The constant onslaught of Christmas advertising from October onwards can start to wear a little thin as we enter December. Something inside us knows that however lovely the advert featuring a snowman giving a gift to a unicorn is – or whatever this years iteration is – it’s not really what Christmas is all about.
Instead, here is a concise and creative away of sharing the crux of the Christmas message: two parents, one baby and a whole lot of love.
Accompanied by an indie-folk version of ‘In the bleak midwinter’, the traditional tale of the nativity is shown juxtaposed against the urban background of South-East London.
All Saints Peckham, a church in Southeast London, took to the iconic London Overground to stage this fun and experimental video. Part flashmob, part timelapse, part street theatre, the goal was to retell the Nativity story with London as our backdrop.
Filmed (remarkably) in only one take on a fairly cold Saturday morning.
A brilliant child-friendly way of exploring the nativity through the eyes of a mystery-solving mouse, as he discovers more about the birth of Jesus, finding that Jesus really is Emmanuel, Rescuer and King:
Order the Noisy Neighbour story booklet, download this film for free and get more Christmas resources at the Bible Society website.
Spoken Truth and the Bible Society have partnered together to tell the story of Mary’s journey to motherhood in a 21st century setting. Mary’s Song is a spoken word poem and original song – enjoy!
I’ve used it with a couple of groups of non-Christian young people who I work with who really enjoyed exploring the themes from it. Download the videos or the sheet music for free from here.
Carrying on the series of great Christmas video clips is the Bethlehemiam Rhapsody – old school but great:
Miriam Swaffield wrote these spoken word videos about the shepherds, the wise men and baby Jesus. They are brilliant, we’ve used them with our 11-14 year olds who’ve loved them.
Fusion have recorded them and made them available for FREE download here – you might want to use them in your services or youth events you’ve got planned.
I love the work of Koko, and this video is well worth showing to the youth group:
Start your day the right way, with this video of what’s possibly the world’s classiest flash mob. Members of the United States Air Force Band wore disguises to the National Air and Space Museum, and then with no announcement, slowly began coming out of the crowd to perform a collection of Christmas classics, culminating with an epic rendition of “Joy to the World”: