You don’t have to have a stunning display with professional sets and lights and live animals to tell the story of Jesus well. You just need a few volunteers willing to corral all the participants, and actors willing to put on a costume and go in front of the congregation. We’ve all got a role to play in telling the wonderful story of the coming of Christ into the world, no matter our age or physical or intellectual disability.
These five plays take no more than 10 minutes to perform, so they fit well within a Sunday morning service. They tell the Christmas story in slightly different ways, but each is biblical, and requires little memorization and few rehearsals. Three plays were designed to be performed in person, and two virtually, but there are tips for how to make each work in the other performance style.
Jesus’s Family Tree
Jesus’s Family Tree is inspired by Isaiah saying the Messiah will come from a shoot of Jesse’s stump. We meet a number of people in Jesus’s family tree: Rahab, Ruth, David, Zechariah, and Mary. At the end, the narrator will note that now we have all been adopted into God’s family, so we are all part of Jesus’s family tree, and invites non-speaking costumed characters (like the shepherds, sheep, Magi) to come forward.
A Message! A Message!
In A Message! A Message! we follow the angels as they travel from heaven to earth to give messages from God to Zechariah, Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds.
What Are You Waiting For?
What Are You Waiting For? is a newscast. A roving reporter asks people what they are waiting for and, in the process, finds all about this Messiah who is about to be born. The reporter meets Isaiah, Zechariah and Elizabeth, Mary and Joseph, angels, shepherds, sheep, and Magi.
Do Not Be Afraid
Do Not Be Afraid is the most narrator-heavy play. The narrator talks about all the times the people in the story of the birth of Jesus were told not to be afraid. Interspersed with this narration are actors giving the same line: “Do not be afraid.”
The Light to Live By
The Light to Live By focuses on John 1:1-14. The words are beautiful, but the concepts can be difficult for many people to grasp, so this pageant includes a lot of questions from the actors. The story focuses on the idea that Jesus has moved into our neighborhood, and that he is the light that we live by.
33 pages
8.5″ x 11″
$4.99
Available as a digital download. Fill out the form below to purchase.