What are THEY doing here?

I figure it’s never too early to begin thinking about next Christmas, and I’ve got a great idea for it!  I’d like to share my idea with and get your feedback.  Actually, I’d love for you to catch my vision and join me in this endeavour.

I think what our town needs (and you might be interested in doing this in your town, too) is a great, big, massive nativity scene!  It will be of such size and grandeur that people will drive for hours just to see it.

And it’ll be a nativity scene like they’ve never seen before.  Sure, it’ll have a baby, and Mary and Joseph.  But instead of shepherds, we’ll put cut-out figures of Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock on display.  Instead of a wise man, we’ll set up a statue of Nelson Mandela.  And sheep?  Forget about sheep.  Everyone’s nativity display has sheep.  For our roadside attraction, picture this: smurfs and hobbits.  And finally, we’ll rig something up so that a character can fly in circles around it all – not a boring angel, but how about a pterodactyl?!

This is my vision for a nativity scene next Christmas.  Who wants to sign up and help me turn this into reality??

…I suspect that I’m going to have a hard time finding people who will catch my vision.  There’s something awfully wrong with it, isn’t there?  Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, Nelson Mandela, smurfs, hobbits, and pterodactyls aren’t supposed to be in the Christmas story, are they?  Just just don’t belong.

Well, guess what?  Even though we’re so used to seeing them there, neither do the magi!  But the fact that they are indeed present in the Christmas story says something about belonging – about how the magi belong and about how God sees us as people who belong, too.

Please continue reading here.  And, for the first time ever online, you can also hear and watch a video of me delivering this sermon here!
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