LCMS World Mission Blog

“We begin the 12 days, not with a partridge in a pear tree, but rather some pirates and a Christmas tree! One thing that sets Concordia Middle School in Chai Yi, Taiwan apart from other schools in Taiwan is the emphasis on the Christmas celebration. The students still have school, but they spend their time decorating Christmas trees and participating in other activities.

“The Christmas trees are a wonderful witness that our students give to the community. Each class is given one of the many trees around campus. Each class then chooses a Bible story and decorates their tree with that Bible story as the theme for their decorations. For example, one Christmas tree will have sheep hanging from the branches to depict the ‘Lost Sheep’ story from the Bible. It is a neat way for the students to learn more about Biblical stories.

“What do the missionary teachers do? Well, we are asked to put on Christmas skits. This year, we performed two skits. One was a wordless drama telling the story of the Prodigal Son. The second skit, which we performed for the entire school, was entitled, ‘The Pirates of Sin.’

“Our skit came complete with a pirate ship (boat), a pirate flag, numerous YARRRG’s, and even a parrot. Here is the skit in a nutshell: Two pirates are ruled by the ruthless Captain Sin. Even though the pirates could disobey Captain Sin’s orders, they are scared to go against him. Through encounters with a fisherman watching his fish by night and a few wise vendors, the pirates learn of a new Captain who knows how to get the treasure of heaven! Later, the New Captain (you may know him as Jesus) willingly enters the pirate ship and works with the pirates, yet defies Captain Sin. Captain Sin in turn kills Jesus with his sword of death. However, Jesus comes back to life and defeats Captain Sin, whose sword can no longer pierce Jesus. Jesus then takes the pirates to the treasure of heaven.

“The students really liked the skit and came up to me and said things like, ‘Jesus killed the wicked man!’ After which we were able to tell them it was Jesus who defeated sin and now we can go to heaven and be with Him forever. The skits were a really fun way to spread the Gospel.”

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