Christmas

Photography Workshop

Summary of Lesson Activities:

Hear the story and break into groups to create a tableau (a still picture) of each portion of the story. [Note: 4th-6th grade visited this workshop.]

For scripture and objectives- see above.

Leader Preparation:

• Read the scripture for this lesson.
• Read and reflect on the overview material provided for this lesson.
• Gather the materials

Supplies List:

• Digital camera
• Tripod (optional)
• Bibles; One purple Adventure Bible with tabs (Law, History, etc.)
• Easel; appropriate marker
• Costumes for Mary, Joseph, Angels, Shepherds, Magi
• Any props (optional): baby doll
• Bible tab writing kit: tabs, fine-line Sharpie pen
• Story to tell during photo shoot, broken into sections for each photo (see attached)

Before Start of Class:

• Cut apart the attached story on the dotted lines.

Presentation

Opening- Welcome and Lesson Introduction:
Greet your students warmly, introducing yourself and any other adults. Pass around a basket to collect any offering.
[Note: The Shepherd will quietly take attendance, etc. while you are starting your lesson.]

Ask for any prayer requests. Ask if anyone would like to lead the group in prayer. Be prepared to say a prayer yourself, working in prayer requests. Finish with the Lord’s Prayer. A prayer suggestion: “Dear God, Help us to hear the Christmas story in a new way. Help us to remember why you brought your Son to earth and what you wanted to teach us. Help us to remember each time we say the prayer Jesus said: (say the Lord's Prayer). Amen.”

Dig- Main Content and Reflection:
Ask: Christmas is coming! Where do you think we would find the story of the first Christmas in the Bible? (in the New Testament)

Distribute Bibles.

Say: Let’s find the New Testament. [Remind them of the quick way to find the New Testament. Opening the bible in middle lands you usually in psalms. Taking just the back half and finding the middle of that, gets you to the beginning of NT.]

Find Luke, chapter 1, verse 26.

Ask: What are the first four books of the New Testament called? (the Gospels)
What are the names of the four Gospels?
Say: The word gospel means “good news”. The good news is that God loves us so much that he sent us a gift, Jesus.

Say: Besides being divided into two testaments, the 66 books in the Bible are further divided into collections. We call this collection of Bible books, the Gospels. If you have your own Bible today, be sure you receive a tab for the gospel section of your Bible. [Show the classroom Bible with tabs. Have the Shepherd do tabs for students who bring their Bibles. Use the classroom Bible with tabs as an example.]

Say: This is the photography workshop and that means I am going to be taking pictures. Today’s pictures will be all of you acting out the story of Jesus’ birth.
Ask: Does the story in the Bible about Jesus’ birth include several different settings?
Does the story in the Bible have several different characters?

Say: Yes, there are different characters in different settings. We will take a picture of each one. First we must plan out our pictures. Let’s take a look in our Bibles.

Move quickly through this planning phase
[Note for teacher: You may wish to photograph each section as it is discussed or wait and photograph after planning is complete. Regardless of which you choose, have a student read the portion of the “story” from the cut apart sections while each photo is taken.]

1. Have students find Luke 1:26-38.
If their Bibles have headings, point them out. For example: “The Birth of Jesus Foretold” at verse 26. Tell them that the headings can give them a hint of what the picture will need to be. Ask the students what sort of scene and what characters would be needed to create this picture (Mary, angel Gabriel, in Nazareth). [You may wish to jot this on the easel.]

2. Have the students look at Matthew 1:18-23.
Ask the student what is needed for this picture. (Joseph, angel, in a dream)

3. Have the students look at Luke 2:1-5.
Ask about this picture. (Mary, Joseph, traveling to Bethlehem)

4. Have the students look at Luke 2:6-7.
Ask about this picture. (Mary, Joseph, baby in the manger scene)

5. Have the students look at Luke 2:8-14.
Ask about this picture. (Shepherds, angel, in a field)
Point out our key Bible verse, Luke 2:11.

6. Have the students look at Luke 2:15-20.
Ask about this picture. (Shepherds, Mary, Joseph, baby in the manger scene)

7. Have the students look at Matthew 2:1-12 (particularly at 2:11).
Ask about this picture. (Magi, Mary, Jesus as a young child)

Discussion:
Ask:

• Did you notice as we moved back and forth between Matthew and Luke that there were differences in them regarding Jesus’ birth and some events surrounding it?
• Which gospel tells the story of the shepherds? (Luke)
• Which gospel describes Jesus as being born in a stable? (Luke)
• Which gospel tells the story of the wise men? (Matthew)

Ask: Why do you suppose that the Gospels might tell the story with slightly different details? (accept all answers: written by different authors, at different times)

Say: Matthew was writing for a primarily Jewish audience. So Matthew places an emphasis on things that the Jewish people would have considered important – such as what the prophets had foretold. Three times in chapter 2 Matthew states what prophets had said. Luke was writing for an audience that was already Christian. Luke is trying to tell people that Jesus came for all people, even ordinary people like shepherds.

