Many women have been unsung heroes in a variety of lifelong responsibilities as mothers, wives, grandmothers. And similarly dedicated women have been unsung heroes in a myriad of professions: education, civil rights, medicine, physics, engineering, mathematics, nutrition, and astronomy to mention only a few. Unsung because their discoveries often were attributed to men who shamelessly took credit for the women’s inventions and discoveries. Little has changed for women in the 21st century. Nonetheless, their achievements rank them as true heroines. Let the singing begin!
Today I want to celebrate another group of unsung heroes: the women who volunteer to organize and direct the annual Christmas pageant for their congregations. Without exception these women are perfect examples of the word ‘hero.’ Admittedly, very few were brave (foolish?) enough to head the Pageant more than one year. A testimony to their common sense.
So, I want to pay tribute to these unsung heroes. Here are only some of the challenges pageant directors have dealt with. Fortunately, not all of
these trials were endured by the women of the congregations I served.
Here’s a contribution from Carolyn Biederman. Carolyn didn’t include
the name and location of the church. “A little girl who played the part of the Behlehem innkeeper unexpectedly went off script and announced to Joseph and Mary and a stunned audience that there was room for them after all.”
I do not doubt that Carolyn quickly recovered and hastily made the necessary adjustments to get the play back on the right track. But kudos to the compassionate little girl innkeeper,
The members of a Lutheran congregation in Madison, WI owned a small motel. Naturally, their son played the role of the innkeeper. He ad-libbed, “Didn’t you see the ‘No Vacancy’ sign?”
At First Lutheran Church, Parkersburg, WV, the boy innkeeper shouted to Mary and Joseph, “Get lost! We don’t got no rooms open!” Ad-libs from the innkeepers seem to be a strange coincidence. Kids will be kids.
And donkeys will be donkeys. First Lutheran Church in Parkersburg had a tradition of having a living Christmas pageant until the year a donkey took a large bite out of one of the shepherds rearward extremity, necessitating a quick trip to the emergency room.
“This year’s Christmas pageant was a diorama set with doors opening and closing to display each scene. The scene was set: Mary and Joseph in the stable with baby Jesus lying in the manger. (Mary and Joseph were 10-year-old twins.) The doors were about to open when I suddenly noticed Joseph punching Mary and Mary preparing to slug Joseph. Luckily I was able to diffuse the situation just in time, and the show went on with the congregation none the wiser.” — Sue Apple
See what I mean about unsung heroes?
One of ‘the few, the bold, the ‘I like doing it’, who volunteered to direct the children’s pageant for multiple years, did so in a small country church in Wisconsin. She wishes to remain anonymous.
Here are a few of her highlights. One year, two angels got into a scuffle as they stood behind the baby doll Jesus in the manger. They wrestled and pulled hair until Joseph, with some difficulty, separated them.
Another time, Joseph was leading Mary as they approached the inn. Evidently he didn’t think Mary was walking fast enough. So he pulled her by the arm and said, “Come on. We haven’t got all night.” Which was true, when you think about it.
“Oh yes! Angels who decide they really don’t want to be in the play—and announce it on stage; one little one who became entranced by the candles—and decided to count them out loud, over and over; a wise man (teenager) who showed up at the live nativity draped in an electric blanket and a very long cord, and the year we had a camel (stuffed) because that’s what the prop shop at the circus had to offer!” — Pat Kauffman
A few years ago at Trinity Cathedral, Cleveland, a mother volunteered (?) her honest-to-goodness real live infant to play the part of Jesus. During the scene of Joseph Mary and the live baby in the manger, the baby began to fuss. So the little girl who played Mary, dutifully picked up the child. He evidently weighed more than she thought, and she struggled to keep hold. Thankfully, Joseph came to the rescue! He managed (just barely) to hold the baby upside down until the frantic mother raced up the steps and took her child with her. He never returned to the manger. Quite a Biblical twist to see the infant Jesus rise not from His tomb, but from the manger!
One year in a congregation I served, the girl who played Mary fell asleep. Joseph nudged her awake, but soon she went to sleep again. After the pageant ended, Mary’s mother apologized to the director, who said it was the most realistic portrayal of Mary she had ever seen.
During another memorable Christmas pageant in that congregation, The little girl Mary suddenly jumped up from her kneeling position at the manger and strode to the edge of the steps to the altar. In a loud voice she said,
“Whoever took the baby Jesus had better give him back, or there’s gonna be trouble!”
Many years ago the boy who would one day be my Uncle Les was one of the three Wise Men carrying gifts of ‘gold, common sense, and fur’ to baby Jesus. Each Wise Man also held a lighted candle, perhaps to show them the way. Lester held his candle too close beneath his fake beard. It caught fire, and Lester, who was seven at the time, yelled, “Oh, Shit!”
“Tommy wouldn’t sit still in Sunday school. He was “a corker.” The Christmas pageant was coming, and the Sunday School teachers had a great idea: the children would be animals, as in “The Friendly Beasts.” They’d wear their footed pajamas and “give gifts” to baby Jesus.
The kids were enthusiastic: “I’ll be a bluebird,” volunteered one. “I want to be a goat,” said another. Tommy yelled, “I’ll be the monkey,” as he pranced around.
Tommy missed rehearsal. “Oh, no,” worried the teachers, “Tommy might say anything.” When program time came, the teachers smiled; Tommy was still missing. They could relax.
At the last minute, in galloped Tommy. “You must be quiet,” whispered the teachers as they attached his tail and ears. “OK,” Tommy said.
The children sat on the steps in front of the altar and took turns at the microphone. Little bluebird began, “I will sing to baby Jesus.”
The goat said she would give cheese to the holy family. The horse offered rides, and the duck, feathers. Finally, the rabbit declared he’d share his soft fur.
Tommy grinned, somersaulted down the steps, leapt up, and shouted, “I will teach baby Jesus to laugh!” The congregation clapped and laughed. Jesus may have laughed, too.” — Beth Hunnicutt
Merry Christmas to all!
Thanks for making me giggle, Skip