creche

There were shepherds abiding in the fields,

keeping watch over their flocks by night.

St Francis is credited with establishing the "creche"; a tableau of figures meant to teach people the story of the Nativity.

When I was young, my mother set up our creche in the living room near the Christmas tree. Each year, I reach for the same tattered cardboard box that she once reached for and carefully unwrap each figure and set it on a table near our tree. Some of the figures are chipped, a camel has lost a leg along the way and the sheep don't match, having been bought at a later time. These figures have traveled along with me all these years. They hold a lot of history.

At Church we have no symbols in the sanctuary. No cross, no art work, not even candles. The clear windows let in natural light and we sit in what once doubled as a meeting house and a sanctuary. I love the simple feeling of it and like to think that all who come can feel welcome here, no matter what their faith.

Until Christmas. Then we go all out. These creche figures are from Oaxaca, Mexico. They are set on the back window sill and each week of December, they are passed forward to a sill closer to the front of the church. On Christmas Eve, they will have reached the altar, having completed the seventy mile journey to that little stable in Bethlehem. The church will be lit with candles.

Versions of the Christmas tableau exist though out the world. Mexican artists carved these figures, I have seen clay figures made by Indians in the American Southwest, carved figures from Africa, and olive wood figures from Italy. In front of most Catholic churches today, a tableau is set up.

Once in early December, as we drove by a church with a creche out front, we noticed that one figure was missing. "I can't believe someone would steal the baby Jesus!" one of us said. Then we realized. Oh, he hasn't been born yet!