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John 1:14-18 (NRSV) 14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. 15 (John testified to him and cried out, ‘This was he of whom I said, “He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.” ’) 16 From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known. Dramatic Reading [by a chorus of 6 people] Reader 1: [in a Scrooge-like voice] “Bah! . . . Humbug! . . . Merry Christmas! What right have you to be merry? . . . What’s Christmas time to you but a time for paying bills without money; a time for finding yourself a year older, but not an hour richer?” (Stave One) 2: he was sitting there making change 3: a creditor with a cold heart 4: making decisions about people’s lives 5: will they eat? will they not? 2: will they have a roof over their head? will they not? 3: will their children live? will they not? 4: will they go to debtors prison? will they not? 5: it is a story born a long time ago and far away. All: or is it? 2: still… 3: we live in a world where the chasm between have's and have not's 4: hoarding and generosity 5: privilege and oppression All: continue… 2: will they eat? will they not? 3: will they have a roof over their head? will they not? 4: will their children live? will they not? 5: he was sitting there making change 2: and then… at the toll of a bell and the blink of a night 3: his life was changed forever All: God has thrown the mighty from their thrones. 4: are we ready for such redemption? 5: what will it mean? 2: facing our fears 3: forgiving ourselves 4: compassion for others 5: working to change tragic trajectories 6: “[Christmas is] a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when [people] seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!” (Nephew, Fred’s line from Stave One)