"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 cubby hole on 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, as I grew older, I was
allowed to be more involved in the building of 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 on Christmas eve, 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?
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
performances. Opening night was a very high point in 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 each
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 a 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 as feast--food . And, at the end of the
feast, we donned our coats and visited all the shut ins in our church and sang
Christmas Carols and wished them a Merry 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 about 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 – Jesus came and paid the debt for you and me. Praise You Lord for You came!
God in Flesh!
Jesus left His place, to come to my
place, to die in my place, to take me to His place.
Blessings, means that I pray God to
impart his supernatural favor on those of you who read this blog. (Psalm 90:17
Check tomorrow - Sat for our Christmas Card to you!
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