The best Christmas book I've ever read is The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson. If you take your coffee black, you'll love the brutal honesty of this hilarious recounting of a church nativity pageant. No cream in this one, nor sugar or sweetener. The church ladies are aghast but, nonetheless blessed, when the Herdman children are cast in lead roles as Mary an Joseph. Not because they're the best actors! They show up for the free donuts and weasel their way into the auditions by intimidating the likely picks from trying out!It is an irreligious hoot to read aloud. I guarantee you will recognize some people from your own church community in the fictional characterizations. (Don't settle for the movie which doesn't compare.) Check your library used book nook; they are sure to have a copy for under $1. I consider it doctrinally sound humor!
Keep it real! Let's not pretend any of us are anything but a mess! Who do we think we are fooling? Jesus, fully God and fully human, was born to die for our very real sins. It's in dying to ourselves that we live in Him.
