Christmas 1: Rehersals

This December there are so many Christmas “programmes” happening. It is great but very tiring! Working in several different settings has meant there have been so many programmes. Each has been different but really great and Jesus can be seen in all of them!

The special school began their Christmas rehearsals back in October. It certainly felt strange talking about Christmas then!! The children love to dress up, act, dance and sing. The Christmas programme was going to contain all of those.

The Christmas drama was called “Papa Panov”. Set in Russia, the children began to act out the story of the old village shoemaker and his visitors over Christmas. The children acted out several people who Papa Panov welcomed into his house.

www.bethanyroberts.com/PapaPanovsSpecialChristmas.htm

The rehearsals were great. Victoria and I had to use our imagination to put the costumes together, with the limited clothes we had!

This has got to be my favourite! The Police man!

The shoe shiner with Papa Panov, looking very Russian!

We had an Ecuadorian boy dressed as a Russian policemen with a Ben 10 woolly hat, a shoe shiner wearing jeans, and a poor, shoeless child wearing a pink summers dress! The children loved it!

Papa Panov fitting new shoes onto the shoeless child. It was a bit tricky!

The story explains how Papa Panov was told in a dream that Jesus would visit him! It goes on to talk about all the people Papa Panov welcomed into his home, but he became disheartened that Jesus never showed up. An angel then reminded him of the Bible passage that when Papa Panov fed, clothed and helped all the poor visitors he had, he was actually serving God.

 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. ^For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’

 “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink?  Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’

 “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters,^[f] you were doing it to me!’ Matthew 25 v 34-40