". . . little shall I grace my cause

In speaking for myself. Yet, by your gracious patience,

I will a round unvarnish'd tale deliver . . ."

(William Shakespeare's Othello, I.iii.88-90)

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Nativity Scene

My son's preschool class has been learning the song "In A Little Stable" to sing for the school Christmas program. Yesterday the teacher had each child in the class paint a picture of what they have been singing about. Then she asked them to describe what they had painted, and she recorded their words on the painting as captions.

As you might expect, Evan's painting depicts Jesus, Mary and Joseph in a stable. Here is what he told the teacher each one of them is doing:

"Joseph is taking care of the baby." (Excellent, if I do say so myself. No absent fathers here. Dad is right in there helping out with the child care.)

"Mary is saying 'Rejoice unto the Lord, rejoice unto the Lord.'" (Even better! Joseph is watching the baby so that Mom can worship! And by the way, in the drawing it appears that Mary is not even in the stable but is outside dancing with her arms lifted to the sky. Am I raising this kid right or what?)

"Jesus is crying and Joseph is about to pick him up, but not throw him." (Okay, okay, so I spoke too soon. But two out of three ain't bad, is it?)

4 comments:

Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake said...

I think you're still good. I mean, he did specifically say Joseph wasn't going to throw baby Jesus.

Cheryl said...

Well, there is that. Okay--I guess you can give me "Mommy of the Year" after all! My 5yo knows you're not supposed to throw the crying baby!

Stephanie said...

Hi! My husband and I just recently joined our local Lutheran church. I know our church is affiliated with ECLA, does that mean we are "confessional Lutheran?" What does that mean? As you can see, I'm a new Lutheran. Thanks, Stephanie

Elephantschild said...

Always good to see new readers over here, Stephanie! Welcome to the Lutheran church. What tradition/denomination are you coming from?

The ELCA and the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod view the accuracy of the Lutheran confessions (The Book of Concord) differently. When Cheryl and I call ourselves "confessional" Lutherans, we mean that we sign on to the Lutheran Confessions (the Book of Concord) BECAUSE they are an accurate explanation of what the Bible teaches. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) as a church body signs on to the Lutheran Confessions "insofar as" they seem to agree with Scripture according to whomever is doing the signing on at the time.

If you're new to the Lutheran church, that distinction may seem very much like splitting hairs. In the daily life of the church, though, it boils down to some pretty big differences in doctrine and practice.

My email address is in my Blogger profile if you've got more questions!

-Jenny/ elephantschild