Christmas

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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. 

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.

Alternative Christmas Assembly

In this much quicker assembly, the theme is to simply talk about Jesus’ death and what it means for us.

What you will need is a present, wrapped up. Put in a big chocolate bar.

Start off by hiding the present and talking about Christmas. Christmas is about many things these days. But it’s true meaning goes back 2000 years to the birth of a baby. Now this was no ordinary baby and was no ordinary birth. The mother was a young girl probably of high school age. She had an older fiance. They had travelled many miles, couldn’t find anywhere to stay. Eventually they found a dirty stable, with animals in. When this baby was born, he was homeless and born into the lowest kind of place you could think of. But Christians believe this baby was God and his name was Jesus. They believe that he lives today and can identify with you and me. Christians believe that if someone accepts Jesus as their mate, in their life, that he will do some amazing things. It’s a free gift, which you just have to take.

Place the present at the front of the room. Locate it somewhere that people have to come and walk to get it 

Say, “In here there is a present. If you want it, come and take it and it’s yours.” (Wait for a minute or two). 

If someone takes it – get them to unwrap it in front of others and say, the gift of life that Jesus offers is free, just like that.

If no-one takes it – go and open it up yourself and take out what’s in there. Say, “Just as I’ve taken this free gift, I believe Jesus is in my life.” You can hand out some pieces of chocolate to the front row etc if you have time and say, “You can take this free gift too.”

Yes, it’s very cheesy and been done before. But play with it, develop it and have fun!

END.