IT’S CHRISTMAS PAGEANT TIME!! No kidding, this is one of my very favorite services of the year. That we invite our children to dress us as ALL THE CHARACTERS and tell the story of the birth of Jesus every year since, I believe, the beginning of time is not meaningless tradition! How else can we truly get an understanding of the utter innocence of this birthing moment but through the youngest in our community?
In my house, like many of yours, we have a creche set up on the coffee table in the living room. Since I bought it when my kids were little and 66% of our children are ADHD positive I went with the Fisher Price Little People set with the assumption that at any given moment a camel could go flying across the room landing unceremoniously on the floor. Every year our manger scene with its loving Mary, Joseph, Jesus, angel, etc would see additional visitors. Dinosaurs, super hero action figures, frogs, smurfs, more dinosaurs, the dancing lady I brought back from the Dominican Republic, and yet more dinosaurs would crowd into the scene, a cacophony of color and joy.
At UPA our children play the parts of all of these and each takes her part with the utmost of seriousness: Mary holding the baby, Joseph taking a knee by her side, the shepherds on one side and the magi on the other. Angels all around. And the animals. All the animals of every kind welcomed to join in this make-shift Kingdom. No parts more important than another. All players – including we who watch – loved and beloved.
I do hope you join us for this annual moment of joy!
Peace,
Cheryl
Live Stream Information
We are making improvements to our sanctuary sound system and encourage you to worship with us in person. If you are not able to worship with us we continue to stream our services via Facebook and Zoom. If you experience any trouble go to our Facebook page for more information. Please share these links with your friends. Bear in mind that we cannot share the Zoom links publicly (to keep from being Zoom bombed), so please share it person to person rather than posting it on Facebook/Twitter, or other public social media. It’s fine to share the Facebook link broadly and publicly. For Zoom login information please reach out to Pastor Cheryl at cheryl@newtonchurch.org.
Zoom Link: UPA Sunday Morning Worship
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81334929545?pwd=S1lsRlRmSnlkTUE0cHRlWWQwWUJndz09
Facebook Livestream Link: https://www.facebook.com/upanewtonma/live