On the Sixth Day of Christmas

On the sixth day of Christmas, a week before Epiphany, was a morning filled with pageantry. (You sang that to the tune of The Twelve Days of Christmas, didn't you?)

The scenery is set. 

Angels are flitting about the sanctuary.
The shepherds are all trying not to hit each other with their staves, or at least they're trying to appear as if they're not trying to hit each other with their staves. 

Mary and Joseph are sitting quietly.
Jesus, in baby doll wrapped in a white pillowcase form, is hiding in the hay.
Jesus, the older version, is sitting confidently, his lines memorized.
And it starts: a Christmas pageant with a cast of a dozen and a half, ages 3-73. 

"It Wouldn't Be Christmas Without"

We learn through people sharing with each other; through Isaiah, Micah, Jesus, Mary, and even Boniface; through the angels and the shepherds; and through Christmas hymn after Christmas hymn, the real meaning of Christmas. 


It wouldn't be Christmas without candles, right?

It wouldn't be Christmas without music, right??

It wouldn't be Christmas without a tree, right???

It wouldn't be Christmas without presents, RIGHT????

Well, maybe. But it definitely wouldn't be Christmas without Jesus. 

I learn something more, too.

It wouldn't be a Pageant without crooked halos and angels who speak softly yet sing powerfully.

It wouldn't be a Pageant without costume pieces made from pillowcases, knee-highs and pipe cleaners. 

It wouldn't be a Pageant without missed cues, forgotten words, and all the little things that make for a memorable morning.

It wouldn't be a Pageant without the music we hold most dear, sung with gusto by young and old and in-between. 

And it wouldn't be a Pageant without the Light, the Song, the Root of Jesse, the Gift.