Monday, December 15, 2003
Monday, December 15, 2003
And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory,
the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth.
(John 1.14
NRSV)
For you see, the director's commitment to perfection was greater than her commitment to children. Her reasoning was: "When there are too many youngsters, there is no control." Then the Committee on Education (which included three mothers of last year's rejected Marys, Josephs, shepherds and Wise Men) passed a resolution: "All children who wish to be in the Christmas pageant may do so. Parts will be found for them." This was more than the long-time director could handle. She resigned in anger and disgust.
According to Pastor Lindvall the pageant didn't fall flat with the director's resignation, but it was different. There must have been a dozen shepherds and 20 angels (a real heavenly host). There were a couple of dozen sheep. Coming from farms, the boys and girls in sheep costumes knew that sheep wander. They did just that! All over the church!
The real climax of imprecision came when Mary and Joseph entered. Mary was clutching a doll wrapped in a blue blanket. Joseph walked solemnly beside her. The narrator was supposed to read the Biblical story about Mary and Joseph going to Bethlehem "...to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child." One of the young mothers recognized that the children could not really understand the English of the King James Version about Mary being great with child, so she switched to the Good News translation. So, as Mary and Joseph entered, the narrator read, "Joseph went to register with Mary, who was promised in marriage to him. She was pregnant." As the last word echoed through the P. A. System, little Joseph froze in his tracks. He gave Mary an incredulous look, then looked out at the congregation. "Pregnant? What do you mean, pregnant?" he asked.
Needless to say, this brought the house down. The pastor's wife, wiping tears from her eyes, said, "You know, that may well be what Joseph actually said." The former director had a look which said "I-told-you-so." When SILENT NIGHT was sung, a couple of magical things happened. First, the sheep bleated their way down a side aisle and sat in the pews to watch the conclusion of the pageant and the former director was surrounded by the children she before had excluded! Second, snow began to fall, and the entire church became very quiet. It wasn't planned but no one stirred for some time --including the sheep. Then, Minnie McDonnell, hard of hearing and always speaking too loudly, broke the spell when she "whispered" to her husband in a voice all could hear, "Perfect! Just perfect!"
"And it was. It wasn't perfect in the way (previous pageants were) perfect. It was perfect in the way God makes things perfect, the way He accepts our fumbling attempts at love and fairness and covers them with grace."
Dear Jesus, thank you for the grace you give to cover my imperfections. Amen.
