Beautiful and shocking new nativity scene replaces crib!
It was time for a change! Our old Christmas Nativity Scene (a very 'traditional' representation of a crib) was worn out! And so we asked Matthew Twigg, a member of St Michael's Church, if he would create a new Nativity Scene for us - and he did!
As we all arrived for church on Sunday December 16th, we saw a great cluster of white light in the corner in which the crib used to stand, and there beneath it, we found the Holy Family, enclosed by grey insulating bricks, basking in the reflection of God's glory, ringed by 42 names, and caught up in more Biblical imagery than anyone could ever have imagined.
Photos do not really do this remarkable work of art justice, for some of the details are hard to see without looking close up, but for those who are interested, a full explanation follows below.
The church is open most morning between now and January 7th (when the scene will be dismantled), and visitors are most welcome!
At a first glance, this may look like a very radical interpretation of the Christmas story that might seem a long way from the gospel narratives, but if you read on and look properly at what is in front of you, you will soon see that this scene tells the story of Jesus far more fully than many traditional crib sets.
So we see that the Holy Family and their visitors are surrounded by a wall of grey bricks. This is a reminder not only of the 9-metre high Separation Wall around today’s city of Bethlehem, built illegally by the State of Israel as part of their 40-year military occupation of Palestine - it is also a reminder that Bethlehem was under military occupation at the time of Jesus’ birth, when it was part of the Roman empire. Indeed, it was to take part in a census ordered by the occupying Roman powers that Mary and Joseph were forced to make the hazardous journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem in the first place.
The grey bricks, however, are not just a wall constructed by the military - they are insulating bricks, and thus they are also a place of shelter and warmth, no matter how primitive, recalling that Luke tells us that the new born baby Jesus was laid in a manger, because there was no room for the family in the inn. In the gospels there is no mention of animals being present at Jesus’ birth, and in this nativity scene, he is surrounded only by his family, and those visitors of whom we can read in the two gospels that record these events.
On the floor around and beneath the family is the Star of David - a reminder to us that Bethlehem was the city of David, and that Jesus is born into David’s royal line. Descending from above are twelve poles, some lined with lights, reminding us that David was the king of Israel - a nation formed of twelve tribes. This was of crucial important to Jesus, who, when he grew into adulthood, chose twelve close friends that he called apostles, and told them that when he comes again in glory, they would sit on twelve thrones to judge the twelve tribes.
Jesus’ place in the history and the theology of Israel is reinforced by the 42 names that are placed on the uppermost bricks of the wall, each highlighted with its own star. These are the names we read in the opening verses of Matthew’s gospel, by which he shows us that Jesus is a descendant of Abraham, through three groups of 14 descendants that trace the history of Israel from that great Patriarch, to King David, to the exile of the Israelites to Babylon, and finally to Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.
Above the Holy Family are many symbols of God’s glory surrounding the scene. The lights at the top are a clear reminder of the star which led the magi on their journey towards Bethlehem, and the fact that the light descends down to the ground shows that God’s glory infuses the whole scene and story, and that even in poverty and under military occupation, the characters of this story are not deserted by God, but rather are empowered by him.
If you look closely at the top of the display, however, you will find in its midst symbols that tell us more about the true nature of God’s glory, and of the destiny of the child of Bethlehem. Directly above the centre of the Star of David, the sticks are joined together to make a crown of thorns, and the lights at the top are all fixed to tiny crucifixes, reminding us that the babe of Bethlehem would grow to be despised, rejected, and crucified, and that it is only through his suffering and death that the true purpose of the Incarnation can be seen and understood.
Matthew also created a remarkable crucifix for St Michael's Church - click here to see it.
