Title: Children’s Christmas Service
Author: Stephen Geiger
Last saved by: WELS

REHEARSAL TEXT
A Children’s Christmas Service
by the name

SHEPHERDS WATCH THEIR FLOCKS!

•	Congregational Hymn-- CW 53  To Shepherds As They Watched by Night

ACT ONE

King David Was a Shepherd

OPENING SCENE:

[Slide projector: PICTURE of sheep and shepherd in Israel]

[Narrators dressed like Old Testament prophets, perhaps with flowing colorful robes; perhaps graying hair]

Narrator #1:  	To see a shepherd on a distant hill is to see a mother hen with her chicks, or a mother cat with her kittens, or a mother robin with her nest of baby birds.  To see a shepherd on a distant hill is to see his eyes, darting in different directions.  Watchful.  Loving.  Concerned.  To see a shepherd on a distant hill is to know that somewhere close are sheep.

Narrator #2:	Plump, tasty, delicious sheep . . . to a lion or to a bear.  Dangers from outside, threatening the sheep of the shepherd.

Narrator #3:  	Wandering, mindless, sometimes very brainless sheep.  Who seem to enjoy finding the sticker bush and getting caught, or finding the hole and falling in, or walking toward a cliff, unaware that certain death waits those who fall off.

Narrator #4:	A shepherd, watching sheep.  Protecting them from dangers outside.  Protecting them from themselves.

Narrator #1:  	Today we learn that shepherds watch their flocks.  That David, a shepherd, watched his flock.  That God, a shepherd, watched David.  That shepherds, on Bethlehem’s hills, watched their sheep.  That Jesus, our Good Shepherd, came to earth to give his life for us sheep.  Shepherds do watch their flocks.

•	CHILDREN’S SONG:  “Listen Now, Oh Shepherds”

[David enters as shepherd with sheep following.  Sheep pretend to eat.  Shepherd watches them.  Shepherd has shepherd’s crook; shepherd is wearing white, toga-like robe.]

Narrator #2:	Hmmm.  There’s a shepherd.  What is your name?

David:  	My name is David, son of Jesse.

Narrator #2:   	[spoken to the side] “. . . and not bad looking either!”  You see, the Holy Spirit tells us that David was a handsome young boy.  A boy who was ready for a job.  When he got old enough, though, he didn’t go to work at McDonalds.  His job was watching sheep.  

Narrator #3:	Sometimes it was a dangerous job.  There were lions and bears.  He also knew that sheep were not very smart.  They could get themselves into trouble very fast.

Narrator #4:	David’s job as a shepherd was to protect his sheep from dangers, to protect his sheep from themselves.

Narrator #1:	Does that sound like a parent?  It also sounds like being the king of a people.  That’s what God asked David to do.

Narrator #2:	To move from being a shepherd of sheep to being a shepherd of people.

[Narrator #2, serving as the prophet Samuel, puts purple robe and crown on David and gives him staff.  David sits on a throne; sheep take off sheep costumes and become people].

[Slide of throne outside city gate at Dan.]

Narrator #3:	God made David king over Israel.  His job was to love his sheep more than himself.  As king he was to read God’s word and set a good example.  As king David was to be a shepherd, protecting and loving God’s people.

Narrator #4:	Unfortunately, David soon acted more like a bad sheep than a good shepherd.  He got into big trouble.  David, king of Israel, stole the wife of another man.  Then he killed that other man.

Narrator #1:	David, like a sheep, had fallen into a pit.  He deserved to die eternally for his evil.

Passage #1:	Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

Passage #2:	All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Passage #3:	The wages of sin is death.

[During the following paragraph, Narrator #3, serving as the prophet Nathan, comes to David and pretends to tell a story.  David puts head in hands, says he’s sorry, and Nathan pats him on the back, comforting him.]

Narrator #2:	God could have left David, the sheep, to die in the pit.  But God also was a shepherd.  A good shepherd, who loved David.  He came to the rescue.  He showed David how wrong he was.  God led David to say he was sorry and to trust in God’s forgiveness.

