Every Christmas we all put out our nativity sets: Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, an angel, and of course the obligatory shepherd. I feel like the shepherds and their fuzzy charges are the cause for more Christmas hilarity and awkwardness than anyone else. For example: as a small child I was a sheep in our church Christmas pageant. I worked very hard on my costume, trying to be a very convincing sheep. My endeavors do not seem to have been successful because the vicar took one look at me and said, "Epiphany, what are you supposed to be?" It crushed my acting dreams for ever. Just kidding, but I do remember several of my friends becoming inexplicably entangled in the tea towel portions of their shepherds' costumes and having to be rescued.
Another one of my absolute favorite Sheep/ Shepherd stories is one my dad tells about a bad gospel acclamation contest held by several Anglican priests of his acquaintance. The winning verse ran something like this:
Lector:While shepherds watch their flocks by night.
Congregation: (With gusto) All seated on the ground!
One of my seminarian friends recently posted the following picture of his favorite character in his parish's nativity set.
As he says, "Not many people know this, but according to a gloss on the text of the Gospels, one of the lambs present at the Nativity of Our Lord, so touched by the Incarnation of the Word as a tiny baby, so awed at the presence of the Almighty Creator in human flesh, tossed his cookies. Hence the ancient tradition of the Veneration of the Barfing Lamb."
Finally a quick reminder that shepherds should not be discriminated against-particularly not in nativity plays.
Also, there will be a New Year's post, once I've had a chance to think long and hard about my resolutions. So expect a post, y'know, mid July?
Another one of my absolute favorite Sheep/ Shepherd stories is one my dad tells about a bad gospel acclamation contest held by several Anglican priests of his acquaintance. The winning verse ran something like this:
Lector:While shepherds watch their flocks by night.
Congregation: (With gusto) All seated on the ground!
One of my seminarian friends recently posted the following picture of his favorite character in his parish's nativity set.
As he says, "Not many people know this, but according to a gloss on the text of the Gospels, one of the lambs present at the Nativity of Our Lord, so touched by the Incarnation of the Word as a tiny baby, so awed at the presence of the Almighty Creator in human flesh, tossed his cookies. Hence the ancient tradition of the Veneration of the Barfing Lamb."
Finally a quick reminder that shepherds should not be discriminated against-particularly not in nativity plays.
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