Monday December 4, 2023
The Rev. diane harvey
Re-doing the creche
I have always had a very rigid tradition about how I set up our crèche during Advent. Not wanting to rush into Christmas and trying to honor the idea that the season is a journey of preparation and expectation, I set Mary and Joseph up far from the manger only to move them closer each week, the shepherds are out in the fields abiding with their sheep, Jesus is hidden in the napkin drawer not to appear until Christmas Eve, and the wise men and camels are far off in the east.
This week, however, after thinking about Rob’s sermon inviting us to bring ‘the kingdom’ and the discussion we had in Reading Between the Lines about how we can embody hope both individually and as a community, a strange idea about my crèche set-up came to me unbidden. What if I set up the crèche, in fact both my crèches together, mingling the straw figures from Tanzania with the olive wood set from the Middle East? What if all the players in the nativity drama were in place from the beginning, heedless of the arc of the story; and what if I even added other figures that don’t belong? Like a small 100-year-old china cat missing its two front paws, and a Norwegian gnome, and a boy waltzing with a dog? Why? All to remind myself that even as we prepare to celebrate Jesus’ birth once again, the kingdom of Love is already here. We just need to make that kingdom of Love more visible, more a reality all around us.
So, throwing years of tradition away, I set up the crèches as one with two Marys, two Josephs, two Jesus who are already in the manger and not hidden away, lots of shepherds, animals and wise ones, along with figures who weren’t in the first story. It makes me laugh whenever I pass by. But more importantly, it helps me remember to look at life with new eyes, and to see God at work in new ways. When I gaze at my odd crèche, I dream a world where differences no longer matter, where divisions are overcome, and where everyone and everything belongs. And as I gaze, I pray, I wonder, and I ask God to accompany me on this Advent journey of helping make the kingdom of Love more fully realized here on earth.
Where might God be nudging you with a strange and wondrous thought? Where will you embody hope?