What Animals Did The Three Kings Arrive On

The First United Methodist Church of Johnson City, Texas, has staged an improvident living Birth story every December for the past l years. While costumed children and adults from the congregation act out the pageant, the narration is provided past a 1959 recording of Perry Como. Courtesy of George Barnett hibernate explanation

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Courtesy of George Barnett

The Offset United Methodist Church of Johnson City, Texas, has staged an extravagant living Nativity story every Dec for the past fifty years. While costumed children and adults from the congregation act out the pageant, the narration is provided by a 1959 recording of Perry Como.

Courtesy of George Barnett

Every December, the Start United Methodist Church of Johnson Metropolis, Texas, stages an improvident living Nativity story. People drive from all over Central Texas to sit under the stars amid the alive oaks and watch the Christmas story acted out.

"The production begins with 200 people in the stands," says Pastor Sid Spiller. "And in comes Joseph and Mary. Joseph is leading a miniature donkey. That was unique this yr. They are pointed into the manger scene by an innkeeper. Then comes the angels giving discussion to the shepherds."

The production begins with 200 people in the stands, and then in come Mary and Joseph. In a higher place, a shepherd stands with a llama. Courtesy of George Barnett hide caption

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Courtesy of George Barnett

The product begins with 200 people in the stands, and then in come Mary and Joseph. Above, a shepherd stands with a llama.

Courtesy of George Barnett

While costumed children and adults from the congregation act out the pageant, the narration is provided by a 1959 recording of Perry Como.

"Yep, the three men on the camels are the 3 wise men," Como narrates, as a angelic-sounding orchestra plays behind him. "The new star guides them straight to Bethlehem, to a little baby lying in a manger. At that place the three wise men present gifts to the Christ kid."

Just a Grinch would charge Como of flubbing the Christmas story, but many theologians acknowledge that the accepted Nativity scene is a result of 2,000 years of estimation and elaboration.

"St. Francis of Assisi, when he created the notion of a creche or a manger scene with animals and so forth, was making a theological signal," says the Rev. William Lawrence, who is dean of the Perkins Schoolhouse of Theology at Southern Methodist Academy in Dallas.

He points out that the creche, every bit we know information technology, is the invention of the creature-loving St. Francis in 1223 in the town of Greccio, Italy, to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

Alien Biblical Records

Lawrence says it'due south challenging to re-create accurately what happened that night based on the biblical tape.

"Well, if you await at the blank bones of the 2 narratives in Matthew and Luke, each i clearly tells the story of the child that was born," he says. "Bethlehem is identified as the place, simply beyond that the details of the 2 narratives vary considerably."

• Simply the Gospel of Matthew tells of the Magi, or wise men, following a star, just he doesn't say in that location are 3 of them, and they probable arrived quite some fourth dimension after the birth.
• But Luke mentions a manger, shepherds and a chorus of angels.
• There's no mention in either version that Mary rode into Bethlehem on a ass.
• And there'south no mention of any animals in the stable — though 1 can presume some were present.

In fact, at that place's well-nigh no overlap in the two Gospel accounts.

But Matthew tells of the Magi, or wise men, following a star; but it doesn't say there are 3 of them, and they likely arrived quite some time after the birth. Only Luke mentions a feeding trough, or manger, shepherds and a chorus of angels. There's no mention in either version that Mary rode into Bethlehem on a donkey. And there's no mention of any animals in the stable -- though one can assume some were nowadays.

The trouble is the lack of eyewitnesses to the nascency of Jesus, compared, for instance, to the crowds who watched his crucifixion.

"The detail about the death of Jesus is groovy. The detail almost the birth of Jesus is minuscule," says the Rev. Philip Turner, an Episcopal theologian and retired associate dean of the Yale Divinity School. "But insofar as the birth narratives are concerned, the story as it's told is told by both Matthew and Luke to make sure points about Jesus."

For instance, Turner says, Matthew wants to convince early on Christians that Jesus' birth is not just for the Jews, but for Gentiles, too. And so he tells of the wise men who come from the due east -- far from Israel. And Turner says Luke plays upwardly the shepherds to emphasize lowly people who follow Jesus.

"The shepherds play a very of import part," he says. "And information technology's the simple people who recognize who Jesus is. The powerful ones put him to death."

So the prototype of the creche with its little figurines arrayed effectually the straw-filled manger may or may non be historically authentic, but that doesn't diminish its usefulness, or its emotional ability, according to Turner.

"I actually love creches because they put together in one identify a history of piety that to me is true," he says. "He is the son of God. He is God with us, which is Matthew'south favorite term for him. He is Emmanuel."

Final year, the pageant producers in Johnson Urban center, Texas, decided to be more historically precise. And so they took the wings off the angels and put turbans instead of crowns on the wise men. Nobody liked it, and this year, they changed it back.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2010/12/23/132288549/shepherds-wise-men-animals-were-they-all-there

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