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Good Morning

Amongst many questions at Westminster about parties and new plan B rules this week, the Prime Minister was asked whether or not school nativity plays would be allowed to continue. A question I found strangely reassuring.

It confirmed James Bowen of the School Leaders’ Union’s recent observation, that nativity plays are an important part of school life. He said that after so many were cancelled or went online last year - schools will, in the next few days, find themselves between a rock and a hard place: how to decipher government & local authority advice along with parents’ views concerning the thousands of nativity plays planned for next week.

In a recent Aston University Podcast, Dr Celine Benoit is absolutely clear that children love taking part in nativity plays because the children move out of their classrooms & they find them fun and exciting. She also believes that nativity plays continue to flourish because of their traditional cultural value, giving the children a real sense of community.

Over the past week I’ve been teaching several classes of 12-year-old children about how many of the symbols surrounding Christmas have their roots in the very nativity plays many of them took part in at junior school just a few years before.

And my clear message to them was the various motifs of the story such as the Roman backdrop, the star, gifts, shepherds, wise men and, not least, Mary & Joseph’s big news, are very obvious in Christmas celebrations through lights & cards & gifts & candles! Not to forget, of course, the spirit of generosity and hope which saturates the Nativity story.

It was so uplifting [after the year they’ve been through] to see these young people, of all faiths & none, applying a now familiar story to their current lives and experiences.

Indeed, ever since the first Nativity plays were performed in medieval times - as part of the great mystery play cycles- an attempt has always been made to make the Christmas story relevant to every generation. This involves bringing the story to life and reinterpreting the characters for our own day when, in the face of so many hectic challenges, the message of the story seems more pertinent and relevant than ever.

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