The Unexpected Christmas Story

Sunday 18^th December Service The Unexpected Christmas Story

Each Sunday of  Advent has been unexpected!  The unexpected gift, the unexpected guest, the unexpected route, and today the unexpected Christmas story.  Carolyn Tennant, our children's worker, explored the unexpected twists and turns of the Nativity with our children.

Young child welcomes everyone to the service!

·        That was unexpected ... but lovely!

Welcome and News of the Church Family.

An opening prayer and verse from theBible.

59 Hark the herald angels sing

CT- We probably all like stories. Bethany and Abigail like fairy stories and they are going to come up now with Helen who is going to read us one of her favourites.

(Helen sits on chair, children dressed as princesses sit comfortably on floor and Helen reads)

As she finishes, CT steps in;

·        That wasn’t what I was expecting! (asks the girls and has brief conversation about the expected ending to the story)

·        It just goes to show, you have to listen very carefully even if you THINK you know a story so well. When we’ve heard a story lots of times we can stop listening. We’re no longer surprised by it. We know what to expect, or at least we think we do.

·        The Christmas story can be a bit like that. We are going to re-tell the story and think about the surprises God had in store.

Nativity Play with Open the book. (includes ‘Little Donkey’, ‘Away in a manger’ and finishes with ‘Come and join the celebration’.)

  

·        Presents to open.

Choose child to come and open each present, one at a time.

1.      Baby doll

God chose to be born as a baby. He couldn’t do anything for himself. He wanted to identify with us totally. He relied on his parents. It’s perhaps not how you would have chosen to plan it if you were God. It’s a risky strategy.

But, how perfect! Right from the beginning, God loved to turn things upside down and challenge everything we think we know so well. As Jesus grew up, he taught strange things like ‘the first shall be last and the last shall be first’ and he said, ‘Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth’. So, really it was the perfect plan to come into this world as a powerless baby.

1.      Teenage things- hoody, magazine, i-pod, make-up?

You might have thought that God would have chosen someone famous or special to be Jesus’ mother. Mary was probably only 12 or 13. How would you have felt? People were unkind to her when they found out. Again, God does the unexpected thing and chooses someone ordinary for this most extraordinary job. God chooses ordinary people even when we might think there’s someone better for the job. But again, this is the perfect plan. There are no worldly trappings to confuse the purity of his purpose.

2.    Toy crib

God’s choice of birth place would probably not be ours! A hospital, a luxury hotel, Marks and Spencers maybe, but not a noisy, smelly, uncomfortable stable with no privacy, surely! Remember how the so called wise men went first to a palace to find the baby. They weren’t thinking God’s way yet. Again, God does the unexpected and makes it perfect. Not perfect in luxury but perfect in plan. ‘lest none should boast’ ring the words of the bible. Jesus came humbly into the world with no trace of corruption of wealthy start in life.

3.    Co-op funeral voucher in gift voucher card

Oh! I wasn’t expecting that! And I’m sure Mary and Joseph found it very strange to receive gold, frankincense and myrrh as gifts for their new baby. These presents show how the wise men DID know what they were looking for though;

Gold for a king,

Frankincense for worship

And myrrh for death.

God wasn’t afraid to hold new life and death in his hands at the same time. It is his remarkable and perfect plan.

A Hy-Spirit Christmas Song

Prayers including Christmas Lord’s Prayer written by Transformers and read by Grace and Andi.  The children's club we share with our friends from St Luke's, Transformers, has been looking at the Lord's Prayer for the last term.  This is a special version of the Lord's Prayer written by our Transformers for Christmas.



A Lord’s Prayer for Christmas


Our Saviour who art in the manger
Hallowed be thy son.


Thy kingdom come
Thy will be done with humans as with angels.


Thank you for all the food we have at Christmas, Give to the poor so we can ALL have Christmas food like turkey and mince pies.


Forgive us our greediness,
And cleanse us from wrong


And carry your forgiveness through the world


Help us not to be tempted to open any presents or calendar doors too early Or to steal things or do things we are not meant to do And lead us not into spoiltness Or spoiling surprises for other people.


Keep us safe when traveling
And keep us from bad things


Help us remember that Jesus is king and he is God’s son Not just at Christmas but forever and ever


Amen

Dinner table set up with one chair, fancy place setting and cloche covering meal.

Ask for volunteer to come to dinner, on condition they will eat whatever is served.

Seat the child, napkin etc.

Reveal the dish- tin of cat food!

·        I wasn’t expecting that!

Better open it up and eat it though as you promised! (read label etc., hope you like fish etc.!)

Open tin to reveal chocolates!

·        Well, I wasn’t expecting that! That was much better than you expected!

God planned things at Christmas that no-one expected, they were even better.

We can get so comfortable and familiar with the Christmas story and with coming to church that it stops having an impact.

Let’s pray that we will be surprised, challenged and overjoyed by what God is saying to us this Christmas when we understand God is with us – Emmanuel.

Carol:  See him lying on a bed of straw