Category:
Created by:
Number of speaking parts:
Duration:
Includes:
Contemporary
Published
3
Medium
Making Room – a Christmas drama
Characters:
Narrator 1, Narrator 2, Grown-Up
Setting: In a bedroom, the night before Christmas...
Narrator 1: What are you doing in bed?
Grown-Up: Well, it's Christmas tomorrow and I thought that the sooner I
got to bed, the quicker Christmas would come!
Narrator 2: Good thinking. We'll let you get to sleep then...
Grown-Up: Oh no, please don't go. I've been lying here for a while and I just
can't seem to get to sleep. Would you mind reading me a story? Perhaps you
could tell me the Christmas story just one more time.
Narrator 1: Sure, we can do that.
(Narrators sit down on bed and get book out. Turn to first page)
Narrator 2: About two thousand years ago, in the town of Nazareth, there
lived a young woman named Mary. She was engaged to be married to
Joseph, a carpenter. One day an angel appeared before her and told her she
had been chosen to have a special baby. The baby would be God's son and
she must call him Jesus.
Grown-Up: Wow! Imagine how you would feel if an angel suddenly
appeared in front of you and gave you such unbelievable news?
Narrator 2: I would have been terrified, that's for sure! You read the next
part... (to Narrator 1)
Narrator 1: At this time, the land where Mary and Joseph lived was part of
the Roman Empire. The Roman Emperor Augustus wanted to have a list of
all the people in the empire, to make sure they paid their taxes. He ordered
everyone to return to the town where their families originally came from,
and enter their names in a register there. Mary and Joseph travelled a long
way from Nazareth to Bethlehem, because that is where Joseph's family
came from.
Narrator 2: About how far was Nazareth from Bethlehem?
Grown-Up: Apparently it's about 120 km, and by most guesses would have
taken them between 4-7 days to walk.
Narrator 1: Christmas cards always show Mary riding on a donkey. Was that
how she would have travelled, do you think?
Grown-Up: I don't know, but whatever the case, if on foot or on the back of
a donkey, it would have been very long and very uncomfortable journey for a
woman who was just about to have a baby.
Narrator 2: Joseph and Mary travelled very slowly because Mary's baby
was due to be born soon. When they reached Bethlehem they had problems
finding somewhere to stay. So many people had come to register their
names in the census, that every house was full and every bed was taken in
all of the inns. The only shelter that they could find was a stable or cave with
the animals. In this poor place Mary gave birth to Jesus, the Son of God.
Grown-Up: How do you think you would have felt after travelling such a
long way, to find out that there was no where to stay in Bethlehem? You
would have thought that Joseph's family would have saved them a space
somewhere or that someone seeing that Mary was so pregnant would have
offered to share.
Narrator 2: Wow, it's hard to comprehend that the Son of God was born in
such a lowly place and that his bed was the manger that the animals ate their
hay from.
Read on, let's hear about the shepherds...
Narrator 1: In the hills and fields outside Bethlehem, shepherds looked after
their sheep through the long night. As the new day began, suddenly an angel
appeared before them and the glory of God shone around them. The
shepherds were very, very scared, but the angel said, 'Don't be afraid. I have
good news for you and everyone. Today in Bethlehem a Saviour has been
born for you. You will find the baby lying in a manger'.
Grown-Up: I bet the shepherds were surprised that these angels were
talking about a baby lying in a animal feeding trough. It's even more
surprising that they believed them! Read on..
Narrator 2: When the angels had gone the shepherds said to one another,
'Let's go to Bethlehem to see what has happened.' So the shepherds went to
Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph. The baby Jesus was lying in a
manger as they had been told.
Grown-Up: The wise men are next up in the story, aren't they?
Narrator 1: When Jesus was born, a brand new bright star appeared in sky.
Some Wise Men in faraway countries saw the star and guessed what it
meant. They were very clever men that studied the stars and had read in
very old writings that a new star would appear when a great king was born.
They set out to find the new king and bring him gifts.
Narrator 2: The wise men were guided by the star to the stable in
Bethlehem. Here they knelt down and worshipped Jesus. They gave him gifts
of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
The Light of the World was born.
Grown-Up: Wow, that's such an amazing story! I guess sometimes because
we hear the same story every Christmas, we can forget what an extraordinary
story it is.
Narrator 1: Yeah, that God chose to send his Son, not just as a little baby,
but into a world that wasn't ready for him, that didn't 'have room' for him.
Grown-Up: I guess though, that although there was no room in the inn for
baby Jesus, there were people (the Shepherds, Wise men, Mary and Joseph),
who were 'making room' in their lives for this new king and who realised that
his arrival signaled the arrival of God-among us - Emmanuel.
I think I'd like to get to sleep now...
Narrator 1 and 2: Bye/See you..
The End
Adapted from: http://www.whychristmas.com/story/the_christmas_story.shtml