Eight Nativity Sets adorn my office shelves year-round. Each holds special meaning and memories in my life.

My sister gave me the musical, turntable creche from Berlin as a Christmas gift in the 1980s.

I presented the Department 56 set to my wife in the 1990s when our children were young.

I purchased two handmade sets of wood and clay on a mission trip to Honduras.

A local potter in Cartersville crafted a vase with the Manger Scene cut into the side.

A large, olive wood creche with fourteen human and animal characters came from a visit to Bethlehem in 2014.

A “Precious Moments Nativity” from a coworker presents a highly sanitized version of Jesus’ birth.

A smaller tableau of the Holy Family also came from Palestine during a 2019 Holy Land trip with Northside Church.

In contrast, the Gospel stories of Jesus’ actual birth are simple and unpretentious. A woman accompanied only by her husband gave birth and laid her firstborn in a manger.

In faith, the church points and declares,

“This is Christ the King, whom shepherds guard and angels sing.

Haste, haste, to bring him laud, the babe, the son of Mary.”

With the shepherds, magi, angels, and all creation, let us come to Bethlehem and join the Nativity Scene.