Processing, please waitIntroducing the new spoken word Christmas film ‘Mess’ by our in-house storyteller, Dai Woolridge. Dai takes us on a journey through Scripture, from 'mess' to Messiah, showing us the Christmas story afresh in his usual lyrical and imaginative style.
Get your free accompanying Christmas sermon resource.
Mess. It’s just one word. One syllable that brings to mind a whole load of images… messy ones! And at Christmas time, this one messy syllable word seems to shift into top gear! I remember when I was young, my brother and I would tear through our festive wrapped gifts as if we were competing in an Olympic sport (winter Olympics of course). I think of the post-Christmas dinner-plate pile-up in the kitchen and the décor of celebration wrappers between the sofas (the Malteaser ones!)
It’s fair to say there was a fair bit of mess at the very first Christmas too. As Mary and Joseph trekked down to Bethlehem for a census, there was no room for them to stay. So the young couple welcomed Jesus into the world, with a bunch of animals as his roommates (some scholars claim it was almost as bad as living with students).
But Jesus didn’t just enter the mess of a downstairs room with a feeding trough, he entered the mess of our world too. It was a message that has been posted in versus throughout scripture, one will come to fix up the mess. And if we invite him, he even enters the mess of our lives and offers to fix us.
The Christmas story involves Mess, but it’s not the central story. It’s about the one who was born in the Mess. You see ‘Mess’ is only central to the Christmas story when it’s an abbreviation. There’s 3 letters added to the Mess - i.a.h. and those letter changes everything.
Written and performed by Dai Woolridge
Filmed by 2v Studios and Spoken-Truth
Director of Photography – Andy Toovey
Sound and Edit – Joe O’Hare
Post Production – Andy Toovey
Production manager – Abigail Orr
Messiah design and contruction – Lois Adams
'Eden' retells the story of creation, fall and the vision of a new creation. It's free for you to download and screen in your church, youth group or RE class.
Download Mary’s song (Full version)
This is the full version of Mary’s song which is available free of charge. Download this video to show to share the spoken word and song in schools and carol services.
Download song from iTunes
For those of you thinking about your Christmas playlist, Matt has also made ‘Mary’s song’ (Who Am I?) available to download on iTunes. Click the button below or search iTunes for 'Cath Woolridge'.
Download Mary’s song (Part 1)
If you decide to perform Part 2 live, you can download Part 1 here to set the scene of Mary’s journey.
Download Chord and Lyrics sheet
You also have the opportunity to perform Mary’s song (Part 2) live.
Every year Dai Woolridge has taken on the challenge to present the Christmas message through the medium of spoken word. Here's what he has to say about Mary's Song.
'A few years back, I took on the challenge of seeing the birth of our Lord and Saviour through the eyes of his step Dad Joseph. It fascinated me to think on what had to be a rollercoaster of emotions for him. Surely, he grappled with Mary’s pregnancy and her faithfulness, to then trusting God and getting his head round the fact that she was giving birth to God incarnate.
'This time, we wanted to tell the other side of the story by exploring Mary’s journey. After her angelic visit, Mary visits Elizabeth and they celebrate God’s goodness together. After that, there’s this great prayer in Luke 1, which is an overflow of Mary’s heart. It’s so poetic, with flavours of God’s justice from Hannah’s prayer in 1 Samuel, and possibly a nod to David’s wonderment at God from Psalm 8? Mary’s words are a celebration of the ever-faithful God throughout the ages and Mary declares these words with a knowingness that she was going to give birth to the greatest gift.
'But this humble teenager’s journey was far from straightforward. The journey to Bethlehem, the birth in what would probably be our equivalent to a garage (not the converted kind). Then there’s the escape to Egypt, just to evade Herod’s death grip on Jesus. I’m sure it must have been traumatic, yet somehow Mary remained obedient to God throughout it all.
'It made me wonder… these words that Mary riffed off during her pregnancy in Luke 1, was it a one-time deal or did she speak them at other moments too? Like at Jesus’ birth? Or her escape from Herod? Could she have pondered those words in her heart as they landed safely in Egypt? And as Mary reflected on her journey – did she continue to speak them out? Or further still, sing them?
This Christmas – Dai stays in character as Joseph, but takes a back seat as his wife Cath Woolridge takes on the role of Mary. This year there’s not just spoken word, there’s a song too. This is the Christmas journey in a 21st century setting. Mary’s magnificat words, spoken and sung.
Dai Woolridge – Writer, Exec Producer and Joseph
Cath Woolridge – Mary (Spoken word and Song)
Abigail Orr – Lead producer and mother to Anna ‘baby Jesus’
Matt Richley – Songwriter for Mary’s song ‘Who Am I?’
Joe O’Hare and Andy Toovey – filmmakers at 2V Studios
Osian Morgan – 18-month-old Jesus
Anna Orr – baby Jesus
Have you seen our other Christmas resources for you and your church?