Christmas Eve Service - Kids Friendly



|Category: |Contemporary |

| |Traditional |

|Created by: |St Andrew’s Geraldine |

|Number of speaking parts: |4 |

|Duration: |Long |

|Includes: |Carols / Readings / Video Clip |

Christmas Eve Service

(2 egg Christmas Cake)

|Joseph |Wooden spoon, |

| |Wooden mixing bowl |

|Mary (small script) |½ cup Brown Sugar |

| |125g butter |

|Already in bowl |1 cup Flour |

|Angels |¼ tspn Baking soda |

|Wise men |½ tspn Cinnamon |

| |½ tspn Mixed spice |

| |½ tspn Ginger |

|shepherds |2 large eggs |

| |2 cups sultanas |

| |1 cup currants |

| |½ - 1 cup any dried fruit |

| Innkeeper |¼ tspn Vanilla essence |

| |¼ tspn Almond essence |

| |¼ tspn Lemon essence |

| |2 tbsp Sherry or other spirits |

| |(essences mixed, but Sherry separate) |

On table at front

FLOUR (in a bowl) Toy Oven

Food processor (out of sight) Cake Tin

Handed out to children

• Ingredients in small containers, labelled by character

• Items such as dried fruit can be broken down into several small bags to allow more children to bring an offering.

SCRIPT

Welcome

• Welcome back Mary & Joseph

• Advent candles

Carols:

O Come All Ye Faithful

The First Noel

Mary and Joseph were ordinary people. Joseph was a carpenter, good at making things. Where are you Joseph? Show us something you’ve made [wooden spoon]

Anything else? [wooden mixing bowl]

Isn’t he clever. Do you think we could put them to use? Let’s ask our special guest chef, here making a special appearance this evening. Can you do something? What ingredients do you have?

Chef

Yes. I have some flour. I always have some flour in the cupboard. It’s a really important ingredient. Just about everything I make has some flour in it – bread, cakes, biscuits. It’s what else you put in that makes the difference.

Flour is the main ingredient of a most recipes. It doesn’t look much does it?

Pretty uninteresting really. Yet essential. A bit like us. We might think we’re plain ordinary people, but we’re not really. We’re special. We’re essential. We all have something to give to help others. Without each of you the world would be a different place.

Chef, what do you feel like baking tonight? What will we need?

Chef

I feel like making a Christmas cake, seeing as its Christmas time. But I don’t have much. I will need the gift of some ingredients to make it work.

Okay, what can we do? Mary, can you help?

Mary

I have some sugar that I was keeping for something special. And I’ve just come back from visiting my cousin Elizabeth. She gave me some butter, which we should use before it goes off in the heat.

Fantastic. Bring them up to our chef. Chef, a Christmas cake is pretty ambitious and solid. Are you ready for some good old fashioned hard work of mixing?

Chef

Sure am. [bring up food processor]

BEAT BUTTER AND SUGAR

One day an angel came and visited Mary with some special news from God. It was Good news, about Mary having a baby. However, there were a few things to happen first.

Luke 2:1-7

About that time Caesar Augustus ordered a census to be taken throughout the Empire. This was the first census when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Everyone had to travel to his own ancestral hometown to be accounted for. So Joseph went from the Galilean town of Nazareth up to Bethlehem in Judah, David's town, for the census. As a descendant of David, he had to go there. He went with Mary, his fiancée who was pregnant. [EXPLAIN DISTANCE]

While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. She gave birth to a son, her firstborn. She wrapped him in a blanket and laid him in a manger, because there was no room in the hostel. [Mary & Joseph come to front]

There were no rooms left at any of the hotels or motels in town. Oh No!. However, one kind hotel owner, called an Innkeeper, said they could sleep in the stable, the barn where the animals were kept.

I wonder if there are any angels here tonight? Do you have any news or gifts for us?

[angels come forward] – baking soda

[Chef to announce the ingredients when brought up]

What have they brought? Baking Soda. It helps our cake to rise. Look at how small the amount is. But it’s as essential to a successful cake as hearing Gods voice is in our lives. And like the effect of the baking soda it can lead to an outstanding outcome.

Matthew 2:1-12

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem village, a band of scholars arrived in Jerusalem from the East. They asked around, "Where can we find and pay homage to the newborn King of the Jews? We observed a star in the eastern sky that signalled his birth. We're on pilgrimage to worship him."

The star led them on until it hovered over the place of the child. They could hardly contain themselves: They were in the right place! They had arrived at the right time!

They entered the house and saw the child in the arms of Mary, his mother. Overcome, they kneeled and worshiped him. Then they opened their luggage and presented gifts: gold, frankincense, myrrh.

Who else is here tonight thinking about Christmas? There must be some Wise Men out there. Maybe they have some more of their precious gold, frankincense and Myrrh. Those are all really valuable and important gifts, even though they might come in small amounts too.

Chef

Here they are. Yes, they bring spices – a half teaspoon each of mixed spice, cinnamon and ginger.

