With the exception of certain elements that are set in stone i.e. a time of prayer, a bible reading and a talk, if anyone were to describe MBC’s 2024 Nativity Service as slick I’d say that to use the word “slick” in relation to the rest of the Service would be an overstatement of near biblical proportions.
Let me explain, and please believe me when I say I’m not being deliberately critical.
Just two minutes before the scheduled start time there was no narrator, or was it Joseph – luckily, which ever it was one was found.
When Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem there was no inn keeper to greet them – luckily one was found when Shelley was quick witted enough to dart across from the lectern to fill this small but vital role.
Then there was that precious moment that the angels appeared (one well over 5 foot tall, the other about half her size) which found the one with the dialogue, the small one, jumping up and down to reach the mic.
Finally, when at the very end of the Service we were all invited to stand and sing our closing song, our Worship Leader somewhat sheepishly announced that as he didn’t have another song, why don’t we reprise Hark the herald angels, the last one we did.
Immediately following the Service I heard one person muttering something along the lines of “blimey, that was anything but reverent,” whilst no more than a couple of feet away and topping up his coffee cup another described what he had just seen as… “a blast, uplifting, joyous, inclusive, encouraging and full of truth.”
Regarding how we tell the Christmas story, how we worship, far be it for me to cast an opinion one way or the other. But on Sunday morning, here at MBC, the one thought that stuck in my mind was what was it really like in Bethlehem the night Jesus was born? Was the stable cosy and warm, were there stars in the bright sky and were cattle lowing etc. etc. or was it more like MBC’s Nativity – a much more down to earth affair shot through with its very own catalogue of chaos?
I’ll leave it to you to decide.
