On the Road to Bethlehem

When the new pastor at my church asked me to develop a drama series for Advent 2012, he had no idea what he was getting into! I’d been writing skits for Sixes UMC in Canton, GA and Drama Ministry Magazine off and on for the past 15 years. But did Dr. Joe McKechnie realize that some of those productions are, shall we say, “out of the box”? Might he have had an inkling of what might bubble to the surface of my imagination with this new assignment? And could he have imagined he was about to make his acting debut? So began the wild and wacky journey, “On the Road to Bethlehem.” 

What did bubble to the surface was a setting in first century Judea with a 21st century local television reporter, Bev Beverly, interviewing travelers on the road leading to Bethlehem. She’s heard that something strange and unusual is going on, but nobody else sees anything out of the ordinary – such as a TV crew centuries before TV was invented. With an overabundance of scripted anachronisms, the comedic series unfolds as the reporter encounters a census taker with an iPad; an innkeeper’s wife who seizes the opportunity for a free TV plug; a road-weary couple bickering about why they couldn’t stop for just a moment at the Falafel House on the way into town; two teenage “Wyld Shepherds”; and three star-chasing, galaxy-crossing wise men (who may or may not resemble characters created by Gene Roddenberry).

I had originally planned on producing these as live skits but with two services each Sunday and four Sundays in Advent, coupled with a number of scheduling conflicts around the holidays, we decided to videotape them. Please note, this was NOT a high-budget production. In fact, it was a no-budget production. High school senior and aspiring videographer, Chloe, shot and edited the four scenes, each about 2 – 3 minutes long. We used all-volunteer actors and crew people, including Pastor Joe and his wife as Joseph and Mary. Our set was a gravel path in the little cemetery behind the Church and the wardrobe consisted of the Church’s Christmas pageant costumes. To add to the daze and confusion, we incorporated props and accessories representing 1st century to present day. The four segments were videotaped on a Sunday afternoon in November for playback during the four Sundays of Advent at the beginning of each worship service. Each video presentation was followed by the traditional (live) Advent wreath lighting.

In the end, we had a a lot of fun with this little project and the congregation laughed at all the right places. But more than that, they got it – the overall message about how easy it is to overlook the miraculous because we don’t expect God to reveal His handiwork in ordinary places or people any more than the people in 1st century Bethlehem expected it.

If you’d like to watch the 2012 Advent video series please click on this link.