Becky and I saw a Christmas play yesterday entitled "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever." It was a very unique play whose plot centered around the Herdmans--a group of ill behaved rednecks--deciding to play a part in the Christmas pageant. While their decision is motivated by self-serving purposes and is greeted with a lack of enthusiasm and an abundance of hypocrisy from the church people, the Herdman's involvement in and engagement with the play and the nativity story has a profound effect upon them. The title "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" is certainly ironic; the pageant--due to the Herdmans lack of acting skills, commonsense and knowledge of the nativity story--ends up being unconventional (to say the least), but somehow the consensus among the church people is that it was the best play they had ever had. The reality of the incarnation had changed the Herdmans and the transformation was evident in the pageant.
Our appreciation goes to Miles Straight Baptist Church for all the hard work. "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" was a very humorous play, but it communicated some important truths. The Herdmans had never heard the nativity story before, and listening to it started a process of change. In addition, they were the recluse of society and the plague of middle school life; no one cared to be around them. In fact, people enjoyed church because the Herdmans were not there. And yet, the message of the incarnation speaks of Christ who, though unlike us in every way, became one of us to serve us and save us. Let us therefore tell others of the life and work of Christ, and let us have the same attitude that was in Christ Jesus
