THE BORING NATIVITY

December 2006
THE BORING NATIVITY

by Laurie Cook

My wife and I went to see The Nativity the other night and thoroughly enjoyed it. Before going I heard a critic say it was flat and somewhat boring. They said that it lacked the wonder and awe that they expected from the story of God coming to earth. But as I watched the movie it dawned on me that this was actually the point. God went to great lengths to come to man in humility, to inject himself into humanity in the middle of poverty and injustice. I’m so glad that the movie maker didn’t concentrate on the spectacular by over dramatizing and emphasizing the angel visits with powerful computer generated special effects.
This depiction of the story brought a portrayal of what I perceive to be the true message of incarnation. God chose this time and this place for a variety of reasons. But of special significance for me this year watching The Nativity, was the fact that he came into poverty at a time of paralyzing injustice. And by the way, being enslaved by the Romans was only part of the injustice. Joseph and Mary and their community were also subjected to injustice at the hands of a corrupt, national political leader and a pompous legal religion as well.
As I walked out of the cinema the first thought that hit me was a question. Given the carefully constructed setting of this story of God coming down to man, how do we as Christians ever get to a prosperity gospel; how do we end up with our religion of multi-million dollar buildings and programs that concentrate the use of these resources around serving the saints?
If you haven’t already seen The Nativity, go and see it and let the message of the incarnation speak to you in whatever way God sees fit to express his story to you. But I would simply ask you to reflect on both his role and our role in a world full of poverty and injustice. Allow God to draw you further into his story, not as theatregoers, not as followers of religion, not as enslavers, but into his way of living the incarnation.

by
Laurie Cook,CEO, World Relief Canada