Christmas transforms our home. Our annual tradition (arguably enjoyed by some members of the family more than others) of replacing our regular, year-round furnishings with Christmas décor helps to usher in the season. We decorate our Christmas tree, unpack the holiday dishes, and display our unique assortment of schoolroom crafts to make our home festive for the holidays.
Of all the tasks, the one I love the most is unwrapping the nativity sets that we’ve collected over the years from their carefully bubble wrapped cocoons. My little collection has grown as we’ve purchased nativity scenes when we’ve traveled, or friends have brought back sets as gifts from their adventures.
Each nativity set features Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus. After those central figures, the surroundings and figures vary significantly. A set from the Caribbean has the family finding shelter in a coconut shell. The terra cotta home in the Mexican set is beautifully decorated in the vibrant blue colors associated with the region. Some have animals familiar to the artist that couldn’t possibly have been in the Bethlehem cave when Jesus was born, like carefully carved wooden hippos in an African nativity. I can easily identify some of the figurines from the biblical account, while others appear to be modern-day observers such as men and women in traditional clothing around a German nativity.
The beauty and creativity of these miniature retellings of the Christmas story delight me because the designs reflect the culture and experience of the place where they were created more than they attempt to be a historical representation of life in first century Israel. It’s essential to recognize that Jesus, the central figure in each nativity, entered our world in a very specific place, the small village of Bethlehem. But it’s equally essential to realize that his story was not just for the people present at his birth, during his teaching ministry, or at his resurrection. Through the Spirit, Jesus is still entering into our lives and his story is relevant in every place and for every era. Viewed this way, each nativity scene I display becomes a reminder that God’s story is wide enough to find expression in all the cultures and peoples of the world.
God’s story also has a part that I can choose to play in the neighborhood and community where he’s placed me. Maybe this Christmas God will give us, like the angels in the nativity scene, opportunities to share with our neighbors that Jesus came into our world so that we might experience peace and joy—knowing their context might be working at a stressful new company, struggling to survive.
If we feel fear—like the shepherds, who were initially terrified at the announcement that Jesus entered the world (Luke 2:9)—our role might be to walk alongside those anxious and afraid of the future to share the amazing truth that Jesus brings hope.
Not limited to just the roles of the participants at the first Christmas, our part might be to serve family members who gather during the holidays as a way to live out the truth that Jesus came not to be served but to serve. Another role might be to pray for a coworker as they seek an answer to a health crisis.
It’s exciting to be part of the story. To have a role to play in the ongoing narrative of God’s love for us. In all the beautiful displays of the Christmas story you encounter this holiday season, invite the Spirit to help you see that it is not just an event we observe but an ongoing story we can be part of.
—Written by Lisa M. Samra. Used by permission from the author.
