The chocolate sprouts idea was borrow from Schools Work…See the original idea here

Resources: some chocolate covered sprouts enough for a eating competition (sprout instructions at the bottom), the Facebook Nativity video (Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sghwe4TYY18), laptop, projector, speakers

Introduction: Introduce yourself/what you do etc.

Explain: Explain that last year in the Christmas assembly we gave every form group some chocolates…this year the budget doesn’t quite stretch that far but we did discover that people liked chocolate.

On top of that we all love Christmas so much that we thought we’d share it with you a little bit early this year and I don’t know about you but in our house over Christmas we always have some special chocolates…and so this morning we have some chocolate truffles to share with you.

Volunteer: Ask for 2 volunteers to see if they can emulate Christmas day by eating as many truffles as they can in 1 minute…explaining that Christmas day is often a day that flies past with lots of things going on and especially lots of food.

Challenge: Find out the volunteers names and build up the challenge. Make sure you put emphasis on the need for speed in this challenge….you could mention that the record for most Ferrero Rochers eating in a minute is 10 and the record for eating a chocolate orange is 2 minutes 24 seconds (according to google anyway)

Start the challenge with a timer on screen….as they start you may notice the look on their face as they realise something isn’t quite right. (Have a plastic bag handy).

Thank the volunteers, give them a real prize and invite them to sit down (you could ask them what’s wrong).

Explain: Explain that actually the truffles weren’t as they appeared…they were actually chocolate covered sprouts

Ask who likes chocolate?

Ask who likes sprouts?

Explain that chocolate sprouts represent Christmas quite well because for lots of people it’s a time of celebration, indulgence and happiness and we love the ‘niceness’ of the Christmas season…like the chocolate.

But for many people Christmas is not easy…perhaps it’s a time of loneliness, homelessness and struggle…for some people it’s like our experience of sprouts…something to struggle through.

Lots of you will know the Christmas story and perhaps think of a nice nativity scene with a cute baby Jesus and lots of friendly animals, angels, shepherds and wise men but actually there are lots of challenges within the story.

We want to show you the Christmas story this morning from a different perspective…this is the Christmas story as if it would have happened on Facebook.

Video: Facebook Christmas Video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sghwe4TYY18)

Explain: Like our chocolate sprouts the Christmas story is a bit of a mixed story.

Like our sprouts there are challenges. Relationships would have been strained. The faith of those in the story stretched and of course some really controversial things culturally like Mary being pregnant outside of marriage which would be been incredibly rare at the time and really looked down on.

On the other hand, like the chocolate there are good bits!

Christians celebrate God sending Jesus to earth as a baby and all sorts of things happening that you simply couldn’t explain.

Closing: So as you go off for Christmas there will be some things which you might not be looking forward too but we hope (unlike our sprouts…but like in the Christmas story) the good things will outweigh the bad and whether you look forward to presents, carols, time with family or Christmas dinner that you will have a fantastic Christmas.

Thanks for listening

Sprout Instructions

Here’s the preparation bit…
Buy some Brussels Sprouts and some cooking chocolate.
Boil the sprouts (make sure they’re not too soft) and stick ‘em in the fridge overnight.
Next morning, melt the chocolate and dip the sprouts in so that they look like truffles. let them set on a baking tray, then put them in small cake cases and sprinkle them with cocoa powder. (You might have to patch up the ‘truffles’ with a bit more melted chocolate once they’ve set.)