The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, written by Barbara Robinson, is the story of what happens to the annual church Christmas pageant when the mean dirty wrong-side-of-the-tracks Herdman kids, "the worst kids in the history of the world," get involved. I didn't make it all the way through again this year. Maybe next year I won't read ahead the day before. Knowing what comes next, my voice starts getting squeaky and tight. The younger lovely lady took over and read us this section:
...when we got to "Son of God, Love's Pure light" I happened to look at Imogene and I almost dropped my hymn book on a baby angel. Everyone had been waiting all this time for the Herdmans to do something unexpected. And sure enough, that was what happened. Imogene Herdman was crying. In the candlelight her face was all shiny with tears and she didn't even bother to wipe them away. She just sat there-- awful old Imogene-- in her crookedy veil, crying and crying and crying. Well. It was the best Christmas pageant we ever had.
My children see this as a story that reminds us that Jesus was a real person, a little baby who was born in a barn and needed his mom. I remind them that there's a message through the Herdman children about the goodness and humanity in all of us.
I know. I'm an awful sap. Maybe I'll be able to read it without crying next year. Of course, that's what I said last year.
No comments:
Post a Comment