The place of story in the Judeo Christian world is absolute.  From these faiths, writers and artists through the ages have all had insights into and experiences of insight they felt compelled to express… emotion filled or intellectual.  When it happened, artists not only expressed themselves, they still offer the opportunity for us to reflect on our own lives through their work.  Art offers a conversation that feeds the heart as well as the mind. 

• That is why it is imperative that good Bible study is offered to all the members of our churches to help them learn how to read the Bible.  Not just to memorize passages of the book, but to get caught up in the mystery and wonder found in its pages. 

When you read the story of the Magi, don’t all kinds of honest questions come into your mind?  How did they know?  Why were they willing to confront all the dangers that were part of the travel of such a long, long way?  Did meeting Jesus, Mary and Joseph change their lives in any special way?  Isn’t it interesting to see all the different responses to this story by different artists, writers and composers?

• St. Francis of Assisi, it is told, lived in a time when most people were illiterate.  To make the story come alive for them, he filled a cavelike formation at the back of the church where he worked with live animals and put his friends into costumes to enliven the scene. 
• Over 700 years later, Christmas pageants in most of our churches repeat the holy scene……usually including three young boys wearing cardboard crowns and bathrobes for robes carrying gifts to baby Jesus.  

• The response to the Nativity story is not only visual.  The composer, Handel, it is said, wrote the “Hallelujah Chorus” from the Messiah in such a very short time, it was obvious that something touched him in such a way that all his exuberance could be put into his work in this magnificent way.