News Archive

THE NATIVITY 

It is, at Christmas, in our chapel
A ritual that the little ones,
The children of the vestry, shall present
The drama of the Nativity.

Some adults will have been busy
Stitching Christmas into old shirts,
Old blankets and old curtains
To attire the legion of actors.

The `treasures’, too, will be ordinary things:
An old biscuit tin, gilded,
Will become a casket for `myrrh’;
An ornate tea caddy will contain the `frankincense’;
And a lump of something wrapped up
And painted will become `gold’.
There will be, always, an electric star.

Other adults will have been coaching Angels,
Striving to put Wise Men on the right path,
Attempting to poke into the prodigals
The demeanour of Shepherds,
And finding it hard to keep Herod and his men
From the ways of the unruly –
For that is the tendency of the children of the vestry.
Mary and Joseph will be somewhat older
Than the rest and more easy to handle.
Without fail Baby Jesus will be a dolly.

From time to time, during the rehearsing,
There will be squabbling between Wise Men and Shepherds,
And harsh disputing, sometimes, among Angels,
And for Herod and his gang, with their swords – which are plastic –
The temptation to bash heads is forever endemic.
And, verily, when the solemn presentation of gifts by the Magi
Is shattered by the din of a biscuit tin crashing
The minister himself needs grace to stop cursing.

But on the night of  the play, in the love
Within those walls, we all become one family.
The shining innocence of  all the young actors
Will change what is ordinary, miraculously, into a birth;
And in our night, in our darkness, the electric star
Will guide us back to the true Nativity,
To that light that cannot be buried.
And in the agony of a world held in thrall by Herod
We understand why
It’s proclaimed once again that God does not die.

Gwyn Thomas