Every year, our church hosts an elaborate creche festival for the community, featuring thousands of nativities from around the world. Matt and I took the opportunity to attend this Sunday morning and were so touched by all of the beautiful representations of that special occasion.
That afternoon, as we were sitting with our primary class (we teach Sunday school to a group of 10 four- and five-year-olds), the primary chorister taught the kids the song "Picture a Christmas." The words are as follows:
Picture a stable in Judea. Picture a sacred, silent night.
And can you hear the angels near, and see the star so bright?
Picture a kind and gentle Joseph. Picture the mother, Mary, fair.
And can you see, so reverently, the shepherds kneeling there?
Picture the little baby Jesus. Think of His life and words so dear.
Sing praise to Him, remember Him, as you picture Christmas this year.
As we were singing, I thought of the thousands of nativities I had just seen, and the testimonies that each of them bore of our Savior's birth. What a beautiful thing to picture during this holiday season!
This German nativity above was one of our favorites. Matt and I were thisclose to buying one just like it in Germany last year but then didn't because we couldn't figure out a way to cart it around Europe with us. Now we're kicking ourselves for not just mailing it home!
The creche festival had more types of nativities than you could imagine. There were cute, playful ones, like this one dedicated to my beloved Veggie Tales...
thanks for sharing! those are beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI love the ones from around the world best too. I am glad you took so many good pictures. I love this post!
ReplyDeleteThat is so awesome. I like the veggie tales the best.
ReplyDeleteMy grandparents have had that German nativity sitting on their kitchen table ever since I can remember. I LOVE it. So unique.
ReplyDeleteWhat a neat event! I loved all the pictures you shared, it really is cool to see how other countries view the nativity!
ReplyDeleteI love the veggie tale characters!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing that with us :)
These are beautiful! I love the Germany one, we have a small one in our family! :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful way to celebrate the true meaning of the season.
ReplyDeleteHow beautiful! I loved seeing all the different cultures representations of the nativity. So cool! It's funny, the missionaries came over this week and they were telling us about how people in Harlem say they don't want to hear about our church because they believe Jesus was black, not white. :) But I guess according to these nativities, there are a lot of interpretations of his ethnicity! haha. Anyway, this was a very neat post. Thanks for sharing! I love all the pictures you took!
ReplyDeleteLove Nativity sets. I love how unique each on is. I used to participate in something like this in Provo, right by the stadium in that chapel there. We would do a Marionette puppet show nativity with a few of the dental wifes. Really brought the spirit of the season!
ReplyDeleteI want the Veggie Tales one. :)
ReplyDeleteThose are beautiful! I love the Germany nativities. I really want one, but doubt we'd have the $$ for a really nice one. My stepmom wants one SO badly, and almost bought one herself when she went to Germany with my dad and grandma to visit my sister.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I really like the Japanese one!