NATIVITY STORY Written by Joel Newport Copyright mychristmaspageant.com FOR PREVIEW ONLY - NOT FOR PRODUCTION
INT. LIVING ROOM - DAY Okay, kids, who wants to set up the nativity? I do! Me too! Billy, what about you? I don t know... I m busy. With what? He s playing with is silly space man. He s not a space man, he s Spark Lightspeed, Space Soldier! Whatever. Sally, be nice. (To Billy) Come on, it will be fun. Fine. I love this nativity set. There are so many pieces. Spark and I will build the stable. Billy starts to put together the stable while holding his action figure. Here s Mary and Joseph
FOR PREVIEW ONLY - NOT FOR PRODUCTION - 2. And the shepherds. And who are these guys? They re the wise men! Look at their crowns and robes. Each one carrying a special gift for the baby Jesus. I m done with the stable. What else is there. Well, we need to set up all the people. Ok, here s Mary and Joseph, they go right in the center. And the Wise men. They traveled from far away, so I ll line them up at the edge of the stable. What about the shepherds? Where do they go? Well, lets put them up on the fireplace mantel, like they are on a hill, watching over their sheep. Great idea! And don t forget the angel. Oh, yes, the angel. A very, very important part of our nativity scene. For now, she can be placed over the stable, to keep watch. Watch for what?
FOR PREVIEW ONLY - NOT FOR PRODUCTION - 3. To keep watch for the birth of Jesus, so she can announce his arrival to the world. Oh, right, it was the angels who came to the shepherds. That s right. Okay, I m going to make dinner, you guys finish setting up. Mom leaves. The kids continue to place the figures around the nativity set. Margie holds up the box the set was in and tips it upside down, shaking it. Where is the baby Jesus? He s not in the box. Where is he? Maybe Spark Lightspeed can help find him. Well he s got to be around here somewhere. I don t see him anywhere. Mom is going to freak if we tell her baby Jesus is missing. I m telling you, it s okay. Spark.. Sally interrupts him....lightwave will find him, we know. It s Spark Lightspeed, and he will help.
FOR PREVIEW ONLY - NOT FOR PRODUCTION - 4. (O.S.) Kids! Time to eat! Okay, not a word. We ll resume our search after we eat, agreed? Agreed. Not a word to mom. The girls leave. Billy sets his action figure down. You ll find him Spark. I know you will. Billy turns and leaves. enters. Star Date 23 94. I appear to be in some sort of foreign land. My mission is to find a lost child. In searching for signs of life, I have found what appears to be locals up on a hill. Going to investigate. Spark leaves. Shepherds enter. Why is it we are always stuck on the hill? It s our job to be on the hill. We have to watch the sheep. SHEPHERD 3 It s where we sit every year. I know, that s the problem. Sit and watch sheep. Sit and watch sheep. It s not very exciting. Well, I know one night a year, it gets very exciting up here.
FOR PREVIEW ONLY - NOT FOR PRODUCTION - 5. True. That s the most amazing time ever. But until then, nothing ever happens up here. Greetings primitive life forms. (To Shepherd 1) You were saying? SHEPHERD 3 Excuse, me? Can we help you? Yes, you see, I m usually with the other Space Soldiers, but for some reason, I ve been chosen to find a missing child. A missing child? Well, now, this could be exciting. SHEPHERD 3 Who is this lost child. Baby Jesus. Wait? Did you say Jesus? Yes, and it s my mission to find him. Mission? We re toys. Well, you might be a toy, but I m Spark Lightspeed, Space Soldier. And I have a job to do. Well we have a job to do too. What is your mission?
FOR PREVIEW ONLY - NOT FOR PRODUCTION - 6. SHEPHERD 3 It s not a mission really, we watch sheep. Watch them do what. Eat. Sleep. Eat again. Sleep some more. Sounds exciting. It s not. But it s important. It s what we were doing the night we found out about Jesus. So you know baby Jesus? SHEPHERD 3 Yes, of course. It was a beautiful night. The sheep were grazing on the side of the hill. But it was more than that. Call me crazy, but I think even the sheep knew something was going to happen that night. It was almost as if they were dancing. CHILDREN S DANCE: Sheep enter and dance. That was beautiful. But how will this help me find the Baby Jesus? SHEPHERD 3 (To Shepherd 2) There must be someone at the nativity who can help me more than we can. But who.
FOR PREVIEW ONLY - NOT FOR PRODUCTION - 7. I would suggest talking to the Inn Keeper. SHEPHERD 3 Of course. He keeps everything straight at the stable. He should know where you can find the baby Jesus. Excellent. Let s go to this Inn Keeper at once. INT. NATIVITY The shepherds and Spark Lightspeed approach the. Hello good Shepherds. What brings you here so early? We ve been told that this man is searching for the Baby Jesus. I see. Can you tell me, what s so important about this infant? What, you don t know? He s not from around here. The Inn Keeper looks at Spark for a moment. Yes, I can see that. The more I know about this child, the better I ll be able to find him. Well, it was over 2000 years ago when Mary and Joseph showed up at my doorstep. (MORE)
FOR PREVIEW ONLY - NOT FOR PRODUCTION - 8. (CONT'D) They were here for the census, but so was everybody else. That was a crazy time. So many people. And so little room. There just wasn t any place for them to stay. And to top it off, Mary was pregnant. What happened? What did they do? We certainly didn t have any room for them, but I couldn t turn them away, so I let them stay in the stable. The stable? That must have been incredibly uncomfortable. Well, why don t you ask them yourself? Great idea. Talk to the parents. That should help find the child for sure. They are in the stable... Follow me. NATIVITY STABLE Mary and Joseph are kneeling next to an empty manger. Mary? Joseph? We have a visitor who would like to speak with you yes, of course. What can we do for you?
