Calendar of Liturgical Colours
Epiphany and Epiphany 1, Transfiguration, Maundy Thursday, Easter Day and Easter Day 1–7 (or gold), Christmas Day and Christmas 1, New Year's Eve
Epiphany 2–7, Pentecost 2–24, Last Sunday of Church Year
Ash Wednesday, Lent 1–5, Palm Sunday, Advent 1–4 (or blue)
Good Friday (or bare altar)
Easter Day and Easter 2–7 (or white), Ascension (or white), Pentecost 1/Trinity (or white)
Pentecost, Reformation, and other festivals
Advent and Christmas resources
Christmas Carols Copyright
Click here to get the APRA AMCOS guide to copyright holders for a wide range of Christmas carols.
Christmas Plays
The following Christmas Eve orders and Christmas plays have been prepared for congregational use. The first five were originally prepared by the Board for Congregational Life of the LCA in the 1980s. In 2016 and 2018, we requested congregations to send in copies of Children's Christmas Presentations they had written and were willing to share with the wider church. Thank you to all those who contributed! We present here an edited selection which would be suitable for a variety of situations, with thanks to the original authors.They've been reformatted into Word documents. Feel free to edit them to suit your congregation's needs. Change or omit the carols/hymns/songs; double up on the reader parts and involve youth and adults. Be creative!
Worship the King - focuses on Jesus the King
Three Questions for Christmas - travel back to Bethlehem for the census with Mary and Joseph!
Hands Up for Jesus! - See also this PPT file which can be used to provide visuals during the service or as ideas for making banners.
Good News From Heaven - based on Martin Luther's famous carol 'From Heaven above'.
Happy Birthday Jesus - cast in the form of a Birthday Party. Children will participate as they do in a birthday party.
And You Will See - Rather than a retelling of the Christmas story, this deals with the theme of darkness and light and God’s rescue of his people. These PowerPoint slides accompany the script: And You Will See PPT
Christmas A to Z - This idea would be best suited for a Sunday School with limited resources or mostly very young children. It would work well with the involvement of youth or parents.
Someone's Coming - Quite a few parts in this play, so it’s suitable for a reasonable number of children of different ages. Songs are suggestions only.
Surprise, Surprise - There are 10 characters who would have to be slightly older children. Young children could act some of the scenes or be angels or animals. Songs are suggestions only.
This Baby Changed My Life - Here is a program suitable for whole congregation involvement, or perhaps youth and children of all ages, when numbers of children are limited. Songs are suggestions only.
The Colours of Christmas - Written by Rob Handreck and first performed by the kids of St Paul's Lutheran Church, Box Hill. This is very suitable for a group of young children, but can be adapted to include older children too.
News - People Saved By Baby - Imagine how things might have been if today’s technology was available in 40AD and someone just turned on the radio to hear the news...
King of Kings - Written by Rob Handreck and first performed by the kids of St Paul’s Lutheran Church, Box Hill. This play traces the Old Testament story of God’s interaction with His people through a selection of kings (these can be varied), finishing with the King of kings.
A Studio Christmas - The Director of a photo shoot is organizing a publicity shot for Christmas, and begins by getting the nativity scene set up with the usual cast of Mary, Joseph, Animals, Shepherds, Wisemen, Angels and of course, the Baby.
Advent Hymn Backing Tracks
LH1 "Hark, A Herald Voice is Calling" (tune: Merton)
LH2 "O Come, O Come Immanuel" (tune: Veni, Immanuel)
LH11 "The Advent of Our king" (tune: Franconia)
LH17 "Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus" (tune: Laus Deo)
LH733 "Daughter of Zion" (tune: Tochter Zion)
