THE SHEPHERDS' PLAY: 

Friday, December 18th,  9 am

The Shepherds' Play is part of a cycle of three plays performed in the sixteenth and early seventeenth century by German immigrants to the small island of Oberufer on the Danube River. The plays are older, part of a widespread tradition in medieval Europe and Britain of dramatizing biblical events called Mystery, Miracle, and Passion Plays. They were intended to bring an experience and understanding of biblical events to the illiterate peasantry. The plays range from reverent to bawdy, often within the same performance. Remnants of the mystery plays remain in modern Christmas traditions: the song Hark! The Herald Angels Sing is from a mystery play, and the tradition of the Christmas tree is thought by many to have come from the Paradise Tree found in German mystery plays. The popularity of the Mystery Plays and others declined after the Reformation, in Protestant countries by official decree, and in Catholic countries as well. However, these well-preserved plays are still being performed in England and Germany, and are considered a window into history, everyday life, and religion. 
 
For many schools, presenting the Shepherds' Play represents both a gift from the teachers to the children, and a message that goes beyond cultural or historical specifics to speak of "that Holy Thing which shall be born of thee. .." as the angel in the play says. Michael Miller contributed these thoughts about the play to Renewal magazine: "What Holy Thing is this? It is nothing other than that love which is able to "enter all the hearts of all the earth." In other words, that love which can only enter the world through the human heart, and without which the world must remain "faithless grown."