In keeping with Christmas traditions, here’s my 2015 list of some of the best short videos I’ve come across to mark Advent & Christmas 2015. Whether it be sharing online, or playing in a Carol Service or assembly, hopefully there’s something here for you.

You can also check out my 2013 and 2014 lists.

Know of any others?

1. Four Kinds of Christmas – Glen Scrivener

Brilliant one-shot video, but so well thought-out. Glen’s Christmas videos are always top-notch, but the question of the ‘four kinds’ is a great way to get us thinking. We love working out our ‘type’ so I reckon this, alongside the interactive website and book, will be a great conversation starter.

2. Loved This Christmas (The Baby From The Stars) – Dan Rackham

A simple but powerful re-make of the popular ‘Man On The Moon’ John Lewis ad, with a heart-warming twist. Also features a ‘Continue the Story’ link, with an accompanying website.

3. Away in a Mangy Manger – Christmas Carols Radio

Ben Vane from the excellent Christmas Carols Radio unpicks the lyrics of that popular carol, and poetically exposes something of the shock that God would come to that ‘mangy manger’.

Dai offers another of his spoken word pieces and seeks to apply the realities of the Christmas story into the realities of the fears that 2015 seems to have been particularly marked by. Fantastic.

5. What’s in the Box? – The Good Book Company

Clever animation designed to get people re-thinking about Christmas. Comes with accompanying book by Rice Tice & Nate Morgan-Locke.

6. InstaChristmas – Discovery Church

Simple but clever re-telling of the Christmas story through Instagram images.

7. The First Coming – Dan Stevers

Some stunning visuals, alongside a dramatic narration. Dan has many more short visuals suited for Advent & Christmas on his website.

8. Advent (God With Us) – The Village Church

Spoken word piece capturing how God’s coming in Jesus was the fulfilment of a people’s hopes and dreams.

9. Upside Down Christmas – Creative Pastors

A simple spoken reading, but watch ’til then end and you’ll see it’s actually very clever!

10. The Paradox of Christmas – Igniter Media

Disneyesque re-telling of the Christmas story, but still capturing its wonder.

https://www.ignitermedia.com/embed/1891-the-paradox-of-christmas

11. Christmas in Dark Places – Glen Scrivener

Although this is from 2013, I think it has to be one of my favourites. It is sensitive to the fact that for many Christmas is actually a hard time of year.

12. Three Wise Men – The Nativity Factor

Funny contemporary ‘re-telling’ of Jesus’ birth.

13. Christmas Eve Childbirth in the back of a Taxi – The Nativity Factor

What if it had all happened in 2015?

14. Force Awakens Parody – Christmas Starts With Christ

Well, someone had to go there with a Star Wars mash-up…

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Found others that are worth sharing? Please stick them in the comments below!

The John Lewis advert is perhaps now every bit a Christmas tradition as roasting chestnuts, watching Love Actually (maybe that’s just me?), or even, dare I say it, the Queen’s Speech.

In that sense it’s almost like a national reference point. We’ve pretty much all seen it, and likewise we all know whether we like this year’s offering more or less than previous years, whether it’s 2014’s Monty the Penguin, or 2011’s classic, ‘The Long Wait’ (definitely my fave for tear-jerker value!).

So I think it’s brilliant that Dan Rackham, a community worker based out of a church in Toxteth, has gone and re-made the 2015 advert, but with a Christian twist.

Rather than being about a gift for the ‘Man on the Moon’, this is about the ultimate gift: the ‘Baby from the Stars’.

I hope you like it and want to share it (use this link: https://youtu.be/KoxTF_31yyE)!

Dan’s a mate, and it’s been amazing to see how he’s taken his initial idea of a fun re-make and made it into a fully-fledged viral reality.

And whilst he’s obviously nifty behind the camera, with a good eye for detail, not to mention bags of imagination, the thing that has driven Dan has been a desire to take the opportunity to engage people with the wonder of how we’ve all been #lovedthisChristmas.

One reason I love the way Dan’s re-made the video is because it encapsulates quite a simple message, and yet one that is ever-relevant. In many ways the questions that the girl in the video asks are questions that we all pose to some degree or another:

Is there a God out there?

Does he care?

Can we really know?

And often we can be oblivious to the way in which the Christmas story speaks into those questions.

Yet what we remember at Christmas is precisely the moment that God revealed his answer to those questions, in entering into our world, stepping onto the pages of history, as nothing less than a person: Jesus, the long-promised king.

God himself came to us, both making himself known and making himself knowable.

So one of the hopes with the video and accompanying website, LovedthisChristmas.com, is that it allows people to begin exploring what Jesus is all about, not least with a ‘Continue the Story’ section.

The website also gives you the opportunity to take things further by ordering a free copy of Glen Scrivener’s Four Kinds of Christmas book (as well as entering the competition to win the telescope and helmet used in both the re-make and the original JL video!).

You can also download HQ versions of the video to use offline in churches and at other events. And they’ll be an online Advent Calendar tweeted out via @lovedthisXmas.

The video has already received media coverage through ITV, Premier, and the Liverpool Echo.

Did you know this ‘baby from the stars’ means you’ve been loved this Christmas?

Bizarrely, the other day I remembered this blog post from 2008, in which I exude unashamedly about the time Dan was my housemate and built me my own fold-out bed from scratch. But that’s another story…

I’ve since produced an updated list for Christmas 2014, here, and Christmas 2015, here.

A friend asked me the other day if I knew of any short ‘make you think’ type-of-films related to Advent or Christmas to use at school. I’ve seen a few used over the last couple of years, but after I emailed some friends and asked around on Facebook a whole load more surfaced.

And so it seemed to make sense to compile them here. The caveat is they do vary significantly in spiritual-content, cheese-factor, and apologetic value, but you can decide for yourselves…

(To download full versions or play in church, you may well need to pay for some of these – details should be on the various links below)

1. Someone is Coming (graphical Bible overview giving context of Christmas)

2. The Christmas Chord (great spoken word colloquial piece from Dai Woolridge)

3. Christmas in Dark Places (great new visual poem piece from Glen Scrivener)

4. A Social Network Christmas (this has been around the last few years)

or similarly:

5. Joseph (Dai Woolridge’s 2013 piece – really enjoyed this)

6. 21st Century Christmas (new spoken word piece from UCCF & Rael Mason)

7. Anti-Santy Ranty (last year’s Glen Scrivener & 10ofthose spoken word piece)

or non-text:

8. That’s Christmas (stimulating piece from St Helen’s from a few years ago)

9. What is Advent? Gangnam Style (enjoyed this!)

10. Bethlehemian Rhapsody (very clever)

11. The Shepherd’s Story (I have to include this because it features my bro in the prime of his youth!)

12. Animated Nativity (beautiful piece filmed by my friend Dan Millest)

13. Unto Us – Mary & Joe (earthy visual modern re-telling of Mary & Joseph’s situation)

14. The Christmas Gospel (meditation on Jesus’ birth through the lens of the cross, based on a Tim Keller sermon)

On Vimeo here.

15. Come Thou Long Expected Jesus (beautiful, clever piece telling the Bible’s story through a painting)

On Vimeo here.

What about you? Do you know of any others – please post them below.