In the “Best Christmas
Pageant Ever” the woman Grace who is casting the Christmas play tells the
children that Mary is “gentle, sweet and kind” as she explains that the person
who plays Mary should have all those qualities.
When Imogene Herdman bullies the other girls to get the role though, Grace knows this pageant isn’t going to be like anything they’ve ever seen
before.
At another Christmas play
a few weeks ago in a Tennessee church, as the children’s choir sang “Away in a
Manger” and Mary and Joseph were gazing adoringly at the baby Jesus, one of the
sheep, a two-year old little girl, scooped up the baby doll and began to dance.
That wasn’t what anyone expected either.
One of the joys of the
Christmas story is God’s surprise for us. Full of grace and
love for the whole world, our holy God comes down to earth in the person of
Jesus,
and lives among us,
fully human.
In him, we see divine love with skin
on it and it turns all our
expectations upside down.
At least for a little
while — as long as the hot chocolate steams, the twinkle lights glow, and the
Christmas music plays.
Pastor Delmer Chilton,
a Lutheran pastor who’s served
congregations throughout the southeast, tells this story about his sons when
they were little boys.
They had a favorite book, Richard Scarry’s Christmas Book, that has no words, just
pictures.
It shows a traditional [small] town going through the Advent season:
pictures of families decorating the house, baking and eating cookies and pies.
It shows the town workers putting up lights and decorations
downtown and Sunday School folk at Christmas play practice and Santa Claus in
the Toy section of the Department Store.
There is a scene of Candlelight Communion and a Christmas Day with [a big table
covered with a feast] and then the opening of gifts around the tree and the blazing
fireplace.
[And] throughout the month of December, his boys would sit with him and page through this
book. [And after their dad
had told the story a few times,] the boys took over, narrating and describing the
activities on each page. And, each night they said exactly the same thing, in exactly the same way.
The last page was a two-page panorama showing Christmas trees
out by the mail-box to be picked up by the [trash collectors], people going to
work, and city workers taking
down lights and decorations.
At this point, Delmer says that the boys loved to slam the book shut and shout
at the top of their lungs:
BACK TO NORMAL![i]
The good news of the Christmas
gospel is that when the hot chocolate cools and the Christmas lights are turned
off, the carols fade and the rest of the world goes ‘back to normal’ God
remains here on earth with us, and loves us abundantly.
This Christmas I
invite you to hold onto the unexpected and surprising appearance of God in your
life, and discover the joy found in following our Savior every day.
Let us pray…
Holy God of surprises
and joy,
Thank you for your
grace and love,
appearing to us as
Your Son Jesus and bringing salvation to us all. As we sing, “Glory to you in the
highest heaven
and on earth peace
among all you favor” may we go into the world, to make the good news known to all we
meet.
We pray in the name of
our blessed Savior, Jesus Christ.
Amen.
[i] Chilton,
Delmer. The Gospel According to Aunt Mildred: Stories of Family and Faith (p.
33). Brasstown Publishing. Kindle Edition.
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