Christmas is just around the corner & if churches are still doing Christmas plays, now would be the time to get started. That brings me to this blog. A friend of mine (and regular customer) asked me to write a custom script this year that would be something special for their church for this Christmas. She and I talked over the phone and just tossed around some ideas about what this play could be about. The movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life” came up and I am quite familiar with this story as I have acted in the play a couple of times. I played Uncle Billy and I also played the bank examiner. We started talking about what we might do that we could borrow from that movie. If you remember the movie, (some people watch it every Christmas) the main character is distraught and wants to end his life and an angel shows up to save him and help him figure out that his life matters.
It’s a great story and we only borrow a few things from it as we tell ours. Our main character is a pastor, getting up in years. He is discouraged about his current congregation, and also questions whether he has even been used by God throughout his ministry. Yes, an angel shows up; not a rookie angel looking for some wings, but a real messenger of peace. He is there to comfort this pastor as he prays and pours out his heart to God. We flashback to his younger years with a couple of situations where God really used him to touch some lives. One such person being a little girl who comes to Christ. If you recall, the majority of the movie is telling the backstory.
As we jump back to the present, we have our biggest character (the lady directing the Christmas program at church) who has some big problems of her own. Again, the pastor is ready to help out and make a difference in someone’s life. This brings us to our closing scene, the program itself. (Or the very ending of the program, anyway). Adding some music to the scene helps (music always makes it better) and people coming to worship adult Jesus to wrap up the program. But then comes an added bit where people share how the pastor has encouraged and touched their lives in many ways. A bit of a surprise ending when that same little girl from the past (now a grown woman) comes to share something very encouraging to this precious man of God.