Dec. 5: Live nativity at Heritage Park

Somewhere in there, I became distressed that the people doing the live nativity at Heritage Park were Mormons. I knew enough about Mormon theology to know that Mormons and Christians have radically different concepts of Jesus. Historic Christianity teaches that Jesus is the second person of the trinity, God in human flesh, read the Nicene Creed for more. Mormons believe he's the spirit brother of Lucifer and something about gold plates on the Hill Cumorah.

I told my mom this once while our family was hightailing it out to Heritage Park and she told me to shut up.

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Long before I began diving into pseudo-Christian theology, my earliest memory of going to the live nativity at Heritage Park was this:

Holy smokes are my feet ever cold.

I guess I wasn't wearing wool socks in my -30 winter boots, which turned my feet into ice cubes as I stood in the snow and watched a white shepherd pretend to get all sanctified as the white Mary held up a doll. I couldn't wait for it to be over so I could warm up my feet. This made me feel guilty. I was watching a re-enactment of one of the most important events in world history and all I could think of was how cold my feet were.

Mom let me sit in the front seat on the drive home. I took off my boots, cupped my freezing toes in my hands, and turned the heat on to high. When we got home, I had Ovaltine.

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About 20 years later, when I was working at a community newspaper in East Central Alberta, I wrote a column where I mentioned a nativity scene. An idiot wrote me a letter, telling me I should be cut loose from the newspaper and that I was a moron. The reason: the wise men didn't meet Jesus at the inn, they visited him months later. I should have known this, I suppose, even though I think his beef should have been with the Nativity Scene Manufacturers of America, not me. The guy who wrote that letter, incidentally, was heavily involved in a marijuana festival of some sort. His letter only reinforced my view that marijuana destroys your critical thinking skills.

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I never participated in the Nativity scene at Heritage Park but baby sis and I once got to be Mary and Joseph at the Midnight Mass at St. Gerard's church. Our job was to don Old Testament clothing, walk down the aisle of said church, and lay the Christ child in the manger. I wondered how appropriate it was for a brother and sister to be portraying the most famous married couple* that ever lived, but that's only because I was an idiot. If I voiced those concerns to my mother, she would have told me to shut up.

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I now live on the other side of the country and have not attended a live Nativity scene re-enactment in more than two decades. However, I hope to go to a few Christmas events this holiday season. Some local churches do carol services and the like. I will go and, should a young couple be there portraying Mary and Joseph, I will give them a thumbs up.

 

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* I believe that Mary and Joseph enjoyed a married life after Jesus was born. Some Catholics insist that Mary remained a virgin her entire life, which would have frustrated Joseph, I'm sure. They are entitled to their belief. I don't argue the point anymore. Makes no difference to me.