Clergy Family Confidential

One of the highlights of this year’s Christmas pageant, besides one of the sheep dumping cheerios all over the stable, was King Zack doing the “Lambeau Leap.” He told us he was going to “leap into the stands” like a Packers player following a touchdown in Green Bay. And, by God, he did. After the Magi presented their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, Zack turned around and jumped into Bryna’s arms in the front pew. The picture above shows that twinkle in his eye just before he made his mad dash. He then went right back into character kneeling before the manger.

We almost didn’t have a Joseph this year. For some reason most of our pageant-age kids are girls. As it was we had to go with the Angel Gabrielle. I was lamenting this at the dinner table a few weeks ago when Ben stunned me. He said, “I’ll be Joseph.” Wow. This is the same kid who was all set to be a king one year and then backed out at the very last minute. Jesus didn’t get any Myrrh that year. But this year Ben came through big time and did a great job. Zack teased him relentlessly about “being married” in the days leading up to Christmas Eve but Ben was undeterred. It helped that “Mary” was a friend of his.

Now about that cheerios-spewing sheep. I think Jack was just mad about his great demotion. It’s tough going from baby Jesus to a sheep in twelve months. And how do you think his mother felt. Last year, whenever I saw her, I looked at her and said, “Holy Mother of God!” This year, she’s was a ewe.