At the Callaway house, Christmas Eve isn’t quite complete without the reading of a Christmas story or two. One of our favourites through the years has recently been made into a hit movie.

The Greatest Christmas Pageant Ever is proof that our best stories are redemptive tales where things go insanely wrong before somehow they are righted. The story concerns the notoriously rowdy Herdman children and their unlikely encounter with their little country church.

When they find out there are free snacks at Sunday school, they show up. And never leave. Worse, they volunteer to star in the Christmas pageant—and that’s when the fireworks begin.

Hands Off Baby Jesus!

I’m sure we’ve all been part of a pageant gone wrong.

Just ask those who witnessed the nativity pageant at First Baptist Church of White Pine, Tennessee. When a “sheep” tried to steal the baby Jesus, a full-on preschool brawl broke out.

The sheep’s mother said that Teegan, who was two, had been singing and talking about Jesus for weeks and “just really wanted that baby Jesus.” While the kids sang Away in a Manger, Teegan, dressed as a sheep, took off mid-song with the dolly Jesus. But her three-year-old co-star, playing the role of the doting Mother Mary, grabbed the doll and returned the baby Jesus to His manger.

Teegan wasn’t through, however. As chuckling adults watched, she grabbed the doll again, and that’s when Mother Mary went into Mama Bear mode. She tackled Teegan, then cuddled the baby while the rest of the children continued to sing Away in a Manger without missing a beat. The little girl playing Mary later said, “She knew that was not supposed to happen. She touched the baby Jesus! We weren’t supposed to touch the baby Jesus!”

At the church fundraiser dinner afterward, many in the audience had laughed so hard, they had trouble eating. But all agreed, it was a Christmas pageant they would not soon forget.

The Heart of the Season

The story is told of a kindergarten class who performed at their school’s winter pageant.

The students filed into the room and sat cross-legged on the floor. Then, one by one, the groups rose to perform.

A hush came over the audience as it dawned on them that what they were reading was the very heart of the season. PHIL CALLAWAY

The kindergarten class was smiling, adorned in fuzzy mittens, red sweaters and bright toques. Those in front held up huge letters spelling out the title of the song, Christmas Love.

All was well, until suddenly they noticed that the girl proudly holding the letter “M” high was unaware that she had it upside down as a “W.”

A hush came over the audience as it dawned on them that what they were reading was the very heart of the season. For when the last Christmas Love letter was held high, the message read oud and clear: “Christ WAS Love.”

And He still is.

Thank You, Jesus, for Your divine act of love, for redeeming us that first unforgettable Christmas, then and now.

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