Because we now look after nine amazing primary schools, I have the chance to attend a lot of nativities at this time of year. Our heads always seem to make reference to the film, The Nativity, when they speak to parents, usually to say that it is not as far from reality as one might think. My experience has been that there is an incredible amount of creativity, hard work and skill that is on show from the children and their teachers at a time of year when most of us are absolutely shattered. I expect many of us parents can also relate to the stress of finding costumes and learning lines too. The performances are always incredible and fortunately so far only one child has fallen off the stage.
As you listen to the words spoken by the children in costume, I find you start to reflect on the characters in the Christmas story. It might be the words they say. The angels constantly reminding people to “Fear Not” and emphasising joy and peace. The innkeepers who try to say “no room” in imaginative, creative and novel ways. The kings who bring gifts, including one who accidentally handed over his lunch instead of the myrrh.
This year I found myself thinking particularly about Mary and Joseph. As they trudged round on stage after stage, through the audience if the production was really daring, I tried to imagine what it would have been like for the young pregnant Mary and her older husband Joseph as they desperately tried to find somewhere to stay in a cold, dark, dangerous and unknown place.
The Christmas story tells us that both of them has seen an angel. They had been told that despite following the Jewish law in terms of relations, Mary was pregnant, would have a son and that he would be called Emmanuel, God with us. What the story doesn’t explain is how her parents, his friends, people in their town and people they met responded publicly and in private.
We sometimes tend to view these two like ourselves when in reality their lives, their predicament and their experiences were completely alien from anything we are likely to experience.
My experience this Christmas was a deep sense of needing to go even further to understand the lives, feelings and struggles of others. Whether that means the children we teach, the parents we meet or the colleagues we work with, it is so easy to blithely wander through our work and our lives, without really considering what things are really like for them.
This year, when the issue of refugees and homelessness are very present, and the cost of living has made life so incredibly challenging for so many, perhaps the Christmas story is there to remind us that joy, peace and hope often only come when we are able to embrace difference, live well together and dedicate ourselves to helping those in need. Like the innkeeper who said, “Sure, come in, I’ll put the kettle on” maybe we can find time to listen a little better, to share a little more and to put ourselves out to help those in need. And in return perhaps we will find a sense of peace and joy that we did not expect.
Julian Dutnall,
CEO, LIFE Education Trust
