Karen: So what's this big news, then?
Daisy: [excited] We've been given our parts in the nativity play. And I'm the lobster.
Karen: The lobster?
Daisy: Yeah!
Karen: In the nativity play?
Daisy: [beaming] Yeah, *first* lobster.
Karen: There was more than one lobster present at the birth of Jesus?
Daisy: Duh.
Love Actually - 2003
Todays readings are Luke 2 vs 1-7 and Matthew 2 vs 1-12
When you read the Nativity account in the bible, it's amazing how short it is and how few details there are, compared with the rich tradition we have built up over the years. There must have been an inn-keeper, but while in our plays he may be like the Porter in Macbeth, in the Bible he is only implied. There were shepherds, but I doubt they brought a lamb with them.
I love the Nativity service, getting all the children dressed as shepherds and kings, or angels, but as teachers it's good to go back to the bible and remind ourselves of the original text.
After all, it's a dramatic enough story, an immaculate conception, a birth in a stable, angels appearing, wise men from the east and the slaughter of what Catholics refer to as the Holy Innocents Matthew 2 vs 16-18.
It was an amazing series of events, but it leads to a more staggering realization. God had come to live among us, to teach us and to eventually die for us, so that we could live with Him forever!
Tim
