The Garage Will Be Good Enough For You

Here's a little Christmas script I put together for a youth group play:

The Garage Will Be Good Enough For You

Narrator We are going to pretend for a few moments, that the Christmas story found in Luke chapter 2 happened in modern day America, instead of ancient Bethlehem. And we’re going to imagine that instead of going to an inn for a makeshift delivery room, Mary and Joseph looked for refuge at a local church.

Lights on

Joseph (runs in) I need help! Somebody help me! She’s having a baby!
Pastor Whoa, there buddy, calm down. Now, who’s having a baby?
Joseph Mary. She…she’s with me. I think the baby’s coming really soon. Please help us!
Pastor Okay you just hold tight. I’ll get my wife in here. Jean! Come in here a minute, would you?
Jean (from backstage) I’ll be right there, Bill!
Pastor Jean’s real good with babies. We’ve got a few young ones of our own.
Joseph I really appreciate it. There isn’t a hotel for miles.
Pastor No, this town isn’t much for traffic. And the nearest hospital is quite a ways off as well. You folks had best stay here, tonight. We have a little apartment upstairs set up for guest evangelists and such. And we’ve got a family doctor that goes to our church here. I’ll call him over as soon as we get you settled.
Joseph Thank you so much. We would have been stranded.
Pastor Don’t even mention it. Now go get her and bring her in here, and we’ll get you all fixed up. (Joseph leaves)
Jean (walks in) Oh, there you are. Now what’s going on?
Pastor We have a man here whose wife is going to have a baby.
Jean You mean right here? She’s going to have it now?
Pastor From the sounds of things, yes.
Jean Oh, how exciting!
Pastor We need to set them up in the guest apartment and get Dr. Sanders on the phone.
Jean I just checked the apartment this morning—it’s ready. I’ll go call the doctor. (she leaves)
Joseph (walks in with Mary) We don’t have much time, Pastor, which way to that apartment?
Pastor Jean will be back in a second. She’ll take you right there. (pauses) Your wife is quite young.
Joseph Well, she’s not really my…wife.
Pastor What?
Joseph She’s more like my fiancée.
Pastor Your fiancée?
Mary Can we please talk about this some other time?
Pastor How old are you, miss?
Mary I’m 16. Can we please just find a place for me to lie down?
Pastor You’re 16. How very interesting. And you, young man, how old are you?
Joseph I am 23.
Pastor I see. So you, a 23 year old man, bring your 16 year old pregnant girlfriend into the house of God and you expect us just to take you in? And pretend not to notice that you are living in sin?
Joseph It’s not as simple as all that. It would be very difficult to explain to you.
Pastor (Jean walks in) You don’t need to explain anything at all to me. I have been a pastor for 14 years. I know the fruit of immorality when I see it. Jean, call Dr. Sanders back. Tell him that he can meet the expectant parents in the garage behind the church instead of the guest apartment. And tell him that the expectant parents are not married. And one of them is a minor. So he’s under no moral obligation to rush over.
Jean (almost a whisper) They’re not married?
Mary You’re going to put us in the garage?
Joseph What about that guest apartment?
Pastor I am being gracious with you and allowing you to use our garage. It is either that or you can go to our City Rescue Mission.
Joseph There will be no privacy at the rescue mission.
Pastor I guess you should have thought about these things earlier.
Mary I cannot believe this. Joseph, just tell them our story. Tell them—
Pastor May I remind you young lady, that this is the house of God. And whatever story of debauchery you might have is not welcome here. Jean, point them to the garage.
Jean Do you think I should stay out there with them? To make sure that they’re okay?
Pastor Jean, darling, they got themselves into this mess. Let them get themselves out.
Narrator So Joseph and Mary make their way to the garage. Joseph rummages through the mounds of stuff piled around and soon finds a small cot and some suitable blankets and other material. And just a short time later, the Son of God is born. And nobody but heaven knows. Soon however, the angels of heaven share the news with a young husband and wife, who are out doing a paper route. The angels inform the startled couple what has happened and where they can find the newborn Son of God.
Jon (walks up; talking loudly) Beth, come here! They’re in here!
Beth (enters, then stands, staring, then says softly and incredulously) Oh my word.
Joseph (rises to meet them) Can I help you?
Jon Okay, I’m sorry. I know this sounds like a crazy question. But did you just have that baby?
Joseph Well, I didn’t. But my fiancée did.
Beth (softly and incredulously) Oh my word.
Jon I don’t think I’ve ever…this is the craziest…
Joseph Can I help you?
