"But Mary
treasured all these things pondering them in her heart. The shepherds
went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen,
just as had been told them". (Luke 2:19-20)
Hey Gang: When I
was a little squeezer, the time from Thanksgiving to New Years was "out of
sight". It was a time for digging the platforms and Christmas
trimmings out of the a cubby hole in the third floor of our house, lugging them
down two flights of stairs to the living room and taking out each peace with
loving care. It was an exciting exercise! Each year I grew older I was allowed
to be more involved n the building the little Villages and putting up the
trains.
We had a tradition
that was handed down from my dad's family; the tree did not go up until the
little ones were tucked away in their beds, awaiting the arrival of Saint
Nick. I was never quite sure how dad trimmed the tree and set it in the
middle of the platform without stepping on the houses, but he did.
There were other
wonderful things that happened in that time period. It was the choosing
of who would be in the Christmas Pageant at the church and then rehearsals two
and three times a week. I have since come to the conclusion it was not
the involvement in the play that made it so special, but the fellowship and fun,
even though there were times when Mrs. Holiday got on our case because we were
not as focused as she wanted.
No doubt the script of
our Christmas pageant was based on the stories told in the Gospels of Matthew
and Luke. These accounts tell of the action surrounding the birth of
Jesus Christ. But the Gospel of John cuts through these descriptive
accounts and simply tells the significance of what happened. John's
account provides no opportunity to fall into sentimentality or nostalgia about
Christmas. Neither does it lend itself well to pageants on Christmas Eve.
John minces no words;
he jumps to the chase and tells us, "The Word, who was God, was made flesh". I sense he
wanted to make it as clear as humanly possible that Jesus was really and truly
a man who subjected himself to the miseries and calamities of the human
nature. God became flesh! That is really the purpose for this
season; Jesus left the Father to become like us. Do you think He ever
wondered if that was such a good idea?
And the final days of
preparation arrived and we did a walk though, They called it a dress
rehearsal. Not sure why because we were not dressed in what we would wear
the nights of the performance. Opening night was a very high point n my
year. Wow, was it neat to see the cars coming from all over the city to see
the Nativity play. Our sanctuary only seated 150 people but they
could open the back doors and seat another 75. Each night the church was
packed.
I never
graduated beyond the shepherd level, which was just a very small step from
being a sheep. This role was given to all children who were too young to
play the glamorous characters like Mary, Joseph, angels, and wise men.
There must have been at least a dozen of us traipsing and tripping down the
aisle of the church that night. I remember that my turban was an actual
bath towel and my robe was the same bed sheet that had formerly transformed me
into ghost on Halloween.
On the final night
they served a banquet, or I thought it was a banquet. Today, I am
not sure wieners and hamburgers quality for feast-hood. And at the end of
the feast we donned our coats and visited all the shut ins in our church and
sang Christmas corals and wished them a Happy Christmas. One year a local
farmer provided a horse and wagon which was neat.
And then it was over
for another year. As I hung up my sheet, and put my staff in the corner
for another year, I prayed that next year I would be elevated to one of the
real key player positions, but tragedy struck our church that year. The
church board, after much prodding, decided the church really needed an organ to
increase our level of songs and praise. To make the long story very short
- a war broke out between two factions in the church on who was going to
play it.
It would have
been better if they would have called the Body together and torched the organ -
You know what happens when power and pride get involved in God's
work. It not only split the church but also took the heart out of those
who did not give a hoot who played the organ. One might have gotten the idea
there was some sort of plague in the church, for people were bailing out faster
than if someone yelled "fire" . The church died the day the truck pulled up
and delivered the organ - from more than 200 regulars to 45.
Soooo, I still have a
sadness in my heart that I never had the opportunity to move up and be a king
or a Magi or even reach the pinnacle of the Church Nativity Program - to be
Joseph the father of Messiah - wow, would that have been neat! But the
bottom line is - He Came and paid the debt for you and me. Praise You Lord for
You came!
Blessings, (means that
I pray God to impart his supernatural favor on those of you who read this
blog.)
Gramps
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