It's Happening: The Most Important Part
By Julie Perine on December 20, 2015 from It’s Happening
For the last several days, we’ve been pulling our church Christmas play. We got the scriptures – both the gospels of Matthew and Luke – and we got the children to play the parts, from Mary and Joseph to the shepherds, wise men and angels to the sheep and other stable animals – even a Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. The little guy really had his heart set on it.
Still, there seemed to be something missing.
The contemporary Christian songs complimented the biblical content. They were downloaded from YouTube and Sound Cloud. The digital recordings would project through the sound system for all to hear. We had people to run the sound and lights. The costumes were altered, angel wings were repaired and wise men crowns sized to fit. The bulletins featured artwork of participating children, all whose names were inside. They were all printed and folded. Check.
Still, something was definitely missing.
We ran through the play on Saturday. Even my little 5-year-old angels knew their lines by heart. The narrators spoke loud and clear. The program flowed right along. Our beautiful little dancer overcame her nerves and said she was good to go with the routine she had choreographed. Our cello player confirmed she could play for the service.
I made my list. I checked it twice. I thought we must be ready.
Sunday morning, Jeff and I loaded the truck with food, presents, Christmas cards and various items needed for the program.
Then it hit me. We forgot the baby Jesus!
No one watching today’s program would have known whether there was a baby doll wrapped in all those swaddling cloths down inside the manger. We could have gone through the whole thing and no one would have been the wiser.
In putting together our program, we had not in any way forgotten why we were doing it. It was about using the kids’ gifts, talents and willingness to glorify God; to tell the story of Jesus the way it is written in the good book. But that little baby doll was not only the missing piece to our program; it was kind of brought my Christmas full circle by flooding me with symbolism: How easy it is to think we have everything covered – to make lists so all our kids get the same amount of gifts, wrap them all ever so pretty and bake everyone’s favorite cookies. Mail the cards, sing the carols, go to the parties. Check. Check. Check.
We can go through the holidays without baby Jesus and most people cannot even tell. But like an empty manger, that would leave a very empty feeling, an empty holiday and really, an empty life.
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Merry Christmas to all.
Julie Perine can be reached at 304-848-7200, julie@connect-bridgeport.com or follow @JuliePerine on Twitter. More "It's Happening" HERE.
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