Beth What my husband means to say is…okay, if I say this to you and you want us to leave, that’s fine, I mean, I would definitely be freaked out if someone came into my garage where I just had a baby and said…and said…
Joseph And said what?
Jon What my wife means to say is that, well, we were uh, doing our paper route this morning. Um, we’ve needed some extra cash lately, we won’t have to do the route for very much longer; it’s just to help make ends meet for a little while.
Beth He doesn’t care about our current financial situation, Jon, just get to the point.
Jon Okay, we were halfway through our paper route, and then we saw an angel. (pauses)
Joseph Go on.
Jon Uh, okay. Actually it was a bunch of angels. At first we thought it was like a bunch of cops and I thought they were looking for us. I mean, I’ve never been in any serious trouble with the law, I just thought maybe they had made a mistake or something, or I thought maybe my wife was secretly a counterfeiter or a heroin dealer or something, but then—
Beth Jon, please.
Jon Right, sorry. But then one of them spoke to us. And he told us about you, here in the garage. And how the Son of God was born tonight. And he told us that there would be a huge star over the exact garage where the Son of God was born.
Joseph I see.
Jon Yeah, I know what you’re thinking. Uh, and if that would have happened while I was by myself, I probably would have not believed that I saw and heard what I thought I saw and heard. But since my wife was with me doing the paper route, because normally she’s not. But since today is a Sunday and Sunday newspapers are so much bigger because of all the extra comics and advertisements, it just takes a lot longer to—
Beth Jon, please.
Jon Right, sorry. So anyhow, my wife was with me—
Beth And I saw and heard everything. Exactly the way he did.
Jon So we think that your child is actually the Son of God.
Beth And we’re not crazy. At least I’m not.
Joseph I know you’re not crazy. And I also know that our little baby boy is the Son of God. And your angel sounds a lot like the same one who talked to us.
Jon You saw an angel too?
Joseph Yeah, we did.
Beth Will you tell us about it? I mean, do you mind? If you want us to let you have your privacy…
Joseph No it’s okay. I’m definitely not going to be sleeping tonight. And I didn’t exactly plan on visitors, but it’s definitely okay. Yeah. I can tell you. I actually love this story.(takes a breath) Okay. Mary became pregnant about 9 months ago, obviously. We were just engaged, not married. And we both come from very strict, religious backgrounds. In the homes where we grew up, premarital sex was definitely not allowed. I was going to break up with her…break off our engagement…because I knew…I wasn’t the father.
Jon Oh.
Joseph Everyone assumed I was, obviously. But I wasn’t. We had never been intimate with each other. Not even close. And so when she told me she was going to have a baby, I sort of freaked out at her. I became very jealous, and angry, and all kinds of stuff. And she tried to tell me, that an angel had told her she was pregnant. Um, and I thought that she was…I don’t know…because I could tell she wasn’t lying to me on purpose. I could tell that she honestly thought she was telling me the truth. She told me that she her baby was the Son of God. She was going to give birth to the Messiah.
Jon Wow.
Joseph Yeah.
Beth So did you believe her?
Joseph No. Not at all. I was scared. I was scared for her, I guess. Because she’s not a liar. But I was positive there was no way that could have been true. I thought something happened to her. I didn’t know what was going on.
Beth So what happened?
Joseph (quietly) Her angel came and talked to me.
Beth Wow.
Joseph Yeah. He told me that Mary was telling the truth. That she really was going to give birth to the Messiah.
Jon That is incredible. The Son of God. That is incredible.
Joseph Yeah. And so I decided to stay with her. And we’re going to get married, and raise this baby together.
Beth I have a question.
Joseph Yeah?
Beth I mean this isn’t a very important question in the grand scheme of things, but honestly I’m having trouble figuring out the grand scheme of things right now, so I’ve decided to ask this instead.
Jon Beth, you’re acting like me. Just ask your question.
Beth Sorry. (to Joseph) Sorry.
Joseph (smiling) What did you want to ask?
Beth Why the garage? Why was the Messiah born here? I mean, we deliver newspapers to the church that owns this property. I think they have an apartment you could have used.
Joseph Yeah, we were going to stay there, but the pastor changed his mind, and asked us to stay here. And I knew I didn’t have time to argue. We were way too far from a hospital, and they said they would call a doctor to come see us.
Jon Did he make it on time.
Joseph The doctor? No. The doctor never showed up.
Beth So what happened?
Joseph So Jesus was born. With no doctors.
Mary Joseph, who’s here?
Joseph Oh, I’m sorry baby, I didn’t mean to wake you. Some people stopped by, they deliver newspapers and—
Jon That’s just extra work. We have other jobs.
Beth They don’t care, Jon.
