Laurie Beth Jones Blog

Celebrating Joy and Wonder

The Christmas Play

Last Sunday I was delighted to behold the Christmas Play at a local community church.  The age range of talent was from four to sixteen.     As all Christmas Plays tend to do, this play had a part for everyone.  It was as if the playwright was instructed “Don’t forget about the donkey!”

This play was a bit unusual because the group had decided on a humorous updating of the Nativity.  When the words were read “It came to pass” two teens actually threw a football to one another.   When it came to the verse “And the angels were sore afraid” the angels started moaning loudly, and hobbling about like they had sports injuries.

We all guffawed, however, when the scripture verse was read “And Mary was delivered” because a five year old yet apparently very pregnant Mary came in standing up precariously on a UPS hand cart wielded by a teenaged angel.

As in all Christmas plays some of the narrators forgot their lines, and had to be loudly coached from crouching adults.

At one point, little toddler Mary, having been “delivered,” grabbed the baby Jesus doll by one foot  and dragged it thumping down the altar stairs as she sucked her thumb and climbed out of the Nativity scene, obviously having decided the fun was over.   Joseph, a child  like Mary,  decided it was his turn to climb in the manger, realizing that was where all the action was, and knowing a vacancy when he saw one.   At this point the parents and the director had to intervene, all while the narrator continued blithely on reading the Christmas story.

The talent in charge of the prop removal was a little distracted, so some props were left on stage and others that were necessary didn’t make it on time.

A trumpeter couldn’t grasp the trumpet easily as it seemed tangled up in the fishing line.  How the story of Joshua at Jericho and Jonah in the whale became part of the Christmas story is all part of the wonderful celebration of the old and the new, (and perhaps because there were more youth than angels needed, at which point the director decided to do time lapses and cut in scenes to establish the context, of course.)

Apart from the cognitive dissonance of seeing a pregnant five year old hobbling toward the altar, I had a very good time.

It seemed like a microcosm of life itself—missing trumpets and tangled lines….too many props or not enough… The image of the little girl dragging the baby Jesus doll by the foot thump thump thumping down the stairs tore at my heart strings.

I wondered how often I do the same thing to the Christ child as I go about my business.

How very patient the Lord is, indeed, with all of us in this Christmas Play.  How very insistent the Author was that we all could have a part in it, even as it comes to pass.

May this Christmas and Holy Day season be filled with joy and wonder– and trumpets– in all the right places.

Blessings to you,

Laurie Beth

This week we had an inquiry from Mr Paul Kwok in Singapore requesting permission to use some of the quotes and content at his High School….  What’s interesting is they want to share principles from Jesus, CEO with their students.  They have made banners to place around the school in order to teach leadership principles to the students.  See Paul’s message below along with the banners they have created to teach the ‘Omega Leadership’ principles to the next generation.  Blessings to you Paul as you lead and live out the mission of Christ in the Education Pillar.

Laurie Beth

“My name is Paul Kwok.  I am Head of Department of Pupil Development at Maris Stella High School in Singapore.  It is an all-boys’ secondary (Grades 7, 8, 9 and 10) Catholic school consisting of 1,500 students.  Laurie Beth’s interpretation of Jesus leadership qualities makes for compelling reading and story-telling about Jesus’ life.  Jesus was a great exemplar of Servant Leadership.  We find Jesus’ leadership traits useful material for teaching our students about taking leadership of their own lives and being influential to others.  We wish to explore using other themes in Laurie Beth’s book.” Thank you Laurie for allowing this use with our students.

Singapore High School uses Jesus CEO content.

Singapore High School uses JESUS, CEO with students,

Singapore High School uses JESUS, CEO with students.

Singapore High School uses JESUS, CEO with students.

Singapore High School uses JESUS, CEO with students.

Singapore High School uses JESUS, CEO with students.

Which Jesus Would You Release?
By Laurie Beth Jones

I became great friends with the receptionist at one of my client’s corporate headquarters. She and I bonded at the annual Christmas petting zoo. No, it was not a wild office party. It was a literal petting zoo, which was held in conjunction with a Christmas pageant of sorts, open to the community. Anyway, Tina and I became close because of bunnies nibbling on children’s toes, baby piglets chewing the turtle’s nose, and a cockatiel who drank straight from Tina’s water bottle, and would do so for no other. I commented on her way with animals and we have shared jokes ever since.

This particular day when I arrived she had just come back from her break, and was replacing the sign on her desk which reads“I Will Return Shortly.” I leaned over her desk and said in a loud and stern voice “Ok, where is Shortly, and what have you done with him?” We both laughed and exchanged pleasantries, and she then key fobbed me into the inner sanctum.

The notion of someone kidnapping a Shortly, and holding him hostage in exchange for ransom, is all too familiar these days.

Hostage taking happens not only on crime shows and murder mysteries, but also in real life. Like child custody disputes. Or unhappy marriages. Or with disgruntled employees, who wanted one thing, but feel they got shorted in the deal, and now will not release what “they” have stolen, until what they feel was rightfully theirs, is returned to them. We take hostages out of a sense of entitlement. Like one justifiable wrong can make something right. Sometimes hostages are exchanged so a criminal can make his escape.

As in the case of Jesus, brought before Pontius Pilate.

This week I am reading “24 Hours,” a book by Adam Hamilton that details the final hours of Christ on the cross.

Adam, who lives and works in Kansas City, is a profound messenger who also happens to be a Methodist minister of a megachurch (That sentence is both alliterative, and true.)

I must admit that usually I dread reading about the final hours of Jesus.

I mean, we know it was horrible and painful. Mel Gibson certainly made us aware of that, in what I felt was almost a masochistic, voyeuristic way in “The Passion of Christ.”

But Adam Hamilton has taken a different approach. He brings in little known details of history and culture that make “24 Hours” a fascinating read.

The chapter that touched me this week was his passage about the choice of the crowd. Pontius Pilate, a cruel man by reputation, is nevertheless reluctant to crucify Jesus. He offers the screaming mob a choice. In essence, they can free Jesus of Nazareth, or Jesus Barrabas (the criminal’s full name.) The crowd in a frenzy chooses Jesus Barrabas, and history was made.

Hamilton has us picturing the crowd. Standing before them on the one hand is Jesus: someone who does his work lovingly, quietly, non violently. His head is bloody. He makes not a sound.

And on the other hand we have someone else also named Jesus who acts out of aggression, and a need for instant gratification, and was obviously very violent. He is defiant, and bellows out in rage.

The crowd chooses Jesus Number Two. (My words.)

Can we condemn the crowd?

How often do we choose “Jesus Number Two” to be released, rather than the true Jesus of Nazareth?

I have observed that politicians often talk about Jesus Number One in order to get elected. But then when things get tough out there, out comes Jesus Number Two. Attack! Belittle! Mock! Degrade!

All in the name of the Lord. All in the name of doing what is right. All in the name of Barabbas.

I can recognize myself in the crowd sometimes, yelling for the wrong Jesus to be released into the world.

Can you?

Thoughts before Easter.
Laurie Beth

Dear Friends,

This is a photo of the hand carved door to the Temple of the Sacred Family, taken while I was in Barcelona last summer.   It has, in Spanish, names of people in the Bible, running like an ongoing design, and then one sees the name of Jesus, in bronze, shining…a reminder of Someone special..

a reminder of his open door….

Whose names are carved on the door to your soul?  Family?  Friends?  Co-workers?  Bosses past?

Whose name do you respond to when called?  And who responds to you?

Blessings,
Laurie Beth

Whose names are carved on the door of your soul?