Linda Griggs

Director of Christian Formation

            As I watched our Pageant unfold on Christmas Eve I was struck by two things:

First, I was moved to see how many people were involved in making the Pageant a success; from the young people (and strong dads) in costume who attended rehearsals and played their roles so well, to the parents who encouraged and supported them, to the additional adults who helped organize costumes and props and then expertly wrangled all those excited angels, shepherds and sheep (not to mention kings and camels.) To all of you, thank you from the depths of my heart for your energy, patience, effort and creativity.
Applause, applause!

            Second, I was struck by the fact that each of the Pageant participants is a storyteller. Each one, from the youngest angel to the most poised middle school or teen narrator, is a messenger of the Word, telling a piece of God's love story to Creation. These children told us a story of new parents on an exhausting journey, a story of frightened and awed shepherds, of kings led by curiosity, longing, and a single star; they told the story of all of God's heavenly and earthly creatures who were present as God joined with Creation in the fragile guise
of a human child.

            It is an awesome story indeed, and it does not stop with Christmas Day.
The Incarnation is the story of a God who has joined our story. As I watched the children before, during and after the Pageant I was touched, not only by the fact that each was a storyteller on Christmas Eve, but also by the fact that God's Story of love and compassion is told in each of them-in each of us-every day- in our anxiety and composure, joy and grief, exuberance and exhaustion-all of these are feelings that God knows intimately because of having become Emmanuel-God With Us.

            My prayer this Christmas Season and beyond is that all of us can begin to grasp the blessing of our calling as storytellers and as vital parts of God's great narrative. As we live our own stories we can allow God to speak and work through us as we play our own role in the joys and challenges of living into God's dream of peace and reconciliation.

            Merry Christmas and Peace to all!
 

 Linda