‘Angels’ deliver Christmas message

AN interactive Nativity was held at Holy Trinity Church in Henley.

The annual experience, which is rewritten every year, saw guests arrive in a “spice market”.

They were greeted by stallholders, played by Sarah Cook and Bronwen Tomkinson, while magician John Ryeland performed a series of magic tricks.

Angel Peter, played by Peter Greenman, who is part of God’s “Special Delivery Service”, then appeared.

He said: “When God has a special message that he wants people to know, he calls us angels, and he has some big news, some news that will change the whole world.”

Angel Peter, who wore a satchel which carried messages from God, then got children in the group to put on white surplices to look like angels, and gave them the messages to deliver to key members in the nativity.

The first message, which was addressed to Mary, said: “You’re going to have a baby” and had a nappy enclosed. Angel Peter then got the group to walk around to the churchyard to the back door of the church, which was “Nazareth”.

On their way, the group sang, and they said: “Messengers, messengers, God sent us His messengers. Telling everybody they are part of his great story, letting everyone know of His plan.”

The group then arrived at the back door of the church, the entrance to Mary’s house, with Mary being played by Olivia Caesar. One of the children knocked on her door and Mary answered. The group told her she would be having a baby to which Mary replied: “I am not anything special, that doesn’t make much sense.”

Angel Peter said that the baby would be the best king ever and God would be the father, gifting her the nappy. He then joked that the group needed to leave her now as she would not get much peace for the next 18 years.

The group then entered the chancel of the church and pulled out a message to Joseph which read: “Call the baby Jesus.” The angels then made their way to Joseph’s house and woke him telling him the message and gifted him a name tag for Jesus’s room.

The angels then time-travelled nine months to Jesus’s birth to meet the shepherds, who were in the nave of the church which had been cleared and now had hay bales and a sheep pen.

The group then read the third message for the shepherds which read: “Good news for everybody.” This woke up a shepherd, played by Lucy Stratton.

Angel Peter said: “Shepherd, don’t be afraid. We have got good news for everybody. A baby is to be born, whoever you are, whatever you do, he is the best thing you can imagine.”

The shepherd replied: “For everyone? Even me, a stupid, smelly shepherd?” Angel Peter then said she would find the baby Jesus in Bethlehem. He said: “God told me that these shepherds might need some persuading and, if that happens, to call in the choir.”

Angel Peter then made a call and music began to play which prompted the shepherd to go to Bethlehem. Children then had a chance to feed the sheep in the church. The group then made their way out of the church to the front, where they pulled out their final message for the wise man, played by Kat Greenman. It read: “Go home a different way” and was accompanied by a map for the wise men to get home.

The group then made their way to “Jerusalem” where they met King Herod, played by Peter Jones.

The wise man said to the king: “Good afternoon, your majesty. I have come to look for a king. I have followed a special star a very long way and I have come to worship him.”

King Herod said: “I don’t like the sound of this. I am the only king around here, if anybody is going to be worshipped it is going to be me.”

King Herod then went to talk to his experts, shouting “I am the only King, Herod the Great.”

He told the wise man to tell him where the baby Jesus was so he could “go and kill him, I mean so that I can go and worship him.”

The wise man then went to sleep, and Angel Peter woke him up and the group told him to go home a different way, and not to trust Herod.

The wise man said: “I just really want to find him. I am sure he is the king we all need, and I just hope it will be worth it. All that gold, frankincense and myrrh is not cheap.”

The group then made their way to the “stable”, a gazebo in the grounds of the church which had hay bales and a manger in the middle, with a message which was addressed to the group.

It said: “Jesus is the rescuer we all need.” Angel Peter said: “He is the king we all need He is one who will make wrong things right and dark things light. He will fix the mess of the world and us if we choose to follow Him, it’s a really special thing.”

Guest were then offered mulled wine and mince pies by the refreshments team, Michael Forsdike, Simon Cook and Bob Montgomery.

Mr Greenman, 30, who is the associate minister at the church and helped organise the event, said: “It started in covid as it was something that we could do distanced but it has become a fixture in people’s Christmas traditions now. We try and change it up each time, this year we have angels taking you around.

“It is a different way of trying to help families engage in the Christmas story and it is great fun. People always look quite confused when I come around the corner dressed as an angel but they love it.”