Thread by @johndyer

Everyone always talks about "Mary Did You Know"

But have you ever experienced, "Mary Why Are You Screaming on Stage in a Birth Simulation When I Brought My Hindu Neighbor to Church"?

... a thread ...

A number of years ago, one of my neighbors asked if he and his family could join us at our church's Christmas Eve service.

We live in a neighborhood that is 80% south and east Asian, and we were glad that our friends of Hindu background were interested.

At the time, the church where we worshipped was really into the arts, which sometimes included staging dramas as part of the service.

As our families were walking up to the church together, my neighbor turns to me and says, "There isn't going to be weird, right?"

He told me that, in college, someone had invited him to a prayer service, and it turned out to be a pentecostal gathering, where they tried to slay him ... repeatedly.

"No, no. Nothing weird," I said. "Probably just some songs and a message about the Christmas story ..."🎄

After a few Christmas songs, the lights go down, and I realize there's going to be a drama. No problem, I thought, these are always good.

A few minutes in, the actress lays down on the stage, knees up, birth canal pointing away from the audience, and screams, "JOSEPH! WHY!"🧘‍♀️😱

Part of me wants to look over at my neighbor, his wife, and small daughter to see how they're reacting, but I can't do it.

My wife grips my arm in panic, and all I can do is stare ahead, eyes bulging in disbelief 😳😬👀

I think the idea was to humanize Mary, to show how challenging traveling while pregnant would be, and make Christmas seem real and relatable.

Minutes later, she removes the blanket from under her dress, stands up, cradles the blanket to her chest, and says, "Eat, Jesus. Eat." 🤱

Finally, it's over, and the pastor just gets up and continues as if nothing happened.

For the next 45 minutes, we just kinda sat there as he talked and the service closed with a candle lighting.

I don't think anyone knew what to do or what had just happened.

Afterward, as we both pulled into our driveways, all I could manage was, "Yeah. So... that was a kinda ...".

"Yeah," he said. "But ... thanks, I guess."

"Merry Christmas," I responded. "You too," he said.

And then we exchanged, "Let us never speak of this again" nods.

This story still cracks me up.

But more importantly it reminds me that God can work with and through anything.

If he can redeem creation as a peasant in a backwater town of an oppressive empire, surely he can speak through our awkward attempts neighborliness.

Merry Christmas!