With a Joyful Shout! A No-Practice Christmas Pageant

This pageant was designed for maximum flexibility–you can have multiple kids in the same role; you can incorporate costumes and props or not; you can invite the congregation to shout out the bolded refrain when you point to them or just narrate it all yourself. However you use this pageant, I pray it resurrects for you the chaos and surprise of that first Christmas!

The refrain, “with a joyful shout,” comes from the hymn The Canticle of the Turning by Rory Cooney, which is itself a paraphrase of Mary’s Magnificat from Luke 1:46-58.

Characters:

Mary(s)
Joseph(s)
Elizabeth(s) (optional)
Animal(s)
Shepherd(s)
Wise One(s)/Magi

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A long, long time ago, God created the world. God called that world good—God loved it and loved all the people in it! But things went wrong. People got mad and sad and scared, and they lost their joy. God wanted to put joy back in the world—so God came down here to do it!

But God didn’t come the way you might expect—in a chariot pulled by angels or with a big show of lightning and thunder. Instead, God came as a little baby. This is the story.

About two thousand years ago there was a girl named Mary (invite Marys forward). She lived in a place where people rarely had enough money, and what money they did have, they had to give to powerful people. Even though her life was hard, Mary had always loved God, and believed God’s promises.

One day, an angel came to Mary (invite angels forward). The angel’s name was Gabriel. “Rejoice!” he said to her. Not hello, or excuse me, but “rejoice!” Mary wasn’t sure what to make of that. What was there to rejoice about?

“God has chosen you for a special mission,” Gabriel said. “The Savior of the world is coming at last, and you are going to be his mom. And you’ll name him Jesus, which means, God saves.”

At first Mary was confused. How was she going to be God’s mom?

“God can do anything,” Gabriel said. “And the Holy Spirit will be with you the whole time.”

So Mary said yes. Gabriel knew then that God had picked the right girl. So Gabriel’s heart cried out… with a joyful SHOUT! (angels sit down)

As soon as she could, Mary went to visit her cousin Elizabeth (invite Elizabeths forward). Elizabeth was pregnant, too, with a baby named John. Even before he was born, that baby knew Mary’s baby was special! When Elizabeth felt her baby kick, she knew it too. So when she heard Mary coming, Elizabeth’s heart cried out… with a joyful SHOUT!

Loudly she blurted out “God has blessed you and your baby. My baby leaped for joy when you came. You will be happy for believing God’s promises.”

Then Mary started singing! She sang, my heart cries out… with a joyful SHOUT! Everybody will have joy soon, because God lifts up people who need help, and feeds people who are hungry, and reins in those who have too much power and use it badly. God has always been good to us, and will be good to us again! (Elizabeths sit down)

Now back in Nazareth, Mary had a fiancé named Joseph. (invite Josephs forward) His great-great-great and lots more greats-grandpa was a king, but he was just a carpenter. When he heard that Mary was pregnant, he worried about it and even thought they wouldn’t get married anymore. But then Joseph had a dream where an angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Joseph! Mary’s baby is God’s child, and she will need your help to raise him. This baby will be Emmanuel, God right there with you on earth.” Then Joseph wanted to be a part of what God was doing! Joseph’s heart cried out… with a joyful SHOUT!

Now, when Mary was pretty pregnant, a politician made a new rule: everybody had to go back to their family town and be registered so they could pay taxes. That wasn’t joyful news! Mary and Joseph had to go on a long, long journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem. (stomping noises)

When they got to Bethlehem, there were so many people there that all the rooms were full! There was nowhere for them to stay, even though Mary was about to have her baby! Finally one innkeeper gave them a space in a stable, a place where animals lived. (invite animals forward and make animal noises) I like to think the animals knew who was coming that night. They honked and squawked and cheeped and mooed and clucked and baaed and altogether, their hearts cried out… with a joyful SHOUT!

And in that loud, smelly, Bethelehem stable is where Mary had her baby. I don’t know if all Mary’s shouts were joyful that night, but let’s imagine the baby Jesus’ first moment out in the world he came to save. Here he was at last, fully human, fully God! Whatever his first cries sounded like, his heart definitely cried out… with a joyful SHOUT! And Joseph probably did too, when he saw his wife and the baby were both okay.

Now while Mary was having her baby, only a few miles away, a group of shepherds were watching their sheep at night, making sure they were safe from wolves. (invite shepherds forward) Suddenly an angel appeared to them, too! The angel said “Don’t be afraid—I’ve got good news! That savior you were waiting for is here, born tonight. You’ll find him in a manger where the animals feed.” And then there was a whole choir of angels, praising God!” ((invite angels forward and Gloria noises) Their hearts cried out… with a joyful shout! So did the shepherds, once they heard the good news. They went off to meet the new baby!

So there was Mary and Joseph, and the animals and the shepherds. And high above them all shone a star, bright in the night, and it was a special star. A long, long way away some wise people saw it and knew it meant a new king had been born. (invite magi forward) So they set out on a long, long, journey (more stomping noises), bringing some strange baby gifts with them—gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  Once they got lost, because they went to the palace, instead of to where Mary and Joseph and Jesus were. But when they found the baby, they knelt and worshipped him, and they were overjoyed. Their hearts cried out… with a joyful SHOUT!

Maybe not everything about the way Jesus was born was joyful. But we rejoice to tell the story, because it reminds us that even when things aren’t perfect, God is still with us everyday—and that’s plenty to be joyful about. So this Christmas, shout for joy and celebrate the newborn King! One more time, let’s all let our hearts cry out… with a joyful SHOUT!