This week we had a rehearsal for our upcoming Christmas pageant, “Away in a Garage: an Oakland Pageant.” The kids sang with Kim to learn the songs, and thoroughly peppered me with questions. Why is Jesus being born in a garage? Who is King Herod? Why aren’t there any shepherds? Why are we singing this song? Do I have to have a speaking role? And on and on. The cast is nearly set, with some additions to accommodate the great number of children and youth who want to be involved, but the questions will probably never be fully answered until long after the pageant is finished. It’s meant to be a thought-provoking exercise, and so far it’s doing a stellar job.
We will try in so many ways to explain our understanding of Christmas to the children. But much of our explaining will fall short of the heart of it, and many of our deep and profound words will fly over the children’s uncomprehending heads. So this year I want to offer another additional way for the families among us to bring the Christmas story to life with their children. It’s called the Traveling Baby Jesus, and my mother (a Presbyterian pastor) has been doing it in her church for several years. It’s most popular with children age 4-8, but older or younger families are welcome to participate as well. The way it works is that we have a small baby Jesus doll, who — just like the real Baby Jesus — doesn’t have a home to stay in. For the two weeks leading up to Christmas, we’re going to try to make sure that this traveling doll can spend each night in someone’s home. He comes in a shoebox with a Christmas book and a few words of instructions. If you sign up for him to stay at your house one night, someone will deliver him to you that day, and then the next day you can deliver him to the family signed up for the next night. We’d like to make sure he’s with a warm and loving family, reading stories and being held, and that he doesn’t have to spend too much time in the cold and dark environment of the church office storage closet. On Christmas Eve the final participating family will deliver him to church so he can be part of the nativity scene in the 5:30 PM Christmas celebration. The children of my mother’s church have come to love their little tradition, looking forward to it all year long, and I feel it will be a lot of fun for our kids too. This photo is from the children of their church last year.
You can sign your family up to host the Traveling Baby Jesus here or with Talitha on Sunday.
While we are doing signups, the Advent wreath still needs a few child & youth volunteers, so sign your kids up here.
Blessings in this lovely rainy Advent season,
Talitha