Little Drummer Boy Vespers Pageant 

- December 21, 4 pm 

I would like to thank Claire Breyton for adapting this well known story of The Little Drummer Boy for our upcoming pageant held during Vespers on Dec 21st at 4pm.  The beauty of this story is that it echos what we have been talking about all year in the Religious Education community and church-wide: We all have a gift to bring to each other, to the church, to the world.

A long time ago, there was a boy who was the son of a shepherd. His family didn't have much money, their lives were very very simple. The boy spent his time helping his father to tend to the sheep in the pastures, and there was not much time for playing.

One day the boy went with his father to the market in town.  

They passed by stands where people sold their goods, calling out to the shoppers.

As they were leaving the market, the boy spotted a beautiful drum, carved from strong hardwood with a gleaming white top. He stared at it a long time because he wanted it very badly, but he didn't say anything, knowing that his family could not buy toys for him. His father paused, watching his son staring at the drum, and he knew what he was thinking.

That night after the son had come in from the pastures helping with the sheep,  he ate his supper and went to get ready for bed.  

There on his bed sat the beautiful drum he had wanted so badly.

The boys eyes grew large, and a smile spread on his face as he picked up the drum that he never imagined would be his.

He admired the drum a long time, and then played his first rhythm that night.

Starting the next day, and everyday thereafter, the little boy carried the drum with him and practiced on it as he went out to the pastures to help with the sheep. Both the sheep and shepherds grew accustomed to the drumming, and as the months and years passed, the boy became quite good at it. The shepherds looked forward to hearing his different cadences rolling down the hillside every morning. The boy carried his drum everywhere he went, and even slept with it beside him at night time.

One day a poor young family came looking for a place to stay. The young woman was pregnant and ready to have her baby any day. They needed shelter, but were unable to find any in the village below. The boy's family allowed them to stay in their stable.

The young woman and her husband were very kind to the young boy.  The couple were so poor that the boy felt he wanted to give them something special in return for their kindness, but he had nothing to give them.

Later that cold night, the boy awoke to a bluish light shining in his window. He got up and looked outside, where he saw the stars shining more brightly than he had ever seen before. They were shining so brightly that you could see billions of them in the sky, and they seemed to be closer than usual. The pastures below were lit up with the starlight so that you could see the sheep clearly even far away. It gave the boy a magical feeling, and he had to run outside to see better.

The shepherds watching the sheep were also gathered together looking up at the unusually bright starlight. As the boy was looking upward outside his house, he heard crying coming from the stable and saw the light of a lantern shining from within. He went to look inside, where he saw the mother and father holding a newborn baby close,  feeding him his first meal. The boy suddenly knew what he wanted to give them.

He ran to his house, got his drum, brought it down to the stable, and stepped inside. He said, "This drum is all I have that is mine, but I want to give it to your baby so that when he grows up, he can learn to play like I have." The woman smiled at him, and said, "I've heard you play your drum, and I enjoy it so much that I want you to keep your drum and share the gift you have for playing instead." The boy was very happy to hear that. He picked up his drum and began playing softly, so as not to frighten the baby.

All those present near the stable stood under the stars and experienced the sacredness of how a gift of the heart can feel.

"I played my best for him pa rum pum pum pum.

Then he smiled at me pa rum pump um pum

Me and my drum"

Robin Caracciolo, 

Director of Religious Education

One Church, One Book - Let's Read Together!

If you haven't met Temple, you are in for a treat. She's an amazing woman, currently a professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University, and arguably the most accomplished and well-known autistic adult in the world. Her work designing safe and humane beef production facilities has revolutionized the food production industry. Equally important, Temple has shared her autism with people of all ages; through her books and speaking engagements, she shines light on her non-traditional way of thinking, explores the way her body processes senses, and celebrates all the gifts her autism has given her.

In Sy Montgomery's biography, we meet a younger Temple, a girl for whom ordinary sensations-the feel of a wool hat on her ears, the smell of a teacher's perfume, or the sound of the school bell-were torture. To escape these overwhelming sensations, Temple took comfort in movements that others found odd: twirling, for example. She often retreated into a world of her own, ignoring the people and events around her. This behavior was, of course, hard for her friends and family to understand. But Temple, her family, and these friends did not give up. Together they found a way to better understand one another.

In one of my favorite passages in the book, adult Temple suggests an unorthodox approach to meat production facility design to people who didn't believe in her ideas ...

"Temple remembers their reaction: 'They thought I was off my rocker.' 

She has heard that one before. People have been calling Temple Grandin 'crazy,' 'retarded,' and 'off her rocker' ever since her father first insisted she be put away in an institution when she was three years old.

She's proved them wrong every time."

The REC will continue to raffle off signed copies of Temple Grandin during coffee hour each week. Get in on that if you can! And if you aren't one of the lucky winners, you can easily order the book-in hardcover or softcover-online or in brick and mortar bookstores. Consider it your holiday Must Read!

Loree Griffin Burns