while the shepherds and sheep are arriving) There were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.

Gabriel: Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will give you great joy. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born. He is the Messiah, the Lord. You will find him wrapped in swaddling cloth in a manger.

Narrator: Suddenly a great host of angels appeared. (Remaining angels join Gabriel on stage.) They praised God and said:

Angels (in unison): Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.

(Entire cast comes to the stage to sing 3 verses of UMH 238 Angels We Have Heard on High.)

(Cast allows shepherds to step forward.)

Shepherd 1: Let’s go to Bethlehem to see the baby Jesus.

Shepherd 2: Yes, let’s go!

(Entire cast sings 2 verses of UMH 230 O Little Town of Bethlehem.)

(Mary, Joseph, children’s home cast, shepherds, and sheep remain on stage. Everyone else leaves. The shepherds and sheep gaze at the baby Jesus.)

Narrator: The shepherds hurried to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby Jesus lying in the manger.

(Shepherds and sheep leave the stage.)

Narrator: After the shepherds had seen the baby Jesus, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about the child, and all who heard it were amazed. The shepherds glorified and praised God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Resident 2: (to caretakers) Can we go over there and see the baby Jesus too?

Caretaker 2: Sure. Just be respectful.

(Residents get up and go look at the baby Jesus. Mary looks up at them and smiles. Then the residents go back to their home.)

Scene 7 This World’s Not Big Enough for Two Kings

(Stage hands move throne to center front of stage and King Herod sits down. Magi come up to the edge of the stage.)

King Herod: Gentlemen, please approach the throne.

(Magi approach the throne.)

King Herod: Who are you and where are you going? You have travelled far.

Magi 1: We are magi who have come from the East.

Resident 3: (to caretakers) What are magi?

Caretaker 1: They are wise men or priests from countries to the East of this region.

King Herod: As I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted (gives evil look to resident 3), what is your business here?

Magi 2: We are following the star that shines over the newborn King of the Jews. We have come to pay homage to him.

Resident 1: Why do they owe him homage? What IS homage?

Caretaker 2: It means that they are coming to show him respect, something you could learn a thing or two about.

King Herod: Hmm. (Herod gives a sly, evil look.) After you have found this King of the Jews, please come back to tell me where he is so that I may go and worship him too.

Magi 3: (with fingers crossed behind his back) Yes, your majesty. We certainly will.

(Magi leave the stage by the front, then go around to the side and back onto the stage to see the baby Jesus. King Herod leaves the stage and stagehands move his throne.)

(Magi 1 kneels down in front of the baby Jesus and presents his gift.)

Magi 1: I have brought gold, the traditional gift for a king. (Magi hands the gift to Joseph.)

(Magi 2 kneels down and presents his gift.)

Magi 2: I bring frankincense, the traditional gift for a priest.

Resident 2: (to caretakers) Did he say he was giving Jesus Frankenstein? Why?

Caretaker 1: (chuckles) No, it’s frankincense. It’s a scent that priests used in the temple. It was a symbol of Divinity.

Caretaker 2: But you know, there is a connection to Frankenstein in that Jesus later comes to life after being dead.

Resident 3: Is that part of the Halloween story?

Caretaker 2: (smiling) No, Easter, but that’s for another day.

Magi 3: (clears throat loudly to indicate that the story should return to him)

(Magi 3 kneels down to present his gift.)

Magi 3: I give the King myrrh.

Resident 1: Ok, what is myrrh?

Caretaker 1: Myrrh was used as a burial ointment. That will make more sense when we cover the Easter story, but remember that God sent his son to die for our sins.

Magi 1: (to other magi) I don’t trust King Herod’s intentions toward this child. Let’s go home a different way.

(Magi sneak off of stage.)

Joseph: Mary, it’s been a busy day. It’s time for us to get some rest.

(Mary and Joseph lie down to sleep. Gabriel and the Narrator come to the stage.)

Gabriel: (speaking to Joseph in his dream) Joseph, get up and take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.

(Joseph wakes up Mary, she grabs Jesus, and they hurry off the stage. Gabriel also leaves the stage.)

Narrator: Joseph got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt where they stayed until the death of Herod. When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time frame that he had learned from the Magi.

(Narrator leaves the stage.)

Resident 2: Wow, Jesus and his family had a pretty rough life.

Caretaker 2: Yes, they did. Nevertheless, Jesus grew up with loving parents and learned the ways of the Jews. We hear about his life briefly when he was 12 years old, then not again until he was 30-ish.

Caretaker 1: In his 30’s, Jesus began to preach and teach his followers how God wanted us to live. He did this for only a few years before he made the ultimate sacrifice of death for our sins.

Resident 3: But we have to wait until Easter for that story, right?

Caretaker 1: Right. For now, let’s celebrate his birth by singing one of my favorite Christmas songs.

Resident 1: Wait! You haven’t explained what these Christmas gifts have to do with Jesus.

Caretaker 2: Christmas is Jesus’ birthday. The Christmas gifts that we give remind us of the homage and gifts given to Jesus when he was born. They also remind us that Jesus was God’s gift to us.

Resident 2: I can’t wait to open my gift on Christmas.

Caretaker 2: It will be exciting, but nothing is more wonderful that the gift of Jesus that God gave us. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Caretaker 1: Now can we sing my favorite Christmas song?

Director: Wait! First let me say a few words. (Director thanks audience, etc., invites rest of cast onto the stagem, and leads 4 verses of UMH 239 Silent Night.) If you have brought a baby gift, you may bring it to the communion rail during the song or raise your hand and one of the stage hands will bring it up for you.

Children bow for applause. Afterward, actors stand in place while director thanks everyone and invites everyone to Fellowship Hall for Jesus’ birthday cake. Children process by two’s while “Joy to the World” plays:

http://youtu.be/Bsz3wxlK398 (classical by New London Choir and London Symphony)

or

http://youtu.be/-lI6wGafOjM (by the Howard Gospel Choir - a fast version)

Cast – In order of appearance

Assign oldest teenagers as residents, even though the caretakers have a more lines? Let them do what they do best – heckle. If you have a smaller cast, eliminate some of the duplicate roles and combine their lines.

Visitor 1

Visitor 2

Caretaker 1

Caretaker 2

Resident 1

Resident 2

Resident 3

Narrator

Gabriel

Mary

Joseph

Angels

Shepherd 1

Shepherd 2

King Herod

Magi 1

Magi 2

Magi 3

Cast – (# of sentences spoken)

Caretaker 1 (28)

Caretaker 2 (24)

Narrator (18)

Gabriel (17) – unless you steal some of Gabriel’s lines for other angels

Resident 2 (16)

Resident 1 (11)

Resident 3 (11)

Joseph (11)

Mary (7)

King Herod (5)

Magi 1 (4)

Magi 2 (3)

Magi 3 (3)

Visitor 1 (3)

Visitor 2 (1)

Shepherd 1 (1)

Shepherd 2 (1)

Angels (1 in unison, unless you steal lines from Gabriel)

Sheep (or use toy sheep) (0)

Stage hands (0)

Tech person to run powerpoint, microphones, sound bites, and music (0)