Beatboxing Christmas

Hot on the heels of the original Beatbox Nativity, Gavin Tyte has recorded the whole of Lukes gospel as a rap. If you're short of a reader for one of those Christmas services, or just think it's time for a slightly different version of the story, scripts and audio are here.

In case you've no idea what I'm talking about:

Beatbox Nativity

Yes I know you've all seen this already, but lots of people haven't, and it's a great way to do the Bible reading in one of the Christmas services. Go on, dare you.

The Beatbox Passion

Ok, it's utterly unseasonal (if you want the Beatbox Nativity, go here), but I've only just caught up with this, even though it's been online for a few months. Actually, it's more seasonal than most of the stuff around during December, because at least it's about Jesus.

Christmas & Advent - ideas, resources and donkey rides.

One of todays tasks is putting together a Christmas leaflet for the neighbourhood. Even though Advent isn't upon us yet, there are over 20 Christmas 'specials' to start getting ready for. Here are a few places I go for help, and a few ideas to keep things fresh:

1. Cartoon Church has a Christmas section, pay Dave Walker the very reasonable license fee and use can use his cartoons in publicity, on service sheets etc. Far Side inspired Inherit theMirth is more pricey, but some of them are superb

2. Beatbox Bible's reading of Luke 2 did a lot of service last year as a Christmas reading in services

3. For a fresh stock of visuals, it's worth repeat visits to the Nativity Factor site. The competition is running again this year, for 2 minute interpretations of the Christmas story. All of last years shortlist are on the site, and the Christmas Channel on Youtube has all the entries. 

4. Christine Sine's website at Mustard Seed Associates is packed with advent reflections, art and poems, you may need a bit of time to browse it, but there's lots of good stuff there. 

5. If you need an Advent Calendar, try this one from Beyond Church, featuring the Beach Huts used in their 'live' Advent calendar. If you're anywhere in the Hove area, they're repeating it this year. There might just be time to organise something like this, and there are plenty of ways to do it - using shop fronts, garages, garden sheds etc. 

6. Or try a Posada, where Nativity figures are taken from one house to another throughout Advent, and each host household can mark the evening by doing something special (party, carols, decorating). There are some resources for this at Church Army, including a family board game, cut out and make Nativity set, scripts and resources for all-age Christmas services etc.  

Some local ideas, and things that have worked:
 - our 9 Lessons and Carols was uncomfortably full last year, so we've got an 'alternative' on this year, on a Friday night featuring our new Community Choir. The set list will mix traditional carols with choir pieces (Lean on Me, Fix You, Price Tag) to tell the Christmas story. There's more wiggle room over poems and readings too.

 - donkey rides. A variant on 'Get in the Picture', which gives people the chance to dress up and have their photo taken. If you've some nativity dressing up clothes and a local Christmas fair going on, do donkey rides for the children, a chance for folk to take pictures of the Mary/Joseph/Donkey combo, and have something to give away that explains what Christmas is all about.

 - Christmas services in 'secular' venues. Local garden centres have been a regular feature for several years, and they've often rung us to get the date in the calendar. Christingles seem to work well, and we get people to make their own, which is great fun for the kids, and saves a lot of prep work!!

 - Leaflet drop. Boring, boring, but if you're not going to let local folk know what you're up to now, then when are you? Nothing quite so good for the soul as pushing leaflets through snappy letterboxes in the cold. We use 160gsm card - easy to fold but robust enough to survive most letterboxes. Or you can use CPO's nice publicity materials and overprint your details.

 - Chocolate Christmas - a very popular idea for a talk I used a couple of years ago, here's the original, some other ideas (see the comments), and an absolute monster. It works best if you've got the actual chocolates, and there's usually a queue (mostly boys) at the end who want to help you eat them.

 - giveaways: Why Christmas? is a good one, and the Philo trust have several from J John, including What's the Point of Christmas? If you like Adrian Plass's writing style, try this. Some childrens ideas here, or several booklets/ideas on the CPO site plus childrens themed comics, and more comics,

Finally, if you're after a few good Christmas jokes and stories, J Johns Christmas Unwrapped message is a great place to go, very funny.

Update: got to add this superb DIY Advent Calendar from the Mothers Union.

A Bible for those who don't read the Bible

The Bible Society has just launched 'Who?', a rewritten New Testament aimed at those who don't read the Bible, which includes the 3 synoptic gospels merged into one.

Our world is an extraordinary place, a place of breathtaking beauty and fragility. It teems with life in mind-boggling variety, from the things we can see – birds, fingers, leaves – to those we can only imagine – the furthest spinning galaxies. And it all sprang from the mind of God. Before anything existed, before the rhythm of time began, God was.

‘In the beginning’, we read, God spoke a Word of creative power and – Bang! – the cosmos exploded into being. The person we have come to know as Jesus was that ‘Word’. He was with God and one with God from the very start.

that's the start of Johns gospel, but you'd worked that out already. I really like the writing style, though I'm not sure how Paul Langham managed to do over 400 pages of it whilst running a massive church in Bristol. The other good thing is that it gives us a British alternative to the Message - a great paraphrase, but occasionally betraying its cultural roots.

More here, and the link above gives you the contents and a decent excerpt as a taster. Might be worth a look.

Or, if performance poetry is more your style, the first 4 chapters of the Hip-Hop Gospel of Luke are now up on the Beatbox Bible website.

Beatbox Passion

The Beatbox Passion is here,

Coming Soon - The Beatbox Passion

Beatbox Vicar Gavin Tyte was at the Christian Resources Exhibition this week talking about the amazing success of the Beatbox Nativity rap, and mentioned that there is a Beatbox Passion in the pipeline.

Regular news and updates on the Beatbox Bible website. There also seem to be plans for a print edition later this year, covering the whole of Luke's gospel.