Such a small amount, but little amounts will have a huge impact on the flavour. That can be a bit like our lives. We may not think we are all that special, or that we can make a difference. But each person here is special. And you can all do lots of small things that help others. A kind word to a friend; a hug when it’s needed; saying thank you. Small things are important. They do matter.

How are the spices going chef?

Chef

Great, But, I’m not just adding it all to the beaten mixture. I’m blending them though the flour first so they will be spread more evenly when added.

STIR BAKING SODA & SPICES THROUGH FLOUR

What we will need is something to bind it together and something to give a bit of crunch

Luke 2:8-18

There were shepherds camping in the neighbourhood. They had set night watches over their sheep. Suddenly, God's angel stood among them and God's glory blazed around them. They were terrified. The angel said, "Don't be afraid. I'm here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide: A Saviour has just been born in David's town, a Saviour who is Messiah and Master. This is what you're to look for: a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger."

At once the angel was joined by a huge angelic choir singing God's praises:

Glory to God in the heavenly heights,

Peace to all men and women on earth who please him.

As the angel choir withdrew into heaven, the shepherds talked it over. "Let's get over to Bethlehem as fast as we can and see for ourselves what God has revealed to us." They left, running, and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. Seeing was believing. They told everyone they met what the angels had said about this child. All who heard the shepherds were impressed.

Okay. How about the shepherds? I see a few of you out there in the paddock watching what’s going on. What can you bring from the outdoors to help us?

Chef

Look at this. They’ve brought me some eggs, and some fruit. Yum, sultanas, and some currants, and what have we here, some apricots …

This will all go rather nicely

ADD EGGS WITH A SPOON OF FLOUR WITH EACH TO STOP CURDLING

DO NOT ADD FRUIT YET.

What great gifts. It almost looks like you’re there. But it could be awful dry though. I like a moist cake myself. What do you think?

Chef

Yes, a little liquid would help, then I can complete it.

Does anyone else have a gift to bring? Ah, the Innkeeper. Looks like he’s bringing some sort of drink.

Chef

Great, some essences.

[WILL BE ONE OF ESSENCES MIXED AND ONE OF SHERRY]

ADD HALF OF THE FLOUR AND ESSENSES

MIX FRUIT WITH REMAINING FLOUR

ADD FRUIT AND SHERRY

MIX WELL AND PLACE IN TIN

Place in “Oven”

(needs 18cm round or 15cm square tin. Bake at 150C for 1½-2 hours.)

Do you see what’s happened? Everyone has been able to help to make this cake. Everyone is important. All the people in the Christmas story had things they could bring, including themselves, because they were all special to God.

Okay, while that’s cooking, let’s stand and sing two more carols together.

Away in a Manger

Silent Night

Video Clip (We Three Kings)

What a great looking cake. It looks completely different from what went into the oven.

To make this cake we needed all the ingredients. The largest amount came from the plainest looking ingredient, the flour. Without the flour you wouldn’t have much. But without the spices you wouldn’t have much flavour, so you need those, even though only in small amounts. All the ingredients have a part to play in making a cake successfully.

The Christmas story is about God doing something special in the world. God didn’t choose to do it with fancy messages sign written in the sky, but through everyday people. He didn’t choose a King or a Prime Minister or anyone else we might think is an important person. He chose a carpenter. Joseph was an everyday guy who God thought was special.

Mary was an everyday person, a young woman with her own hopes and dreams for her life, whom God used to make history, because God thought she was special.

When God decided to send Jesus into the world to help show us the way back to God He deliberately chose everyday circumstances. Jesus wasn’t born in a palace because that would have made him too different from most people. Instead he was born in a stable. Mary and Joseph had to make that long, tiring journey to Bethlehem, only to find there was no where to sleep. It was the kindness of the Innkeeper that let them use the stable. Even that one small gesture of kindness played an important part in the story.

God is at work in the world, and he delights in using what we think are ordinary things and ordinary people, because God thinks they are all special and important. Just look at the people in the Christmas story. Sure, God sent an angel and that seems pretty special to us. But the angels spoke to Mary and the shepherds.

The shepherds were not overly important in that time. They had a job of looking after the sheep and protecting them. They probably had never been to school, dressed in plain clothes, were fairly rough looking. Yet God used them in the story. They heard the angel and went to see the baby Jesus.

The Wise men heard God speaking to them and travelled a long way to see this new born king, following an especially bright star. Imagine their surprise when they found him in a manger in a stable and not a palace. But that didn’t put them off. They still brought their gifts. They also worshiped Him.

Wise men, shepherds, the innkeeper, Mary and Joseph and all the people who helped them on their journey were just like you and me. We’re everyday people. God chose them to be part of something special. They all got involved and played their part. They all came to the manger to see the king and worship Him.

Just like those people God thinks we are all special too. The reason we celebrate Christmas is to remind us of that. That God did something special in the world for all of us, and God is still at work in the world around us and in us.

Christmas, Christ among us.

Carols:

Joy to the World

Feliz Navidad

BLESSING

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download