My Mary Moment

Some blog posts take time to write and this is one that seems to have been stuck as a word document forever…

…I could make my excuses but let’s just say I’ve been pondering and I am in great company!

When I wrote about this year’s nativity at church there was something I omitted to say. I had a starting role as one of the Strictly XFactor judges, playing the part of Nicole Scherzinger.

This was not the original plan but the girl who was playing Nicole had lost her voice that Sunday morning so I jumped in to save the play – complete with fake American accent, which once I started I realised I couldn’t abandon half way through the performance.

It did mean I could pull everything else together from on stage, calling in the characters as they were meant to appear and passing around the shared microphone.

I love being in the limelight, I am a complete show off and enjoy acting for an audience. 

It is just one of the reasons I joined a team at church this year called “Open the Book”. We go into the local primary school each week and tell Bible stories. Actually we don’t just TELL stories we ACT them out and we have gathered a good group of us prepared to dress up and be a bit silly for Jesus.

Open the Book is a nationwide initiative specially designed to fit in with the National Curriculum. You can find out more about their work by clicking on this link http://openthebook.net/home.php.

So far we have told stories from the beginning of the Bible, Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham and Joseph. But for the last assembly before Christmas we Opened the Book at the beginning of the New Testament and I got to play the Virgin Mary.

Now I have never been Mary before. It is the role most often given to the pretty girls in school nativity productions. In church I am trying to work my way through the girls, trying to give each a turn at being the most favoured lady. It is easier when there are not so many to choose from.

When I was young at school I was usually cast as one of the narrators – a part most often given to the best readers because they hold the story together.

What I discovered this week being Mary was that Jesus’s mother was a quiet thoughtful sort of person. Usually she doesn’t say much.

It’s difficult for me to play a part where I don’t have much to say but to say nothing at all – well everyone else on the team thought that was hilarious as I always have too much to say.

But the beauty of being Mary this time was that she got to sit and hold the baby, sit and ponder all the wonderful things that God had done; admiring the miracle of His new born son wrapped up in the manger.

As I sat and stroked the face of the baby doll with a serene expression on my face, I pondered too. 

There was time in my silence to stop and consider.

These times are rare, so often I am rushing around multi-tasking, particularly at Christmas when the list of jobs grows exponentially.

I said at the beginning of this post that this has taken me a while to write.

At this precise moment as I type I am in between visitors, Christmas is over, my parents have already arrived back home safely after spending a lovely time here with us.

I await the next car load to descend!

There is space here and now to type, to write and to ponder with a smile on my face just like Mary.

Content and happy with the world.

I pray that you have had a wonderful Christmas and enjoy the continuing festivities with friends and family.

But most of all I pray you get some space to STOP and think, to ponder and consider, to be thankful.

Put the busyness on hold for a while.

Finally I wish you every blessing for 2013!