Nativity plays

This week I went to our little theatre, The Academy Theatre, to see the KS1 children from Gainford Church of England Primary School present their nativity play. Over the years I must have been to hundreds of such occasions and I love to see the children dress up, act and sing as they tell the well known story of the birth of Jesus.

As much as I enjoy these occasions they do worry me a little, The story is  always the same: Angel Gabriel tells Mary she is to have a baby, Mary and Joseph travel to Bethlehem, the inn is full, they find a stable, Jesus is born, angels tell shepherds about the birth, they visit the stable. Meanwhile, miles away three kings follow a star which leads them to Bethlehem. Period, as our American friends would say.

On that story is based all our celebrations over the next couple of weeks.  But on what is that simple story based? Certainly not on history, The story we know is a compilation from different sources in the Gospels. Mark did not include it at all and his was the first Gospel. Matthew has the angel tell Joseph, not Mary, about the birth. He has no shepherds but magi or wise men (number not specified) who travel own camels from a distant country. Luke has the annunciation to Mary and shepherds. John does not tell a story but begins his Gospel with a beautiful prologue which speaks of Jesus as the Word made flesh.

So you see, the traditional story as we know it is nowhere recorded as a whole, but is a mixture of Luke's and Matthew's accounts. There are other problems about the birth stories, for example it is highly unlikely that the 'Virgin birth' means that Mary conceived without intercourse.  God does not work by suspending the laws of nature. And although various explanations have been put forward about the star which guided the magi, stars do not move across the sky.

Christmas is a celebration of the presence of God in all human beings, but especially in Jesus whose power and presence inspired the Gospel writers to put into their own words the events of the life of Jesus as they had heard them, passed down from generations of people. That does not imply the story is meaningless; on the contrary they still have a message to convey which we all need to hear.

I look forward to Christmas, to singing the carols, hearing the stories again, giving and receiving presents and worshipping the God who is born in each of us.