Chapter 17

     Jealous Plant was not the only one who was unhappy, though.  In spite of my pleading and flat our whining, Pastor Basil refused to assign the role of Mary to someone else.  
     “Mary needs to have a voice” Pastor explained. “She needs to proclaim the wondrous deeds of God, and she needs to make a joyful noise-”
     “But the rattle snake-”
   “Words! Mary needs to say words!” Pastor Basil looked meaningfully at me and then rushed off to continue running lines with the chameleons who were definitely lacking in the words department.  
     Saying the words was fine, but the blocking was proving disastrous.  There was no way that I could actually “ride” Sybil the 8-foot python.  Mr. Skink refused to let me sit on her and Mrs. Snapper was horrified when we tried having her wrap her tail around my ankle and drag me across the stage.
     “It looks like she’s being dragged off to a tree to be eaten!” 
     Finally, Pastor Basil got James and Silas Kirtland to carry Sybil across the stage with a brown cloth draped over her while I walked beside her, my legs hidden by the cloth.  With a neatly crocheted pair of donkey ears wrapped around her scaly head the effect was halfway convincing.
To Be Continued

Luke 1:38
Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”
 
Pastor Basil thinks it is very important that Mary be a speaking character in the Christmas Pageant.  In addition to verbally accepting the angel’s news that she will give birth to a son, Mary has a longer conversation with her friend Elizabeth about God’s liberating work (Luke 1:46-55).  When was a time when it was important for you to say something out loud?  What needed to be said: thanks, warning, wonderment, etc.? ​

A reading of Chapter 17 by Amelia Corbett