Almost fifty years ago a friend of ours recommended a book for Christmas entitled “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.” Many of you may be familiar with the book. It’s the story of the six Herdman kids, the most God-awful children in the world. Among their many crimes were burning down Fred Shoemaker’s toolshed, beating up every boy and girl in town, taking a wild cat in a box which they had not fed for three days to show-and-tell (resulting in more first aid emergencies in one day than the school nurse had experienced in all her tenure), regularly practicing extortion, and stuffing pussy willow catkins down the ears of their enemies. It was the consensus of the whole community that the Herdmans were headed straight to hell by way of the state penitentiary.
But in a strange twist of events, they became involved with the annual church Christmas pageant taking the lead parts of Mary, Joseph, the angel, and the wisemen. The Herdmans, who were strangers to the experience of church, learned for the first time the shocking story of Christmas so many of us simply don’t get.
The sanctuary was packed on the night of the pageant. Some people who had not been in church for thirty years were there just to see what totally unexpected catastrophe would happen. Those who came for a surprise were not disappointed. They witnessed the following:
Three wisemen bearing a ham from the charity Christmas basket the Herdmans had received from the Salvation Army. (They knew nothing about Jewish kosher traditions regarding pork and judged frankincense and myrrh to be “crummy gifts” to bring to a family with a newborn baby.)
Gladys, who as the youngest Herdman had learned all the compounded meanness modeled by her older siblings, was the Angel of the Lord screaming at the top of her lungs, “Shazam! (her version of “Behold”) Hey! Unto you a child is born.” And the shepherds who had felt Gladys’ blows and kicks were “sore afraid.”
Imogene played Mary and held a doll representing the baby Jesus. (No parent would allow their infant to play the part of Jesus with the Herdmans in the pageant.) Imogene was dirty, had a cockeyed veil and black eye, and looked disoriented and ready to clobber anyone who got too close to her baby.
And the surprise that everyone had been waiting for happened. When the choir got to the part of Silent Night which goes, “Son of God, love’s pure light” Imogene began to cry and cry and cry. Christmas came over her like a case of measles or the flu — all at once and in front of everyone!
The unusual did happen, and everyone said that it was the best Christmas pageant ever! That night marked a new beginning for the Herdmans. (They did not go to hell by way of the state penitentiary.) That night also marked a new beginning for that congregation as the Herdmans became an unsettling and transforming part of the church.
What we celebrate at this season is the Good News that life can begin again for our world and for our lives, even those parts which are twisted, broken, and shriveled. From Bethlehem’s manger, we are sent out into a world which desperately needs to know that life can begin again. The fear, despair, and cynicism of our time can only be overcome by a God of new beginnings grounded in the gift of unconditional and radical love. So, like Gladys, by word and deed, love and compassion, let us tell the world, “Shazam! Hey! Unto you a child is born! Unto YOU a Son is given!”
