Looking Back at Christmas was a drama performed at First United Methodist Church Edna in December 2010.  Kay was the Director (pictured above next to Zechariah), but I am unsure if she composed the piece or not.  I think she did... Please consider doing this play in your own church.  It's amazing!  The script is below:

Begin with congregational singing.

Lights dim except for a spotlight on Zechariah.

ZECHARIAH

It had been 400 years since the Lord God had communicated with His people – 400 long, silent years.  Many things remained much the same – sacrifice and worship at the temple, the daily duties of the priesthood – but there was a dullness to it all, a dullness to life, a …lifelessness, like life without any life in it.

Many blamed this on the rule of the Romans over us, but in truth?  I believe it was that our lives were void of the involvement of our God and we had forgotten as a people to even hope to hear Him speak.

It was with just such hopelessness and dullness of heart that I went about my priestly duties that day in the temple.  The lot had fallen to me to go into the Holy Place every morning and every evening to take incense to burn before the Lord.  My mind was on doing everything just right, of course, to do what was required in a manner pleasing to the Lord.

Then suddenly – there before me – standing at the right side of the altar of incense – was …an angel!  I have to admit, I was gripped with fear!  I couldn’t even move.  But the angel spoke to me and said, “Don’t be afraid, Zechariah.  Your prayer has been heard.  Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son and you are to give him the name John.  He will be a joy and delight to you and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord.  He is never to take wine or fermented drink and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth.  Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God, and he will go before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous – to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

Well, I am sorry to say, I responded to this great message out of my doubt and discouragement.  It had been years since I had prayed for a son.  I quit thinking about it long ago.  And it just didn’t seem possible that the God who had not spoken for 400 years would want to speak to ME!

I asked the angel how what he said could be true, since Elizabeth and I had grown too old to have a child.  The angel explained to me that he was Gabriel who stands in the presence of God, sent to speak to me this announcement.   He also said I’d be unable to speak until this prophecy was fulfilled.

It was as he said.  I could not speak, but I’m sure the joy I felt and the wonder of God sending His messenger to me must have shone on my face for nine months!

I completed my time of service in the temple, then headed back to Hebron.  I remember well the long, quiet journey home.  My thoughts were on Elizabeth.  Oh, Elizabeth, my dear wife, how am I ever going to explain this?  Especially since I can’t talk!

Light on Zechariah dims.  Lights up on vocalists who sing an appropriate song, such as “Blessed Is He Who Comes in the Name of the Lord”.  As the music ends, lights dim on musicians and spotlight is on Elizabeth.

ELIZABETH

What a strange and wonderful time that was!  Imagine – a woman of my age expecting a baby!  It was unheard of!  Except for Sarah, of course.  Why, my friends were enjoying their grandchildren, some their great-grandchildren, and here I was about to have my first child.

            I can’t say that I always knew the Lord God would answer my prayers and give me a child, but I did know that God would be faithful – faithful to meet that need of my heart – however He chose to do it.  Like my young cousin Mary, I would have gladly called her my own.

            But suddenly I found myself expecting a baby!  During those days, Zechariah and I would often just look at each other and smile, and then burst out laughing.  Of course, you couldn’t hear Zechariah laugh.

            And then there was that day when dear Mary arrived.  I heard her speak and it took my breath away.  I felt something I had never felt before.  I couldn’t begin to describe it to you.  It was … the glory of God …His presence … His Spirit … rushing into me and filling me!  The little one in my womb leaped for joy!

            Oh, as I tell it to you now, I want to fall to my knees in worship.  I remember clearly what I said at that moment.

            “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the child you will bear.  But why am I so favored that the mother of my Lord should come to me?  As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.  Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord said to her will be accomplished.”

            It seemed that I just knew – as if the Lord God put the knowledge within me of what He was doing.  And I understood that my son would herald the Messiah!  AND that the Messiah, the Anointed One, had come and he was a tiny baby in the womb of my cousin Mary!  The seed of God – conceived by the Holy Spirit to be born … of a woman.  God had become a little baby.

 

Light on Elizabeth dims.  Lights up on vocalists who sing an appropriate song, such as “God Became a Baby”.  As the music ends, lights dim on musicians and spotlight is on The Innkeeper’s Daughter.

THE INNKEEPER’S DAUGHTER

I was helping Mama when the man came to our door.  He started to ask about a place to sleep, but Mama quickly told him we had nothing – not so much as a mat he could use.  I remember how worried he looked, maybe even scared.  He told Mama that his wife was about to have a baby and they needed a place real bad for the baby to be born.  Well, that did it for Mama.  She told him to wait while she asked Papa if there was any place to be found for them.

            I could hear them arguing – Mama’s soft heart wanting to do something to help that young couple, Papa’s practical nature asking her just what could be done.  While they … discussed it, I peeked out the door to see this woman.  But she was hardly older than me!  Just a young girl sitting on a donkey.  I could see the pain in her eyes and the weariness in her face.  She looked scared, too.

            I would’ve gladly given them my mat for the night, if Papa hadn’t already rented it out.  As it was, our whole family would be sleeping on Papa and Mama’s mat in a lean-to on the roof.  Papa came then, and in a weary voice, he told the man he was sorry, our inn was more than full already and every bed paid for.  He wished them well and just as the man turned away, he added, “If you find a spot to sleep anywhere on this property, you are welcome to it.”

            With his conscience partly satisfied, he closed the door quickly and got real busy tending to our paying guests.  I think he was trying to stay clear of Mama.

