Sun 18 December 2016

[ Introduction: leader picks child to knock on bin, everyone calls 'come out Stinky!', Stinky comes out singing his intro tune ]

STINKY: Oh, Mr Dave, I'm so excited!! I'm excited about the special time coming up, when I get lots of toys and we sing songs, and I get lots of toys, and we eat lots of food, and I get lots of toys!

LEADER: Oh... You mean Christmas!

STINKY: Sorry, what did you say?

LEADER: Christmas!

STINKY: [Stinky Faints]

LEADER: [Looks down] Stinky! Are you OK?

STINKY: [Comes up] Oh... I just fainted! Oh, I get so excited about this special time that when I hear about the word, I just faint!

LEADER: I\'m sorry Stinky, I promise I won\'t say that word again.

STINKY: Which word?

LEADER: Christmas!

STINKY: [Faints, comes back slowly]

LEADER: I\'m sorry, I won\'t say it again. You know... I\'ll spell it C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S...

STINKY: [goes through letters....] Oh! You mean Christmas! [Looks at kids, says \'oh-oh...\', faints, then comes back]

STINKY: Oh... I just hope the children don\'t say the word... [suggestive]

LEADER: [encouraging kids...] What do you think kids, shall we say it?

[ Kids say it, Stinky faints, then returns. ]

STINKY: Oh... I better have a puff of my medicine... OK, I think I can hear the word again. Can we try one more time?

[ Kids say it again, Stinky OK. ]

STINKY: Oh... that's better... But you know, I'm still excited!

LEADER: So why do you get so excited about Christmas Stinky?

STINKY: Because the toys! I get lots of gifts from lots of people! I love it! You have some gift ideas for me Mr Dave?

LEADER: Ah... OK, well I thought of a bar of soap... [hands it to Stinky]

STINKY: Soap! Urrgh! That's dangerous! It makes you clean! That's not a very good gift. What other ideas did you have?

LEADER: Some air freshener. [hands it to Stinky]

STINKY: Oh, is it putrid vomit smell? [reads can] Forest Lavender? That's disgusting! So clean and nice! That's not a very good gift... Oh, sometimes I don't like the gifts I get -- especially when they need batteries. I wonder what the best gift ever is...

LEADER: Oh Stinky! You really get excited about gifts, don't you?

STINKY: Yeah! Hey Mr Dave, I've got a question... What is God getting us for Christmas? He made the world, and He's the boss of everything -- what kind of gift would He give us?

LEADER: What a good question Stinky! Let's see what the Bible says...

[ Slide (verse): But the angel said, \"Don\'t be afraid! I have good news for you, which will make everyone happy. This very day in King David\'s hometown a Savior was born for you. He is Christ the Lord. (Luke 2:10-11) ]

LEADER: Ah! This bit of the Bible tells what happened to some shepherds on the first Christmas. They were just looking after their sheep in the night, in the country. Suddenly, an angel appeared!

STINKY: Whoa! I would have been really scared. Did they faint?!

LEADER: They were very scared, but let's read what the angel told them...

[ [Read passage] ]

LEADER: See? Christmas is about good news for everyone -- Jesus, the Saviour and King, has come to the world! You know, the reason why we give gifts at Christmas is that God has given us the best gift ever -- his son Jesus.

STINKY: Why is Jesus such a good gift? Does he come with batteries included?

LEADER: Jesus showed us how we should live, and he taught us many great things. But the best thing about him is that we can be friends with God because of him.

STINKY: Wow! Really!

LEADER: Yes! You see, the Bible says that we all say \'no\' to God and do things he doesn\'t like.

STINKY: That\'s not right! God wouldn\'t be happy about that.

LEADER: No Stinky, that means we can\'t be friends with God.

STINKY: Oh no. How can I be friends with God? Maybe I can give Him a gift -- my soap maybe? [Chuck soap out]

LEADER: No Stinky, instead God has given us something to make us his friends.

STINKY: Did God give us soap?

LEADER: No, God gave us his son Jesus.

STINKY: Ah, Jesus! The gift from God! I hope Jesus is a better gift than my horrible lavender air freshener (chuck out air freshener)!

LEADER: He is. Jesus is a lot, lot better. Jesus did an amazing thing. He died for us. He took the punishment we deserved so we can be forgiven.

STINKY: So he took our place?! Even though he didn\'t deserve to be punished? That\'s amazing!

LEADER: Yes, it is amazing! If we trust and follow him as our king, we can be friends with God. And that\'s why Jesus is the best Christmas gift ever.

STINKY: Wow! That\'s AMAZING! It\'s even better than a smelly rotten fish cake. So what\'s our lesson for today?

[ Slide: Bible Bite: Jesus is God's Christmas gift to the world. ]

LEADER: The lesson is this: Jesus is God's Christmas gift to the world. Do you think we can say this together kids? [read] How about you Stinky, can you say it?

STINKY: Ah... I'm not very good at these, I might need a bit of help. Let me see... Mr Dave's gift to the world is a big soap, without batteries...

LEADER: Oh Stinky! Let's read it all together again to help Stinky. [read]

STINKY: Wow! That's a gift worth getting really excited about.

LEADER: Hey Stinky... What are you getting me for Christmas?

STINKY: Eh... Let me see... [Goes in and out, with an old sock, etc]. Here you go! This sock is so special, there's only one of it.

LEADER: Oh! An old sock! [ironic] How exciting, just what I've always wanted! I'm so excited!

STINKY: Thanks. And don't worry, it doesn't need batteries. I better go now -- thank you for teaching me about Jesus and Christmas Mr Dave! See you later little monkeys! [exits]

Category: scripts Tagged: Jesus Christmas Gifts Greed