‘What’s missing?’ I asked, as we adorned a little girl in a tinsel halo, a boy with a tea towel as shepherd, a king with a paper crown, for the live nativity.
We already had Mary, Joseph and a disgruntled donkey. Christmas morning and we were assembling the cast of the nativity scene.
All the characters, human and animal, were gathered. ‘What’s missing?’
It was then my son drew out the pair of rats from his jacket pocket, received as pets that morning, and I upturned the sack of manure, across the church floor.
The looks of horror and shrieks of outrage said it all. How dare we disturb the tranquillity of the beloved crib tableau!
But it was far too domestic and sanitised a setting. The real birth of the Christ child was into a smelly, foul stable, mirroring the world of which it was a part. That’s the world as it is.
The wonder of Christmas is that God chose to become one of us. To come amongst us, not set himself apart as someone special. His love for us and the world is such that he wants to know us and be known by us.
This Christmas as we open presents from one another to mark the birthday of the Christ child, let us also remember the greatest presence of all. Emmanuel, ‘God with us’.
With every good wish for a peace-filled Christmas!
The Rt Revd Ruth Worsley, Acting Bishop of Coventry
