Christmas Eve Story

by Rolf Probala from his book

"Out of the blue - 16 variations of the Christmas story".

Every December, the evangelist faces the great challenge of retelling the Christmas story to the world. God once entrusted him with this task and the evangelist dutifully fulfills the assignment year after year. But in the meantime he has grown tired of the story and is visibly lacking the creative ideas that are needed for a contemporary Christmas story. So he decides to take a break and hire a professional storyteller to tell the Christmas story.

In November, he contacts a well-known communications agency that has made a name for itself with narratives for companies. He meets the creative team for a briefing, where they agree on the message, plot and form: The brief is to write a short Christmas story about the birth of Jesus, including Joseph, Mary, shepherds, kings and angels, with the central message being the redemption of the world. The story should evoke emotions and appeal to people of all cultures. The deadline for submission is December 24, 4 pm.

Two weeks after the briefing, the communications agency wins the pitch for a lucrative contract from the Middle East. It now lacks the human resources to develop the Christmas story, and the creative director outsources the job, which is already financially modest, to a small advertising agency in his network. They meet for a briefing and formulate the task: to write a short emotional Christmas story about the birth of Jesus, which includes the entire Christmas staff and conveys the redemption of the world as the central message.

Shortly afterwards, the small advertising agency receives a long-awaited order for a major campaign. She doesn't have time to write the Christmas story, but the agency doesn't want to give the order back, since she is contractually obligated to carry it out. She therefore contacts a freelance copywriter, a former journalist, with whom she works sporadically. The very next day, they meet for a briefing and determine what needs to be delivered: an emotionally charged Christmas story about Jesus and his staff, with the redemption of the world as its message.

Three days later, the copywriter falls ill and is out for at least 3 weeks. He doesn't want to give the job back - as a freelancer, you don't want to lose future contracts. He calls an old acquaintance, a former pastor who now works as a communications consultant. The briefing takes place by telephone: A crisp Christmas story is to be invented somehow to Jesus and its personnel. The core message should be the solution for the world.

The communications expert, who is well-versed in theological issues, writes a concept sketch, but has no desire to implement it. She has long since given up on Christmas. She contacts an old friend from her student days who now works as an independent strategy consultant for companies. He checks the project for its strategic relevance and passes it on to a branding agency on whose board of directors he sits. He sends his short briefing via WhatsApp: the task is to formulate a personalized Christmas message for the whole world.

On December 24 at 3:59 p.m., the evangelist has the Christmas story on his smartphone. It's short, easy to read, multicultural, understandable, inclusive, gender-neutral, and perfectly communicable via social media: "Why me? Why you? Why-Night for all of you!"

What's the point of telling long stories?