Christmas

Intro

Here we have an assembly looking at Christmas. The theme of this is that sometimes we're so busy, we forget the real meaning of Christmas. This is done by looking at what things happen at Christmas, then bringing it home talking about Jesus.

This assembly includes ideas of getting up volunteers, but as we recognise not every assembly works so smoothly, we have some back-up ideas too. You need at least 2 people to deliver this assembly. Much of the input for this assembly was from Vicky C.

To Get / Bring

• Big thick tipped pens.
• Fairly large pieces of card, thick enough so that you can't 'see through' the card. I'd recommend card 50cm by 50cm or larger. Some of the pieces of card may need to be pre-prepared (just in case!) with words written on, such as 'presents', 'family', 'trees', 'Christmas shopping', 'turkey', 'mince pies', 'Christmas pudding', 'TV' etc.
• Chocs / sweets (without wrappers, so no litter!) as thank you prizes.

The Assembly

Intro – explain who you are and where you're from / what you believe, 'as Christians, we believe..'

Person 1 – explains that at Christmas, things get so busy that we forget about true meaning. Say that they are going to represent God, and Person 2 is going to represent mankind. Person 1 holds a sign saying 'God' and Person 2 holds a sign saying, 'Mankind' (or 'men & women' / 'people' etc)

(Person 1 moves stage right, Person 2 moves stage left so they stand at level, at 90 degrees to each other, at opposite ends of the 'stage' or equivalent)

Person 2 – Asks a question.. "What things happen at Christmas?" Give some examples / ask for some examples..

If people answer and are prepared to, they come to the front and write / are helped write what they say - where appropriate. Then they stand, holding the card in between Person 1 and Person 2, as other suggestions are heard from the students.

Person 2 - (when enough people are holding cards and standing in between Person 1 and Person 2). "Hang on, I’ve lost sight of God now. God, it’s mankind here, where are you?”

Person 1 - “It's me, God. I’m over here, can’t you see me?”

Person 2 – says they have to clear some of the clutter to see God. So he mentions each card by name saying ‘Christmas shopping, could you take one step back, Turkey could you take one step forward" etc until there is a straight line so 'Mankind' can see 'God' again.

Person 1 - asks the volunteers to sit down on the floor quickly. Then they bring it home by saying something like:

"Sometimes at Christmas we get so busy with decor and presents and food that we forget that christmas is actually about Jesus. Now I'm not saying that any of these things in themselves are bad. Just like at any birthday, it's good to celebrate and these kinds of things help us get into the excitement of the day. But what if it was your birthday and all your friends got so caught up in the music and food that they forget about you completely? Imagine that no-one even spoke to you. That would be a pants birthday wouldn't it! At christmas it's all too easy to do that to Jesus. So I challenge you, while we're enjoying the mince-pies and Christmas lights, try and remember that the reason we're celebrating is because it's Jesus' birthday."

Person 1 and Person 2 - Thank volunteers who get a sweet and can then sit down.

End.

Help - I'm the only one doing the assembly!!

If you have to deliver the assembly on your own, get 2 volunteers up and have them sit on the floor at either end of the stage holding cards saying 'God' and 'Mankind'. If you don't feel inclined to get volunteers up to the front, you could get a bunch of chairs on standby. As suggestions are made about what happens at Christmas, drag a chair in between 'God' and 'Mankind' and put up the pieces of card on the chairs, next to the chairs etc. so that the chairs block 'God' from seeing 'Mankind'. Then remove the chairs one by one.