[SLIDE: NATIVITY SCENE]

Narrator:
This Christmas, we are going to tell the story of Jesus’ birth in 10 minutes flat, using limericks to help us along the way.

[SLIDE: “HAVE YOURSELF A LIMERICKING CHRISTMAS”]

So, if you’re sitting comfortably … then I’ll begin.

[SLIDE: BLANK]

Once upon a time, there was a young girl named Mary who found herself visited by the angel Gabriel. The angel had some startling news: there was a baby on the way, but no ordinary baby – this would be a holy child, the Son of God. Mary might have been a bit scared by this discovery, but instead she was very happy at the news.

[SLIDE: MARY]

Limerick:
There once was a young girl called Mary
who heard something really quite scary.
What Gabriel said
might have filled her with dread,
but she welcomed the news, did young Mary.

[SLIDE: BLANK]

Narrator:
Time went by, and the baby inside Mary grew day by day. But Mary and her fiancé Joseph knew there were difficult times to come. There would be a hard journey ahead of them, before the birth of that special child. Off they set to Joseph’s home town of Bethlehem, for Roman tax officials to add their names to a big register.

[SLIDE: MARY, JOSEPH AND DONKEY]

Limerick:
Mary didn’t have time to relax
for she knew that they’d have to make tracks.
With her dear fiancé
she would hurry away
down to Bethlehem, there to pay tax.

[SLIDE: BLANK]

Narrator:
When the couple arrived in the city of David, there was not so much as a hotel room available, so the baby entered the world in, of all places, an animal’s feeding trough. To our modern ears, that sounds incredible: the Son of God born in the most humble of circumstances.

[SLIDE: MARY AT MANGER]

Limerick:
In a smelly old animal shed
with no duvet and no feather bed
Mary laid in a manger
her son and, what’s stranger,
’twas just as the angel had said.

[SLIDE: BLANK]

Narrator:
Meanwhile, on a nearby hillside, some shepherds were hearing amazing news about this baby’s birth:

[SLIDE: SHEPHERDS AND FRIGHTENED SHEEP]

Limerick:
Angels came to some shepherds that night,
which, of course, gave their sheep quite a fright.
Said the angels: “Get down
to the centre of town,”
and the shepherds responded, “All right!”

[SLIDE: BLANK]

Narrator:
How would you react to angels arriving with good news like that? For the shepherds, it was easy. They hurried off to Bethlehem in search of the holy family. One way or another, it had been quite a night. And through it all, the centre of attention was a tiny baby boy, trying to get his first night’s sleep.

[SLIDE: SHEPHERDS AT STABLE]

Limerick:
When those shepherds arrived they soon found,
in that manger with straw strewn around,
baby Jesus asleep,
so they all had to creep
in on tiptoe, with barely a sound.

[SLIDE: BLANK]

Narrator:
What a nice story about a new family – and a baby arriving just in time for Christmas too! But in the capital city of Jerusalem, the evil King Herod was being visited by some wise men, with intelligence about another monarch who had turned up on his patch. Soon, these travellers from the east were on their way again, leaving Herod far behind, so they could search for that new and greater King. On the final stage from Jerusalem up to Bethlehem, they were guided by a great light in the sky:

[SLIDE: WISE MEN AND CAMEL]

Limerick:
Now a star over Bethlehem city
burned brightly and looked rather pretty.
It was spotted by men
(three in number?) who then
headed off to that famous old city.

[SLIDE: BLANK]

Narrator:
The wise men were led by the light of that star all the way to the manger, where they found Jesus. Our story ends with them giving the special baby the first ever Christmas presents, on the first ever Christmas.

[SLIDE: GIFTS AT STABLE]

Limerick:
Those wise men roared up in a blur.
with their incense, their gold and their myrrh.
They fell to their knees
saying, “Take these gifts, please.”
And Mary replied, “Thank you, sir!”

[PAUSE]

[SLIDE: FULL NATIVITY SCENE]

This concludes what we wanted to say
regarding that first Christmas Day.
You were most kind to hear us
And now you might cheer us
and clap, as we go on our way.

[SLIDE: “THE END”]

[Exeunt]

[SLIDE: BLANK]

[SLIDE: CANDLE AND MANGER]

Copyright © 2008 by Robin Hill.

After “Have yourself a limericking Christmas”, you might give a talk on “The five lines of Christmas”, spoken by the angels to the shepherds:

[SLIDES: ONE FOR EACH LINE]

Line 1: “Don’t be afraid!” (In Christmas, God casts out fear.)

Line 2: “I am here with good news for you, which will bring great joy to all the people.” (Christmas is about good news!)

Line 3: “This very day in David’s town your Saviour was born—Christ the Lord!” (The Son of God is born to save.)

Line 4: “And this is what will prove it to you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” (Jesus is human, born into poverty and vulnerability.)

Line 5: “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom he is pleased!” (Let’s praise God with the angels.)

This dialogue may be distributed, adapted and used by churches, on the understanding that a donation made payable to “Church of Scotland’s HIV/AIDS Project” will be given by the congregation.

If you use it, let me know how it goes!

All the best,

Robin