It wasn’t Broadway. It wasn’t Sight and Sound Theater. It wasn’t a stage.
It was a platform. It was a small country church.
The out-of-practice and croaky-voiced song leader sang O Come All Ye Faithful and Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.
Battery-powered candles sat on each windowsill. An authentic cardboard stable from the first century propped against the pulpit. The original first-century electric Christmas lights draped over the top of the stable.
An extremely young-looking Mary and Joseph took their places behind the woven basket manger with handles, he in his authentic ancient blue bathrobe and she in her cream-colored blanket.
From the congregation’s point of view, an angel with prescription glasses stood to the left of Joseph, and behind him was another angel, both with gold halos intertwined with their hair. The angel on the left sang her solo with fervor and gusto, all while rocking back and forth as a nervous smile stretched across her face.
A genuine stuffed furry rocking horse looked at the crowd from the side of the stage, near the piano, and a little girl sat upon the rocking horse, approving of the proceedings. The two shepherds read the Christmas story from ancient scrolls of white computer paper.
Different ones read Scripture at various points in the service, others sang Christmas songs, and then the pastor tied it together with a sermon about the peace and joy that only Christ can bring.
After the sermon, they handed out candles to the adults and battery-powered candles to the children for obvious reasons.
And while the candles bathed the sanctuary in a radiant glimmer of light, we sang that old familiar Christmas song, Silent Night.
And there wasn’t a show anywhere on Earth that could rival the sincerity of heart and spirit of Christmas as those assembled in that little country church.
It was perfect.
to the kids in those little Christmas programs,
– Caleb
caneymountainblog.com 