            During the night, I thought I heard a baby’s cry.  I decided I was dreaming about the young woman on the donkey whose baby would soon be born.  Then I heard it again.  It seemed to be coming from the stable at the back of our property.  I slipped on my sandals and pulled on my robe and quiet as a mouse I slipped away from Mama and Papa’s mat.

            I hurried through the dark to the stable and saw there, laying on the hay, that young woman – her face still tired, but shining now with joy.  And beside her, a newborn baby, all wrapped up in swaddling clothes.

            The man was there, too, kneeling beside them with his head bowed low.  I thought he must be really tired, but as I moved closer to see the baby better, the strangest feeling came over me – like I wanted to kneel, too.  I don’t know why I did it, but I fell to my knees there in the dark and just stared at that little baby.  I didn’t know what it was, but I knew that something real important had just happened.  The baby and his mother slept and the man and I just knelt – him in the stable and me outside in the dark.

Light on The Innkeeper’s Daughter dims.  Lights up on vocalists who sing an appropriate song, such as “Away in a Manger”.  As the music ends, lights dim on musicians and spotlight is on Joseph.

JOSEPH

For a long time after the baby was born – hours, I guess, I don’t know – all I could do was kneel beside Him.  It seemed that what I had thought was real wasn’t so real – that there were things beyond my vision – beyond my senses – beyond my understanding that were more real than anything I had ever known.  It was with this sense of a greater truth, a larger reality, that I bowed beside the newborn babe laying in a feed trough upon some hay.  And I knew He was my King.

            But He was also to be my son!  The weight of this responsibility had been on me for some months now – actually from the night the angel came to me in a dream.  You see, Mary told me what happened, how she was to have a child conceived by the Holy Spirit of God.  Oh, Mary, my sweet little Mary!  I didn’t know what to think!  Had she lost her mind?  Had she betrayed me?  The only realistic possibilities didn’t seem like possibilities at all.

            But I had to do something.  The law decrees that a woman found in such a condition be executed!  So I planned to move Mary to some place where she and her baby would be safe, then I would as quietly as possible break the legal ties of our betrothal.

            When the angel came though, he told me not to fear taking her as my wife, that her baby was conceived by the Holy Spirit.  He said she would give birth to a son and I was to name Him Jesus – as a father names his own son – I was to name Him!  It began to dawn on me the awesomeness of what lay ahead of me.  I was to be father to … the Son … of God!

            I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but I had no idea what was to come: the time in Bethlehem, the escape to Egypt, our return to Galilee, those years with Jesus at my side in the shop.  What a remarkable child He was.

            But that night in the stable as Mary and the baby slept, I lay awake for a long time, remembering and wondering about something else the angel said: “He will save His people from their sins.”  I knew that the ONLY atonement for sin was the blood sacrifice of a perfect lamb.  I didn’t understand at all what the Lord God was doing, but I knew this was the most wonderful baby ever born.

            And I remembered the words of the prophet Isaiah, “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son and they will call Him Immanuel.”  I knelt beside this wondrous child and said, “Immanuel.  God … with … us.”

Light on Joseph dims.  Lights up on vocalists who sing an appropriate song, such as “Emmanuel”.  As the music ends, lights dim on musicians and spotlight is on Mary.

MARY

Jesus.  Son of the Most High.  The Son of God.  That’s what the angel said He would be called.  And His kingdom would never end.

            I was barely more than a child myself when the angel came to me with those words.  How could I possibly understand all that was proclaimed to me that day?  That I would give birth to a baby – when I had known no man!  That He would be the Son of God!  That He is a king – THE King!  And that He would reign forever.

            I didn’t know how it would be, but I knew that it would be.  I asked the angel and the explained that the power of the Most High would overshadow me and I would conceive.  The angel stood waiting for my answer.  It seemed that time stood still as hundreds of questions and thoughts rushed through my mind.  Pregnant!?!?  And not married?!?!  I could be stoned for that!  But … this would be God’s child.  That couldn’t happen.  Joseph!  Oh, no!  He’d think I’d betrayed him!  He’d never believe me.  I’ll lose him and I love him so!  I couldn’t bear it … but, no.  This is God’s plan.  Surely He can handle that problem, too.  My family!  Ohhh, I’ll disgrace them!  But what about the honor I’ll bring to my family by being chosen to bear God’s Son?

            The angel said He would be King.  How will I raise Him?  Will He be like other babies?  Will He grow up like other little boys?  What will He be like?  I’m just a girl and a poor one at that.  How can I raise a king?  It just doesn’t seem like … no, no!  This is God’s plan and these are His problems.  This is His Son and He will take are of Him.

            My mind was unsettled and afraid, but my heart was settled and at peace.  I told the angel, “I am the Lord’s servant.  May it be to me as you have said.”  And then he left.

            I know now that the thing I was unprepared for was not raising this baby.  The thing I couldn’t begin to comprehend at that time was – this baby is my Lord.  He is my King.  He is my Savior.  Joseph often reminded me of the angel’s words to him, “He will save His people from their sins.” There were many, many times when I would yearn for those days between that night He was born in that stable and the day He left our home and I knew He would never really be back.

            I wonder if I had known what He would face, what I would see Him suffer, if I would have said ‘yes’ so quickly to that angel.  But no, as I remember the song the Holy Spirit put in me the day I arrived at Elizabeth’s house, its words still rise out of my heart.  I still sing it.  I will always sing it.

            “Behold, the handmaiden of the Lord.  My soul does magnify the Lord!  I rejoice in God, my Savior.  Oh Lord, let it be even as You said unto me.”

Light on Mary dims.  Lights up on vocalists who sing an appropriate song, such as “Mary’s Song”.  As the music ends, lights come on and congregation sings “O Come Let Us Adore Him”.