Description

Narrated retelling of the message behind the writing, and the reason, of one of historys most famous and beloved carols.
Uses two narrators, (who may be on stage or unseen), and any number of singers. No special sets, lighting, sound, costuming or props required.Optionally this script can be a form of suspended human video with any number of actors miming and moving to the words of the carol. Some guidelines for miming are provided in this script however to a very large degree the actors will simply be making logical responses to the very worshipful words in the carol. The scene would be the nativity, with Joseph, Mary and the baby Jesus, as well as any number of angels, shepherds and wise men.
Remember to do some basic characterization for all actors, as well as basic choreography.

Sample of script:

N1: Charles Wesley was a famous preacher and songwriter who was born almost 300 years ago. During his life he wrote over 6,500 hymns, many of which are still favorites today.

N2: Of that great number, Wesley’s best-known song is probably “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing.” It has been changed slightly by editors over the years, but most of it remains just as Wesley intended when he wrote it originally.

N1: But while the words we sing are mostly the original, the tune is not. More than 100 years after Wesley penned the words, composer Felix Mendelssohn wrote a cantata to celebrate the invention of the printing press. The second chorus of that cantata became the music we now know as “Hark The Herald Angels Sing”.

N2: Wesley the poet. Mendelssohn the composer. Wesley insisted that whatever the music used for his poem, it must be slow solemn music.

N1: Yes, and Mendelssohn made it very clear that his music was for secular use only.

N2: But in 1855, long after both Wesley and Mendelssohn were dead, Dr. William Cummings put Wesley’s words and Mendelssohn’s music together.

N1: Amazing, isn’t it, how man’s plans and God’s will so often move in different directions. Yet men open to being used by God can find themselves such an awesome tool in sculpting God’s great design.

N2: Let’s sing together as we re-visit this old, old song which in so many ways is so new, so relevant 300 years after it’s writing.

lights up on nativity scene, angels come around manger, followed by shepherds and wise men.

N1: The song begins with a triumphant proclamation of Jesus' birth, and describes the fact that He is both God and man.

N2: Of great importance though, it then praises Him for the salvation He was born to provide.

all sing first two lines as angels hold out hands, sing:

Hark! the herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King;
Peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled.”

N1: To talk about peace on earth is popular at Christmas time, as it should be. Jesus did come to bring peace. Primarily, however, He came to bring us peace with God, which is what Wesley meant when he wrote, “God and sinners reconciled.”

N2: We all have sinned against God; we all have broken His commandments. And sin makes man into God’s enemy, for a Holy God can not tolerate sin. When people become enemies, they can’t go back to being friends until their differences are resolved. Sometimes resolution involves the payment for wrongdoing, and this is essentially what Jesus did when He died on the cross.

N1: Jesus paid the price necessary to reconcile us to God. We must remember that the price was really ours to pay, not God's, but Jesus was able to pay it because, though He was God, He became also a man, being born as a baby on that first Christmas day.

N2: Charles Wesley described Jesus' birth in the second verse of this song. He wrote,:

all sing next four lines, shepherds and wise men come bow before the baby:

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