Joseph An angel told them that the Baby was born.
Mary And so they’re here to see Him?
Beth Oh, can we? I didn’t think—I didn’t know—that would be—oh my word—
Joseph Yes. It sounds like they would like to see Him.
Beth We’re really sorry for barging in—
Mary Don’t be sorry. I wish everyone could see Him.
Jon He’s incredible.
Beth He’s the most incredible baby ever.
Mary Do you want to hold Him?
Beth Can I?
Mary Certainly.
Beth (softly and incredulously) Oh my word. He’s perfect.
Mary Yeah, He is.
Beth Why would…
Mary What? What were you going to say?
Beth Why would God let us see Him?
Mary What do you mean?
Beth I mean look at us. We come bumbling in here, like a couple of…
Jon Morons. Morons is the word you’re looking for.
Mary You’re not morons.
Beth But why would God let us see Him? Why would He let me hold Him? We’re the last people on earth who deserve to see the Son of God. How does this just happen to someone? With the angels and…
Mary I’ve wondered the same thing ever since that night when the angel told me what was going to happen. I was scared…I was so…I’ve grown up being taught that the Messiah was coming to earth. And I always firmly believed that it was going to happen. But I never thought it would be during my lifetime. And I never ever thought I would have anything to do with it...believe me when I say the only thing that chose me was the grace of God.
Beth But you’re so…
Mary No. Whatever you were going to say. No. I’m not anything. God looked down and chose me for reasons I promise you that are entirely His own.
Jon Probably the same reason He let us come and see Him.
Joseph And probably the same reason He let me stay with Mary, even though I almost…
Mary And probably the same reason He let His Son be born in this place at all.
Beth You mean this piece of garbage garage?
Mary No, I mean this piece of garbage earth.
Beth (pause) Can we tell people? About baby Jesus? And you guys out here in the garage?
Mary Yeah.
Jon We’re going to go…we’re going to let you rest…we’re really sorry for...
Mary Please, don’t be sorry for anything.
Beth Go back to sleep.
Jon Thanks for letting us see Him.
Mary Thanks for coming to find us.
Beth Bye. (they leave.)
Mary (looks at Jesus) And thank you for coming to find us, too.
Narrator So that morning, Pastor Bill walks out to his front porch, picks up his newspaper, and notices a little note attached to the front page. It read: “Pastor Bill, last night the Son of God was born in your church’s garage. You should go see Him. Have a blessed day, Jon and Beth Shepherd; your newspaper deliverers.” Although Pastor Bill had yet to consume his customary morning cup of coffee, he was suddenly wide awake. All of the prophecies he had learned backwards and forwards in his days in seminary came spinning to the front of his mind. And it soon became very clear that he had made a horrible mistake. He had sent the Son of God to the garage. He sat down with his wife, Jean, and they formulated a plan. They called their deacons. And their deacons called the church members. And they made plans for the biggest celebration in church history. And then Pastor Bill and his wife, Jean, went to visit the little family in the garage.
Pastor (walks in with Jean) Good morning.
Joseph Good morning.
Pastor Um, you may not remember me, we met last night.
Joseph No, I definitely remember you. You’re the pastor at the church, here. The one who owns this garage.
Pastor So you do remember me. (Pause) Good.
Joseph Yes.
Pastor And about the garage. Uh, that was a huge misunderstanding. I didn’t realize last night…my newspaper deliverers left me a note this morning; they told me who you were. Who your baby really is…I had no idea…
Mary It’s really okay.
Pastor No. No it’s not. And we really want to make it up to you. Don’t we, Jean?
Jean Yeah, we feel really bad, so we were thinking that maybe you would like to come to a little party?
Joseph A party?
Jean Yes, it’s going to be in your baby’s honor.
Mary Really? That’s…nice.
Pastor Yeah, we’re inviting the whole church! We’re having a sign made and everything! It’s going to say: Come Celebrate With The Church That Delivered The Son Of God!
Joseph How ironic.
Jean Ironic? What do you mean?
Mary Your sign is going to say “The Church that delivered the Son of God.” You don’t find that a little ironic?
Pastor Hmm, I see what you mean.
Jean Should we change it?
Pastor Yeah, our media guy is probably not done; we could have him reword it.
Joseph No, I…no it really doesn’t matter.
Jean Well, if you’re sure. I don’t want anything to keep you from coming to the party.
Joseph Yeah, about that. I’m not sure if Mary and the Baby are really up to a party right now.
Pastor Oh, it’s not right now. It’s later this evening.
Joseph Okay. What I’m saying, though is, I don’t think we’re going to be able to make it.