FOR PREVIEW ONLY - NOT FOR PRODUCTION - 9. I m here to help find your child, Jesus. Wait? Who are you? I m Spark Lightspeed, Space Soldier. And your looking for Jesus? Yes. It was reported to me that he is missing. What can you tell me about him? There s so much to tell, I don t know where to start. We had just traveled all the way from Nazareth. Everyone had to return to the city of their birth to be counted for Cesar's census. The city was teaming with people by the time we arrived. It was impossible to find a place to stay. After searching for what seemed like an eternity, we were ready to give up. But when we stopped here, they offered us a place to stay. In the stable, correct? Yes. And this is where Jesus was born. Not a very welcoming place to have a child.
FOR PREVIEW ONLY - NOT FOR PRODUCTION - 10. It wasn t perfect. But it was perfect for us. It didn t matter where Jesus was born. It simply mattered that he was born. The night Jesus was born, the entire world rejoiced. We were even visited by kings from far off lands. They traveled from the East to worship the Child. These, kings - where can I find them. I would like to talk with them. Perhaps they could shed some light on where the baby Jesus may be. Well, they have to be close by. They ve never missed a Christmas yet. Except, there was that one year the family got a new puppy. Oh, yes, I forgot about that. We thought we would all be chewed up. Anyway, they aren t hard to find, just look for their elegant robes and crowns. Thank you Mary and Joseph. I promise to find the baby Jesus and return him safely to your stable. Mary and Joseph sit down. And three WISE MEN enter.
FOR PREVIEW ONLY - NOT FOR PRODUCTION - 11. (CONT D) Hello? Good Kings? May I have a word with you? WISE MAN 1 Yes, of course. WISE MAN 2 I ve never seen you around the nativity set before, are you new here? Yes, I m Spark Lightspeed, Space Soldier. WISE MAN 3 Impressive. I ve been asked to search out and find the baby Jesus. WISE MAN 1 Well, you are in the right place. This is a nativity set after all. So you know of the baby Jesus? WISE MAN 2 They don t call us wise men for nothing. The Wise Men chuckle WISE MAN 3 That never gets old. Guys, this is serious. The baby Jesus is missing, and I need to find him. WISE MAN 1 If you want to find Jesus, you just need to look for the sign. I m sorry, I don t understand.
FOR PREVIEW ONLY - NOT FOR PRODUCTION - 12. WISE MAN 2 The sign. You see, when Jesus was born, a star shown brightly in the night sky. WISE MAN 3 It was magnificent. WISE MAN 1 So wonderful, in fact, that it could be seen anytime, day or night. But what does that mean? WISE MAN 2 When we were seeking the Christ Child, we followed the sign. The star. WISE MAN 3 The sign was sent by God, announcing the birth of his Son. Wait a minute. Jesus is the Son of God? WISE MAN 1 Of course. That is why we travelled so far, to worship him. WISE MAN 2 And give him our gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. WISE MAN 3 Rare gifts suitable for a King. What purpose would God have sending his Son to Earth? WISE MAN 1 That is a question best answered by someone even wiser than we? WISE MAN 2 Yes, you must seek out the angel. WISE MAN 3 She can most certainly help you.
FOR PREVIEW ONLY - NOT FOR PRODUCTION - 13. Thank you, great wise men. I will seek the council of the angel. Hopefully she can help me find baby Jesus. The Wise Men sit. The angel appears. Hello Spark Lightspeed. How are you this glorious evening? I m fine, thank you. Wait. How did you know my name? It s all over the nativity. A space soldier is trying to find Jesus. I am, kind angel. Perhaps you could help shed some light on his whereabouts? Well, you re going about it wrong. I don t understand. To find Jesus, you must first open your heart. Then Jesus can actually find you. But I m looking for a missing child. How will this help? Jesus can be found within all who believe in Him. When Mary was told by an angel she was pregnant with the Son of God, she was filled with the Holy Spirit. It was at that moment her heart had found Jesus. But Mary was chosen. She was special.
FOR PREVIEW ONLY - NOT FOR PRODUCTION - 14. And when the multitude of heavenly hosts announced to the shepherds that the Son of God had been born in a stable in Bethlehem, their hearts too were opened, and they had found Jesus. I think I m starting to understand. And the Wise Men. As soon as they saw the star in the sky, they too found Jesus, even before they traveled to Bethlehem. So to find Jesus, you must have faith? Yes, Spark. For God so loved this world, and everyone in it, that He gave to all of us His only Son. And who should ever believe in Him, will never die, but have everlasting life. So, Jesus was never missing? Sometimes, Spark, Jesus is missing from Christmas. But it s when we all take a moment and open our hearts and minds, that we find him again. Go, to the stable. You will find what you seek. I will. I will. Thank you so much. Spark travels to the nativity to find all the nativity characters there, including the baby Jesus in the manger. CONTINUED... (CONT D) Hello everyone. I ve found Jesus! I ve found Him!