You might think with four children and ten years of Christmas pageants under my belt I could make it through another without shedding a tear. Well I tried, but at our three-year-old’s Pick Up Pageant this week the tears flowed like clockwork. As you probably know, in pick up pageants children choose which part they play in the Christmas story. This year the familiar story was told with the help of three Marys and no less than a dozen angels. Our little one announced earlier this week that she would be ‘a keen’. And a beautiful king she was!

I couldn’t help but wonder as I watched the story portrayed by toddlers who I would play in the pageant this year? I say ‘this year’ because as seasons in life change so does the perspective from which I view the story of our Savior’s birth. What about you? What role would you play in a pick up pageant this year?

Perhaps you are pregnant or nursing an infant. As you read the gospel of Luke you imagine what Mary must have felt carrying the Christ child in her womb. I’ve been pregnant for five of the last eleven Christmases and there is truly nothing like savoring the still and holiness of that silent night from the perspective of the virgin mother.

Or maybe you feel like a shepherd. Even as you go about your ordinary, daily tasks you feel an urgency to spread the word concerning what you’ve been told about the Christ child. You can’t help but glorify and praise God for all the things you have heard and seen.

And let’s not forget the innkeeper. If I’m honest I have to admit I’ve played the role. Perhaps you, too, have at one point felt the burden of being too full for Christmas. Too busy, too sad, too angry, too hurt, too wooed by the world, too something to open the doors of your heart and make room for the Christ child.

As you think about the story and the role you would play, read the familiar passages from Isaiah and Luke in a different translation. Try The Message or pick a translation you’ve never read before. Read the scripture aloud. Read the story to your children. Allow yourself to hear the Word new and fresh.

No matter what translation you read, or who you are in the story this particular year, the truth remains. God’s fulfillment to His people, the New Covenant, our Redeemer was born that holy night.

As our pageant closed and the precious voices of three-year-olds filled the sanctuary, tears streamed down my face as the words to songs I’ve sung all my life penetrated my heart.

Everlasting Prince of Peace

Christ our Savior

Newborn King

Incarnate Deity

Born so we may live

Word in flesh appearing

God and sinner reconciled

The Great I Am

The Lord has Come

Joy to the World

Friends, wherever the Christmas story finds you this year, remember the gift was born that holy night in Bethlehem. Remember that God gave up the glory of heaven to be born as a baby for you. Yes, for you! And for Mary. And the shepherds. And the innkeeper. He came so that you and I could be reconciled and made perfect and holy in Him and for His great glory. Jesus is our joy to the world!

Merry Christmas,

Kristin

My personal blog: www.theschellcafe.com

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