Pastor:  	David wasn’t the only sheep to fall into a pit, to sin against the shepherd.  Let us confess our sins with David.  

[David gets up from throne, falls on his knees and faces the altar.]

Congregation:  	Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.  Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.  For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.  Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge.  Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.  Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.  Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.  Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.  Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.  (Psalm 51:1-9)

Narrator #1:  	Hyssop.  The Lord has cleansed you with hyssop.  

Narrator #3:	Priests in David’s day dipped a hyssop branch into the blood of sacrifices and sprinkled people with drops of blood.  [David is still bowed down before the altar.  Narrator #1, serving as a Priest, takes branch dipped in bowl of washable red “something” and sprinkles it on back of David while he is kneeling.]  This assured them that God had forgiven their sins through the blood of the Messiah that would come.  

Narrator #4:	How happy David must have been, to know that God would forgive his sin.  Like a sheep, rescued by a shepherd.

Narrator #1:	How happy we are, that God sprinkles us, sinners, with the blood of Jesus still today.

Passage #4:	Hebrews 10:22, “Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.”

Narrator #2:	How happy we are that when we sin and stumble into a deadly pit . . . how happy we are that we have a good shepherd.

Pastor:  	David was happy about his Good Shepherd too.  Let’s speak the words of Psalm 23 with David.

Upper Grades SS Class:

^1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. 
^2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, 
he leads me beside quiet waters, 
^3 he restores my soul. 
He guides me in paths of righteousness 
for his name’s sake. 
^4 Even though I walk 
through the valley of the shadow of death, 
I will fear no evil, 
for you are with me; 
your rod and your staff, 
they comfort me.  
^5 You prepare a table before me 
in the presence of my enemies. 
You anoint my head with oil; 
my cup overflows. 
^6 Surely goodness and love will follow me 
all the days of my life, 
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD 
forever.  

Narrator 5: 	David, God’s choice to be a shepherd.
Narrator 6:  	David, sometimes more like a wandering sheep.

Narrator 5: 	David, God’s choice to be king of Israel.
Narrator 6:  	David, sometimes a very sinful king.

Narrator 5:		David, God’s choice to be an ancestor of Jesus.
Narrator 6:		David, a sheep who needed Jesus to be his Savior.

Passage #5:	 “We all like sheep have gone astray; each of us has turned to his own way.  And the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

Narrator #3:	A shepherd was coming to be our Savior.

Narrator #4:	A shepherd who would also be called David, after his great, great, great . . . very great grandpa.

Passage #6:	Ezekiel 34:23 I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd.

Passage #7:	Ezekiel 37:24 ”‘My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd.

Narrator #1:	There would be a perfect shepherd.  There would be another David.  The Messiah would be a descendant of David.  Yet the Messiah would be much, much more.  He would be David’s son, yet also David’s God.  A shepherd, coming to rescue sheep . . . because shepherd’s watch their flocks.

•	SONG: Adult Choir’s “God’s Surprise

ACT TWO

Simple Men Were Shepherds

[Slide #1 of Bethlehem]  

Narrator #7:	King David knew these hills very well.  His sheep walked up and down and up and down the hills and valleys of Bethlehem.  Yes, Bethlehem.  David’s home.

Yes, shepherds on that silent night, 
On Christmas long ago, 
Were not the first to walk the hills 
With sheep, down, down below.

For these were paths that David walked;
Though now the roads of men
Who rested late, the darkness black, 
‘til suddenly in heaven . . .

Was light and sound and brilliance bright.
Glory to God, it broke the night!

What?  What has happened, 
these shepherds must have thought?

An angel spoke, “A shepherd’s born, 
In David’s town, a David born
In strips of cloth, in manger lies
The Christ, the Lord before your eyes.

Preschool - 1st Grade:
		How the shepherds must have run; 
		Hurry!  Hurry!  --it’s God’s son!
		Come to Bethlehem and see
		What my God has done for me!

[Shepherds walk to the manger, where Mary and Joseph and the baby are positioned.]

