NATIVITY SCENES: ‘A valuable witness to society’
MAYFIELD, Ky. (BP)--Nativity scenes, such as this one in front of the U.S. Supreme Court building, constitute a means for the Christian community to witness about the incarnation of the Lord to an increasingly diverse American population. Nativity scenes, whether live performances or using figures of biblical personalities, can be found in virtually every American community where Christians reside. They have existed since Colonial times in America and, before that, in Europe for many centuries. Tradition credits St. Francis of Assisi with creating the first nativity scene in the early 13th century. Nearly every Advent and Christmas season is marred with some controversies connected with nativity scenes and displays. Theft of some nativity figures, such as that of the infant Jesus, has been noted in many recent years. Some figures have been recovered only by offering rewards. Other scenes have been cited for being offensive to the Christian community when jokesters have inserted non-nativity figures (snowmen, Santa Clauses, etc.) into the scenes. An ongoing debate has centered on placing nativity scenes and displays on publicly funded properties. Interestingly enough, even the White House maintains a nativity scene. In spite of such controversies, nativity scenes have been an important part of the American landscape in December dating back to before the creation of the republic. In promoting them the American Christian community has alerted the society as a whole of the importance of the Lord's first advent to our culture. A nativity scene, while not a substitute for witnessing individually to the country's citizens, has been a corporate witness of American Christians to the larger American community during the holiday season. Since nativity scenes are widely accepted by the American population as a whole, the American Christian community will find the means to continue the tradition even if such displays become increasingly challenged by those that find them objectionable. p Nevertheless, in spite of the importance of this corporate witness to American society, internally the Christian community should seriously reconsider some aspects of the nativity display. For instance, typical nativity scenes usually portray the simultaneous visit of both the shepherds and Magi (Wiseman) on the same night, when in reality, those events may have been separated by as much as two years (Matthew 2:16). Nativity scenes, as currently constructed, compress a nearly two year time frame into a one-night event, thereby giving an incorrect picture of these related but separate biblical events. Moreover, the visit of the Magi seemingly took place when Jesus' family maintained a "house" in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:11)....
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