The Magic Cafe Forums - My Christmas / Gospel Magic

Hey all!

I am directing my church's carols service which is on Sunday 22nd Dec and in it, I am doing three illusions which all lead up to the gospel talk at the end.
I thought I'd share them on here.

My first illusion is about me trying to get to scissors on the other side of a screen so I can wrap some Christmas presents. I do the fun illusion where you reach in from one side and "your" arm comes out the other side. I grab scissors from a box but when I pull my arm back, I am holding a banana. Silly stuff like that. I won't go into the whole routine.

My second illusion is based on Fielding West's torn and restored newspaper routine, but I do it as torn and restored Christmas wrapping paper. As I couldn't get the scissors in my last illusion, I rip up a sheet of wrapping paper to try to make it small enough for my little gifts, but I rip too much and so resolve it by putting all the gifts in a bigger box and then restoring the wrapping paper and covering the whole box.

Now, neither of these are really gospel illustrations, but they are building on the theme which is "Christmas Unwrapped", and they lead up to the final illusion.

On stage the whole time there has been a huge present on stage. I come out with the Assistant pastor of my church (who has also been the MC) and indicate that I would love candy for Christmas. He offers me two presents - the giant beautiful one and a small one that has also been on stage the whole time unnoticed.
I naturally choose the bigger box, but after ripping it open, I only find a tiny stick of candy cane.
Disappointed, I am offered the smaller box, which I open begrudgingly. But in it, I find a huge 8 foot candy cane (see the appearing candy canes you can buy).

The analogy is made that sometimes the glitzy and impressive image of Christmas is rather hollow, but the message of the birth of Jesus - though it may be small and not that impressive - it contains the greatest gift of all.

So that's it!

After Christmas, I'll try to post a youtube link so you can see how they turned out!

The Bard New user 15 Posts	Posted: Dec 17, 2013 08:56 am 0 Hey all! I am directing my church's carols service which is on Sunday 22nd Dec and in it, I am doing three illusions which all lead up to the gospel talk at the end. I thought I'd share them on here. My first illusion is about me trying to get to scissors on the other side of a screen so I can wrap some Christmas presents. I do the fun illusion where you reach in from one side and "your" arm comes out the other side. I grab scissors from a box but when I pull my arm back, I am holding a banana. Silly stuff like that. I won't go into the whole routine. My second illusion is based on Fielding West's torn and restored newspaper routine, but I do it as torn and restored Christmas wrapping paper. As I couldn't get the scissors in my last illusion, I rip up a sheet of wrapping paper to try to make it small enough for my little gifts, but I rip too much and so resolve it by putting all the gifts in a bigger box and then restoring the wrapping paper and covering the whole box. Now, neither of these are really gospel illustrations, but they are building on the theme which is "Christmas Unwrapped", and they lead up to the final illusion. On stage the whole time there has been a huge present on stage. I come out with the Assistant pastor of my church (who has also been the MC) and indicate that I would love candy for Christmas. He offers me two presents - the giant beautiful one and a small one that has also been on stage the whole time unnoticed. I naturally choose the bigger box, but after ripping it open, I only find a tiny stick of candy cane. Disappointed, I am offered the smaller box, which I open begrudgingly. But in it, I find a huge 8 foot candy cane (see the appearing candy canes you can buy). The analogy is made that sometimes the glitzy and impressive image of Christmas is rather hollow, but the message of the birth of Jesus - though it may be small and not that impressive - it contains the greatest gift of all. So that's it! After Christmas, I'll try to post a youtube link so you can see how they turned out!
mralincoln Loyal user If I wasn't so busy, I'd have more than 217 Posts	Posted: May 5, 2014 05:21 pm 0 What about the YouTube link?
djjkarate New user Always Sunny in Seattle 56 Posts	Posted: May 5, 2014 10:23 pm 0 Oopps ???