This afternoon we went to the Rome Little Theater
production of “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.” It is a great Christmas classic
and the production was excellent. Allison played the role of Grace Bradley, and
she and her fellow thespians did a great job.
Tonight as I am reflecting on the play, I am thinking
about an experience that could be called “The First Christmas Pageant Ever.”
One Christmas in Burkina Faso, our kids, our colleagues’
kids and some volunteers decided to have a live nativity during a Christmas Eve
program at the church closest to our home. All the believers in our churches
were first generation Christians, so the kids wanted to show the villagers what
a Christmas pageant was all about.
Amanda was four at the time, and she was chosen to be Mary.
She was excited after we explained what she was going to do. She had never seen
a live nativity, much less participated in one.
The other four MKs and the Tennessee played the parts of
the shepherds, wise men, and angels.
As usual we were on “African time,” so we waited at our
house for some of the church members to come get us when all the people had
gathered. It was late when they finally came and told us that we were ready to
begin the service. Cheryl had to stay at home with baby Allison who was asleep
by that time, and as we were leaving our home to walk the short distance to the
church, Cheryl told Amanda to go to her room and get a baby to be the baby
Jesus. Amanda came back with a baby all wrapped up with a blanket and cuddling
it in her arms. When we arrived at the church, Amanda went to be with the other
pageant participants.
Amanda was sitting on the front bench—mud brick church
with a tin roof and a dirt floor—with the rest of the pageant players. There
was no electricity in the church, so we had set up a portable generator
earlier. We had three lights hanging in the church for the Christmas Eve
program.
When it came time for the pageant Amanda was holding the
baby very close to her body and wrapped in a blanket, and then she gingerly
place the baby into the manger. When the shepherds gathered around the manger,
they started laughing. That was odd. Why were they laughing when this was such
a serious moment? Then I looked more closely and saw why it was so funny. Lying
in the manger representing baby Jesus was Smurfette—that’s right, the bright
blue toy with blonde hair.
Later I reflected on the oddity that all the Americans at
the service laughed at the thought of having a stuffed blue toy representing
baby Jesus while none of the villagers even laughed when the baby Smurfette was
placed in the manger.
This was the villagers’ first Christmas Eve pageant, and
from their reactions, you would have thought that we had been at a Broadway
production. All the villagers were so excited about everything. Since they had
never experienced anything like this in their lives, they really did not know
what to expect. For them they were pretending anyway, so a blue Jesus was
nothing unusual—especially since none of the village girls even owned any kind
of a doll or stuffed toy.
In our culture we don’t like surprises about things that
we have grown accustomed to seeing and experiencing. During this Christmas
season as you experience pageants, cantatas, music productions, and other
special services, pretend that it is the first one you have ever seen. Don’t go
to Christmas services with an attitude that you are a veteran attender or with
a spirit of a scrooge. Don’t go to criticize people or music or costumes or
decorations—just go and enjoy and let yourself get carried away with the
celebration of the birth of the Savior of the world. This could be your best
Christmas season ever.
