I have been reflecting on the role of nativity plays, pageants, and tableaux in the formation of our spirituality. Here are my thoughts.
In December 2017, as I watched the children and young adults play their various roles in the tableau written by our Session Clerk, I felt a strong connection with the narrative. I knew many of the “actors” and their families – the braying and baa-ing little children who were donkeys and sheep, the three stately and tall young men who were the magi, the teenager who was Mary, accompanied by a teenaged Joseph. And then there were the narrators – who occasionally stumbled over less familiar words but who were obviously pouring their hearts and souls into the fulfillment of their responsibility.
Getting the details of the biblical narrative “right” was not important. The problem I have, as a scientifically-informed 21st century Christian, with “virgin birth,” with “prophecy” fulfillment, and with a “star” being “over” a specific location (and with special meaning) faded into the realm of trivia.
My imagination was freed up to experience the reality that Jesus was very near for the enactors of the story. In a very real way, Jesus had come alongside each person present in the sanctuary – including me. And that is trustworthy. That is real.
John Carr, Minister-in-association at Dayspring PC, Edmonton