The Nativity

One of the most heart-warming expressions of Christmas is the nativity. The Nativity speaks of the mystery of God's wisdom. Why God chose to send His Son into our world as a baby of humble birth, born in common surroundings, we do not understand. What we do know is that God reached out to all people including the poor and wealthy, the simple and the wise, the powerless and the powerful. All who found him knelt in humility before him. Knowing God is possible because He came to us, at our level. Whenever we see a Nativity we find ourselves with Mary and Joseph; with the shepherds, and with the Wise Men; bowing before the manger, overwhelmed by God's expression of love in coming to us.

The very first Nativity Scene is credited to St. Francis of Assisi on Christmas Eve of the year 1223. It is believed that St. Francis was first inspired by this idea after visiting the historical place of Christ's birth on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land—the humble stable in a Bethlehem cave. It is likely this event which deepened his devotion to the Child Jesus, who was born into the world in such poverty, humility, and simplicity. In fact, Francis founded his new religious Order to imitate these very virtues.

St. Francis recreated the scene of Christ's birth in a special ritual and Mass he held inside of a cave in Greccio, Italy, inviting both his fellow friars and the townspeople to join in the celebration.

Later he told a friend why he desired to create the first nativity scene in his town:

I want to do something that will recall the memory of that Child who was born in Bethlehem, to see with bodily eyes the inconveniences of his infancy, how he lay in the manger, and how the ox and ass stood by."

He set up an empty manger (the feeding trough of farm animals which served as Jesus' crib) inside a cave, and even included a live ox and donkey beside the manger just as it was believed to have happened on that first Christmas night. Through these visual aids he wanted everyone to impress more deeply into their understanding how Christ came into the world in such poverty and simplicity. This was a typical perspective of St. Francis' unique style of simple, poverty-centered spirituality.

It is also said that St. Francis—who was radically devoted to the virtue of evangelical poverty—was inspired to recreate the original nativity scene to overcome the rampant greed and materialism prevalent at that time in Italy.

In the small porcelain nativity used for our Children’s Sermons, we wait until the final worship service before Christmas Day to place the Infant Jesus in the manger. This is to teach our children that during Advent we wait, as God’s people waited long ago for their coming Messiah.