wordsout by godfrey rust
Days & Seasons    back to advent forward to epiphany


 

Christmas  


Poems and readings for carol services and other Christmas events, widely used in the UK and elsewhere, free of charge for use in any not-for-profit event 
or publication

[ about these readings ]


longer 

Joseph and the shepherds

   "Midnight in Bethlehem, Zero AD. 1 or 2 people in difficulty" (time 3:30)    

Poem for Christmas Eve 

   A love story for a broken world (time 3:15)    

What kind of Messiah? from A Christmas commentary

   So what do we really want from a Saviour? (time 1:30)     

Gabriel's revelation   

    Improbable message from a confused archangel  (time 4:30)    

Baby crying 

   "The little Lord Jesus no crying he makes" Yeah, as if...  (time 2:30)

The magi at the empty manger (for one or three voices) 

   What will we do with the gifts now? (time 2:00)

Herod's last request 

   Paranoid Jewish tyrant king gatecrashes suburban Christmas (time 6:30)

Skin

    Life on the inside for a God clothed in skin (time 4:30)

Light of the world (with version for 2 voices here)

    Technicians mark up the script for "The Nativity" (time 3:15)

A child is born (with version for 5 voices here)

    A multiple-choice, politically-correct prophecy (time 3:40)

The epiphany from Magi

    "He just lay there, needing to be loved" (time 3:00)

Incarnate 

    Alpha to Omega (time 2:30)

The (good)will of the people (topical from 2019) 

        A shepherd answers back (time 2:00)  

News just in (for 1 or 2 voices, topical some years ago!) 

          Seasonal news bulletin (time 2:30)


shorter 

The journey of the magi (cont.)

    Wise men overshoot the Bethlehem exit and turn up in 21st C London

Come, Immanuel 

   "Come and live rough as we do: come and die."  

The sceptical shepherd  

   Conspiracy theories in the hills above Bethlehem

Notes for a biography

    A synopsis of Jesus' badly misjudged life

Nappy Christmas

    Just a joke

Any poem from The last straw

Any short poem from A Christmas commentary

 

four narrative sequences

The last straw 

   Short poems to introduce carol service bible readings

  The fall 

  The promise

  The word 

  The annunciation 

  The nativity 

  The shepherds   

  The magi  

  The flight into Egypt

A Christmas commentary

   Poems to frame a service or concert

  Prologue

  What kind of Messiah?

  Dancing

  Modus operandi

  The fourth king's gift

  Epilogue

Magi 

   The story as an allegory of the discovery of knowledge.

  The seekers

  The journey  

  The gifts   

  The epiphany

Prayers of hope

   Four prayers following the key events

      birth  

  shepherds     

  magi

  flight