Narrator #7:	And Mary, Joseph, baby three

Exactly like the angels said,
from heavens over sheep in bed.
Sheep now more lonely than before, 
Their shepherds gone, to see, adore.
As sheep, their shepherd, on that dark night, 
No longer lonely, no more fright.

For we, like sheep, all gone astray, 
Now had a shepherd, asleep on hay.
Our David, his son; but, his Lord.
A shepherd by us all adored.

•	SONG: Children’s “Mary’s Little Boy Child Praise 204”

ACT THREE

Jesus is Our Good Shepherd

[Teacher speaking to four students.]

Teacher:  	Good morning, children.  I’d like to teach you a Bible verse.  “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

			Let’s say it together:

Four students,
   and Teacher:	We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.  

Child #1:  		Teacher, teacher [hand waving like a flag].

Teacher:  		Yes, __________, what is it?

Child #1:  		What is iniquity?

Teacher:  		Good question!  Does anyone know what iniquity is?

Child #2:  	Iniquity is like when my brother is playing Nintendo and I try to make him mess up.

Child #3:  	I know!  I know.  Iniquity is like when I tell my mom my homework’s done, but it’s not, and she believes me!

Child #4:  	I know!  I know.  Iniquity is when my family argues and fights with each other.

Teacher:  	That’s iniquity.  Doing wrong things.  We all do many wrong things, and God promises to punish us for every wrong thing we’ve ever done.

Child #1:  		I’m a scared sheep.

Teacher:  	What does our Bible verse say God did with our iniquity?

Child #2:  	God put our iniquity, our sins on Jesus.

Teacher:  	Jesus took the sins of the sheep and suffered for us, like a Good Shepherd.  One time Jesus said, “I am the Good Shepherd.  The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”  When did Jesus lay down his life for the sheep?

Child #3:  	Jesus gave up his life on Good Friday, when he died on the cross.

Teacher:  	Why did the Good Shepherd have to give up his life for the sheep?

Child #4:  	He died for our sins.

Child #1:	So the sheep don’t have to get slaughtered.

Child #2:		So we can live forever in heaven.

Teacher:  	And it all began when a shepherd was born for us sheep in Bethlehem.

Passage #8:	A prophet, Micah, predicted this very thing: “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.’” 

•	SONG:  Congregational Hymn CW 65  “O Little Town of Bethlehem”

Offering

Prayers

PASTOR’S MESSAGE

We Are Shepherds, Searching for Lost Sheep

•	Children’s “Go Into the World” Praise 91

BLESSING

•	“Of the Father’s Love Begotten”

ROLES and Assignments

David:	Tyler Mutchler
Sheep:	Aaron Bartz, Haley Filler, Maria Starner, Caley Ulmer
Mary:		Hillary Filler
Joseph:	Ryan Bartz
Shepherds:	Jak Steinberg, Elizabeth Starner & Jordan Mutchler
Teacher:	Jade Steinberg
Student 1:	Angela Fang
Student 2:	Jessica Ryken
Student 3:	Andy Vennard
Student 4:	Matt Goeden

Narrator 1:	Luci Steinberg
  (Priest--needs bowl of red “stuff” and branch to sprinkle it)

Narrator 2:	Kendra Vennard
  (Samuel)

Narrator 3:	Keri Steinberg
  (Nathan)

Narrator 4:	Jennifer Fang
  (Micah)

Narrator 5:	Lydia Schultz
Narrator 6:	
Narrator 7:	Tyler Bowling

MEMORY WORK
Pre-School - 1st Grade Classes: Poem verse
Brad Bartz’ and Marlena Miller’s Class:  Psalm 23
Jade Steinberg:  Passage #1
Hillary Filler & Jak Steinberg: Passage #2
Jordan Mutchler, Elizabeth Starner & Ryan Bartz:  Passage #3
Jennifer Fang: Passage #4
Angela Fang: Passage #5
Jessica Ryken: Passage #6
Andy Vennard: Passage #7
Tyler Mutchler & Matt Goeden: Passage #8	
			
PRACTICE DATES:
7:00 p.m. on November 17 & December 1
8:00 p.m. on December 8