Jean Well, think it over before you decide.
Pastor Yeah, we sure would love to have the baby there for the unveiling.
Joseph The unveiling?
Pastor Oh, we haven’t even told you about the unveiling yet!
Jean And this is the best part!
Pastor You see, after all of the party guests have arrived and we have a big crowd, we’re going to draw everyone’s attention to the front stage and then we’ll pull back the curtains and wham! There’s you and your wife and baby Jesus. And we’ll have the whole stage decorated like a nursery.
Jean Yeah, almost like Jesus was born in our auditorium!
Pastor Jean.
Joseph I see. That sounds…really great. But I’m afraid not.
Pastor Well, if you change your mind, the party is at 6:00.
Jean Well, we have to go. Lots of things to get ready before tonight.
Joseph Right.
Pastor So, congratulations.
Mary Thank you.
Jean And see you tonight, maybe.
Joseph Probably not.
Pastor Well, bye now. (they leave)
Mary Good bye.
Narrator So Pastor Bill and Jean go to the church and continue to get ready for the party. 6:00 finally rolls around, and the party begins. And what a party it is. Almost every single church member showed up and soon, the party rolled into high gear. They had a singalong. They drank tons of eggnog and apple cider. They played great games and everybody had a great time. The big unveiling was a bit of a disappointment, because Joseph and Mary decided to just stay in the garage, and the media guy couldn’t get the webcam to work, so nobody actually got to see the Baby. But as soon as the gift exchange started, nobody really cared about that, anyway. So it all worked out pretty well. But there was one young church member who wasn’t all that thrilled with the party and she really wanted to go see the Baby, so she decided to venture out to the garage and see if she could catch a glimpse of Him.
Mary (looks out at Abby) You know I can see you there. (pause) You’re more than welcome to come in if you want.
Abby (walks closer) Hi.
Mary Hi.
Abby You must be Mary.
Mary I am. Who are you?
Abby My name is Abby.
Mary It’s nice to meet you.
Abby It’s nice to meet you. Can I sit down?
Mary Sure.
Abby Your baby’s beautiful.
Mary He’s not my baby.
Abby I know.
Mary So you know our story?
Abby I’ve pieced it together, yeah.
Mary Do you want to see Him?
Abby I do. (she takes the Baby in her arms.) He’s perfect.
Mary Yeah, he is.
Abby How old are you?
Mary I’m 16. How old are you.
Abby I’m 12. I’m almost as old as you.
Mary Yeah.
Abby You seem older than 16.
Mary A lot’s happened to me lately.
Abby Where’s your… Joseph?
Mary He’s back there, sleeping.
Abby I bet he’s tired.
Mary Yeah, he hasn’t slept in awhile.
Abby He must be tired to sleep through all that noise my stupid church is making.
Mary Your church isn’t stupid.
Abby Have you even been listening to them?
Mary Not really, no.
Abby Well, trust me. They’re stupid. They’re in there, singing stupid songs and drinking some weird cinnamon eggnog and playing stupid games. They’re stupid. They don’t get it.
Mary They don’t get what?
Abby You. Your baby. What’s happening. Any of it. They don’t get anything. The real Son of God was really born last night, and they’re in there giving each other iPods. They’re stupid.
Mary (smiling) So you didn’t enjoy the party?
Abby I’m ranting, aren’t I?
Mary A little bit, yeah.
Abby You’re the one that should be ranting. I’m sorry.
Mary I have nothing to rant about.
Abby Neither do I. I am sorry.
Mary So, did you get a new iPod at the party?
Abby No, but that reminds me! Here, I brought this for you and the Baby.
Mary What is it?
Abby It’s nothing really. Just a Wal-Mart gift card. And here is a blanket.
Mary This gift card is worth a great deal of money. This is wonderful, Abby, thank you.
Abby You’re more than welcome.
Mary And this blanket looks really worn, like it’s about 12 years old?
Abby About that, yes.
Mary (Smiles) How many nights have you slept with it?
Abby As many as I can remember. I’m pretty sure your little guy doesn’t need a blanket to stay warm. But I figure it’s the thought that counts.
Mary I don’t know if He needs a blanket or not, I haven’t really figured that stuff out yet, but I’m sure he appreciates the gesture.
Abby I suppose I should go back to the party.
Mary I suppose you should.
Abby You’ll probably be gone, soon.
Mary Yeah, as soon as I’m able to travel.
Abby I hope to see you again someday.
Mary Something tells me you will.
Abby Good bye, Mary.
Mary Good bye, Abby.
Abby (hands Jesus to Mary) Good bye, Jesus. I love you.
Lights out.