An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit." (Matthew 1:20 NRSV Bible)
One of my most vivid childhood memories of Christmas was being in the Nativity play at my home church in Darlington, Indiana. Dave Berry tells his Nativity play story that is similar to mine: The director would tell us what role we would play, based on our abilities. For example, if you were short you would get a role of an angel, which involved being part of the Heavenly Host and gazing with adoration at the Christ Child.

Being a Shepherd was my favorite role, because you got to carry a big stick with a hook on the end. Yes, it was a shepherd's staff, and it worked well for tripping and whopping people. Oh yes, there were a couple of times when I had my shepherd's staff taken away, along with the fun.

Our knowing director from year to year would try to get some of us old shepherds to become Kings, but, as you can well imagine, I had no interest in being a king. Being a king was not fun. You had to lug around the gold, the frankincense and myrrh, which God forbid you should drop because these items were valuable antiques. And of course, being a king meant not having that trusty ol' shepherd's staff.

But if push came to shove, I would become a king because it was much better then being Joseph, since Joseph had to hang around with Mary who was played by a girl. You had to wait backstage with this girl and walk in with this girl. Needless to say, you felt like a total wimp, which was not helped by the fact that the shepherds and three kings were constantly suggesting that you really liked that girl who played the role of Mary.

But, maybe we were right. It wouldn't be much fun to play Joseph. Joseph appears to be an insignificant character in the Christmas story. In reality, Jesus is and should always be the one who grabs our attention in the manager scene and in this Christmas season!

Loving God, thank you for Joseph. No, he isn't and shouldn't be the main focus of our Christmas story or pageant. However, he was a Godly man who followed you. Help me to do the same and keep Jesus as the focus of my Christmas celebration. Amen.

Ron Newhouse

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