This morning we had our Nativity Service in my church, but this year it was a little different because we invited volunteers from amongst the congregation to play the various parts whilst i read the Nativity story from a children's Bible.
It all started because the two children in the Sunday School who usually play the parts of Joseph and Mary decided that they didn't want to this year. In fact they both said that they wanted to be donkeys instead! When, like us, you have a fairly small Sunday School, you are not left with a lot of options, and so it was decided that, as all of the congregation are God's children, we would invite participation from amongst all the children present. It worked a treat, although the older 'children' taking part kept chattering as they walked on their journey to Bethlehem!
In these days of political correctness we increasingly hear about fewer and fewer Nativity plays happening. Most schools put together some sort of pantomime which can feature a sort Nativity which includes Batman, Spiderman, Robin Hood, and Santa Claus! The end result is a confusion which sends out the message that everything is just a comic-book story, including the greatest story on earth --- that of the birth of the Son of God in the most humbles of surroundings imaginable.
If we, as Christians, fail to let our light shine out in the darkness of the world that we live in there is a real danger that the darkness will snuff the light out altogether. Now that may well be the aim of the secularists behind so much of the politically correct rubbish, and we may well recognise it for what it is and them for what they are, but if we fail to stand against it then we become party to it, and that is unacceptable.
We need to be united as never before. If we are united in Christ then we will be united too in our resolve to boldly proclaim the Gospel message, and the united flicker of our small flames of witness will together produce a light so bright that the darkness will be banished for ever.
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