At Christmas-time many families display a treasured Nativity creche, perhaps one handed down from earlier generations. The tableau is a representation of the scene at Christ’s birth. Often our Nativity creches include not only Jesus, Mary and Joseph but also angels and visiting shepherds, along with a sheep or two and maybe a cow. Some Nativity scenes are stretched a bit to include also the Magi, or Wise Men, though actually they appear a little later in the story, after the Holy Family presented themselves at the temple.
From Chile I brought home a nine-piece Nativity set made of brown clay. The plain, unpainted presentation is simple and modest, a reminder of the original unassuming atmosphere that prevailed when God became man in Bethlehem. The Miracle of the Incarnation was mostly unnoticed.
I brought home a Nativity set from Peru; this one is shiny and decorated in bright colors. Most striking about it is the fact that it portrays the cast of characters as Peruvian peasants, wearing woven wool caps and serapes, as Andes mountain dwellers customarily dress. Even Baby Jesus wears a traditional Andean cap. What makes this Nativity so precious is the fact that the artist who produced it pictures people like himself/herself as truly present on the scene when the Baby was born. That’s an appropriate way, I think, to reflect the fact that Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you (Luke 2). We are all, world-wide, creation-wide, humanity-wide, the you.
(The ELS relationship with sister-churches in Chile and Peru is conducted by the South America Committee of the Board for World Outreach.)
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Steve Petersen – www.worldmissionsouvenirs.com