Create tableaux:
Say: Now we will take our photos. This is called tableau. Each group will create a scene and then “freeze” so the scene can be photographed. We can’t print the photos today but you will receive access to them on the Internet. You might want to make these photos into a book that tells the Christmas story.

Have them quickly choose costumes. Remind students to be creative and to think about the emotions in the story – be sure to show those emotions on their faces and with their body expressions.

Students not currently part of a photo need to sit quietly and watch. Have one student read the portion of the story as the photo is taken. [Use the story sections.]

Closing:
Say: On the very first Christmas God gave us Jesus; Jesus is God’s gift to us.
Ask: Why do you suppose God would give us such a gift? (accept all answers)
Say: God loves each one of us and wants to have a close relationship with each one of us. In order to help us have this relationship, God sent Jesus.

Ask: Remember when we read our key verse in the Bible, who was hearing those words: “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” (shepherds)
Say: Ordinary shepherds doing their work of taking care of sheep heard those words.
Ask: Can we as ordinary people, hear those words this Christmas?

Say: Let’s say a closing prayer before we leave. “Lord, help us to remember why we are celebrating Christmas. We are celebrating Christ being here on earth! You sent Jesus because you love us. Help us remember that love as we go about our week. Amen.”

Resources:

• Faith Quest Lesson Sets at Kirk of Kildaire Presbyterian Church. “Advent: Apostle’s Playhouse.” 2004.
  http://www.kirkofkildaire.org/...postlesPlayhouse.htm (idea for this lesson)
• Faith Quest Lesson Sets at Kirk of Kildaire Presbyterian Church. “Advent: Praising Puppets.” 2004. http://www.kirkofkildaire.org/...tPraisingPuppets.htm (portions of story)
• The KJV is public domain in the United States.

Attachment: The Christmas Story (from Matthew and Luke)
Cut apart on lines. Give to students in the “audience” to read aloud while photo is taken for that portion of the story.
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1.
A young woman named Mary was engaged to Joseph. But before they were married, she learned that she was going to have a baby by God’s Holy Spirit. She found this out when God sent the angel Gabriel to the town of Nazareth in Galilee with a message for Mary. The angel said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

Mary expressed how troubling the angel’s words were.
The angel replied, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.”
“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God… For nothing is impossible with God.”
“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.”

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2.
When Joseph found this out, he thought it was strange. He thought about not marrying Mary. Joseph was a good man and did not want to embarrass Mary in front of everyone. So he decided to quietly call off the wedding. While Joseph was thinking about this, an angel from the Lord came to him in a dream. The angel said, “Joseph, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

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3.
About that time Emperor Caesar Augustus gave orders for the names of all the people to be listed in record books… Everyone had to go to their own hometown to be listed. So Joseph had to leave Nazareth in Galilee and go to Bethlehem in Judea. You see long ago Bethlehem had been King David’s hometown, and Joseph went there because he was from David’s family. Mary was engaged to Joseph and traveled with him to Bethlehem.

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4.
Mary was soon going to have a baby, and while they were in Bethlehem, she gave birth to her first-born son. She wrapped him in cloths and laid him on a bed of hay, because there was no room for them in the inn.
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5.
Now out in the fields nearby, there were shepherds keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

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6.
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

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7.
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi (also called wise men) from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.” King Herod was disturbed at this, so he called together the chief priests and teachers of the law, and he asked them where the Christ was to be born.
“In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied (for this is what the prophets had written).

Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.” After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.
On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

A lesson written by Carol Teener and Carol Hulbert for First United Methodist Church
Ann Arbor, MI 

Copyright 2006 First United Methodist Church, Ann Arbor, MI. 
Permission to copy materials granted for non-commercial use provided credit is given and all cited references remain with this material 

If you use this material, even in a modified form, please include the following reference:
Teener, Carol and Carol Hulbert. Lesson set posted at rotation.org:"Birth Narrative - Photography Lesson." December 2006. Place URL where lesson found inside angle brackets<>.

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