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.
Powerful isn't it? Our church, Solana Beach Presbyterian, has joined others worldwide in the Advent Conspiracy to collectively espouse more worship, less spending this Christmas. Their website explains more and links you to a group forum for sharing practical ideas and stories of Rethinking Christmas.
Funny, last summer I had picked up Bill McKibben's Hundred Dollar Holiday written in 1998. Who among us has not yearned for simplicity in years past? It's the basic conflict and motivator for skipping Christmas in Grisham's book and the subsequent movie, Christmas with the Kranks? When I was a kid, several years blur together that my mom made a similar declaration that she (and we) would be giving (and getting) just one gift from each other. "One BIG gift, then, right?" we'd clarify in our immaturity. Nothing new under the sun. Actually doing it, though, does set a precedent. What [AC] is doing very effectively is to spread a compelling message to motivate a groundswell of response and a movement from the recurrent idea and longing within many of us. They're also linking it to current world needs and Jesus' raison d'etre.
I find it yet another amazing example of God's timing and His promise to "bring all things together for good." This call to action is gaining momentum due to the circumstances of our national economy. Only a Sovereign God could have timed it so well. Just last week, Jim and I noted practically a sigh of relief that the bubble has finally popped. The malls are subdued. The nation seems silently appreciative to have a good reason, even a necessity, to scale back, adjust priorities, and stay home. Like children who need their parents to set boundaries, we have become attentive to the new instruction.
The [AC] suggestion is to reduce spending by one gift. For us, that seemed insignificant and the $100 Christmas too stringent (recall the tree was not free). Perhaps, I am still jilted from my mom's single gift decree too. So, we have landed on this solution. We will give three gifts to each other, symbolic of the three wise men who came bearing gifts to the newborn Savior. Mine will be categorized (because I love themes); one book, one treat, and one handmade gift. There's only been a little bawking in the ranks. Allie says all three of hers might be handmade. Reid is on the prowl for a three-disc DVD set!
The magi acted on a compelling hunch. They set out following a star (that ancient form of GPS) with heavy laden saddlebags. Likely they chose a gift that would fit unobtrusively in the luggage and represent the best their country had to offer.
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!
