by Evie Blum and New Philadelphia Moravian, Winston-Salem, NC

Note: You are free to adapt this as needed for your congregation and to use the template link below to insert your slides. 

• Template to insert slides
• Pageant script

Directions

This Tableau Nativity can be used during Advent or on Christmas Eve -- in whatever platform your congregation is planning for worship -- recorded or live-stream.

Directions for families:

Dress all in black (or matching solid dark colors) - no costumes. Create the assigned “still” scene from Luke’s narrative of the birth of Jesus. (Have fun with it, let pets get in on the fun, too.) Take a picture of your “still scene” with your cell phone camera. Label your picture with the scene name before you send it to the person organizing your congregation’s Tableau Nativity. (Make sure families label their picture with the scene name in the subject line of the message to avoid confusion.) The pictures can then be inserted into the corresponding numbered template. (see above) At the appropriate time in the worship service, start to play the recording of the reading of Luke’s nativity narrative. (Or you can record a child from your congregation reading Luke 2:1-20.) Click through slides when prompted in the script.

Assign families in your congregation one of the following scenes:

Nine Nativity Story scenes for depiction:  

1. Census - Luke 2:1-3
2. Journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem - Luke 2:4-5
3. Birth of Jesus -Luke 2:6
4. Inn/manger - Luke 2:7
5. Shepherd with flocks - Luke 2:8
6. Angel with shepherds - Luke 2:9-12
7. Shepherd, angels with heavenly host - Luke 2:13-14
8. Shepherds at manger - Luke 2:15-18
9. Mary ponders, shepherds praise - Luke 2:19-20

Luke 2 - Tableau Nativity Slide Show Narration

Download the script from the link at the top of this page; you can have the passages read live, record a child reading them, or use the recording below with the script. Note: The text and recording use the King James version Bible, but if you are not using the provided recording, you may choose the Bible version of your choice.