A CALIFORNIA CHRISTMAS: VISIONS OF THE CHRIST CHILD IN THE CENTRAL VALLEY (Performed at First Mennonite Church in Reedley, CA on December 12, 2004) Written by Barbara Ewy and Hope Nisly
With thanks to William Kurelek A Northern Nativity who asked:
``If it happened here as it happened there... If it happened now as it happened then... Who would have seen the miracle? Who would have brought gifts? Who would have taken Them in?''
Scene 1 Wednesday evening at First Mennonite
Carols ``Mary Had a Baby'' FMC/PIM Children: ``What Can I Give Him'' ``Esa Pequena Luz''
Setting: Youth group gathering at FMC; youth enter singly and in pairs or small groups; they greet each other and find places to sit
Steve: Well, are you ready for tonight's question? What is the strangest dream you've ever had?
Dietrich: I had a strange one. Anton and I had a truck up on blocks. The wheels were off. We had the hood up and were looking at the carburetor. All at once the radio comes on and the announcer is saying, ``We interrupt our regular programming with this good news bulletin. A child has been born in Fresno County, a Savior who is Christ the Lord. You will find the baby wrapped in a receiving blanket and resting in a packing box. And then there was choir music. They were singing something that sounded kind of like the anthem the choir sang on Sunday---or Vivaldi's ``Gloria''--something like that.
Amanda: Dietrich, you're kidding.
Tom: You're making this up, right?
Dietrich: Seriously. Then the radio stopped. Anton and I kind of looked at each other. Then he said, ``Don't you think we should check this out?'' So we put the wheels back on and jumpstarted the truck and went looking. We spent the next hour driving up and down the roads and lanes looking for a packing shed with a baby lying in a fruit box. But we couldn't find it. We kept passing the same corners and we didn't get anywhere!
Steve: That's very interesting, Dietrich! Oscar: So what happens next? Dietrich: I don't know...We keep looking, I guess. Kind of like the wise men when they couldn't find the baby and went to Jerusalem instead of Bethlehem. Maybe we were looking in all the wrong places. But we were in Fresno County all right!
Anton: Dietrich, I don't remember any of this. Dietrich: Well, it was just a dream. Kendra: But it raises a good question. If Jesus were born here, as he was in Bethlehem, who would have seen the miracle?
Daisy: Who would have heard the angels? Sara: Who would have brought gifts? Mike: Who would have taken Mary and Joseph in and given them a place to stay? Marvin: Suppose it had happened here, now. Where would we find the Christ child?
Amanda: I wonder. Angelica: I wonder. Everybody: I wonder.
Carol: ``I Wonder As I Wander'' Ron Ewy
Congregational Carol ``What Child Is This'' No. 215
Scene 2 A BUSY SHOPPING MALL
Setting: A shopping mall. Canned Christmas music in background; Also sounds of cash registers ringing and maybe a Salvation Army Christmas bell. Shoppers walk by with their arms full of packages, some stop to exclaim over things in store windows. Mary with baby Jesus is resting on a bench watching the shoppers go by. Stations include gift wrapping, Santa Claus, the checkout line
Kendra: We went to the mall the other day to do Christmas shopping.
Amanda: Remember the cute skirt we saw in the window?
Sara: I was looking for a gift for Zak. Brothers are so hard to find presents for!
Kendra: Then we noticed the mother and child sitting on the bench. Amanda: She looked kind.
Sara: She was taking such good care of the baby.
Amanda: The baby was watching everyone that walked past.
Sara: None of the shoppers noticed the child.
Amanda: Suppose that was Mary and baby Jesus? They were there and nobody saw them!
Kendra: You know, we get so busy celebrating the season that we forget why we celebrate.
Sara: We were so busy looking for gifts that we overlooked the best gift of all--the one that God gave to us.
Amanda: Remember the Bible verse? ``For God so loved the world that He gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life.
Sara: The next verse says God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.''
Kendra: I wonder what would happen if everyone recognized God's gift?
Congregational carol ``For God So Loved Us'' No. 167
Scene 3 Along the Kings River
Carol: ``Twas In the Moon of Wintertime'' No. 190 Ro Linscheid, Sara Blake, Kendra Bergen
Setting: Bank of river, a few trees on the edge and a stump that is in the center (noticeable). A group of people stands around it, looking sad. A few people are crying. One is caressing the stump. On a blanket sits a young woman with a baby. Her husband kneels beside her. They are off to the side but observing it all closely. Near the center a woman with a flowing skirt stands with her hand stretched out over the group. Birds are chirping, a squirrel sits in one of the trees.
Mike: Do you remember that story we read about in the Fresno Bee several years ago? When that man chopped down a tree up toward Pine Flat?
Josh: Yeah, that rings a bell. I don't remember the whole story, but the tree had meant something to some people. They would go see it because they saw Mary in it or something, right? Mike: Something like that, I'm not sure either what was important about it, but it was a religious symbol of some kind. Anyway, I was thinking about that lately. What if Mary really was there?
Ross: (sceptically) What are you saying, Mike?
Mike: I'm not sure exactly. Its just a feeling, really. But it keeps nagging at my mind. That man who cut it down said it was an eyesore or a danger or something like that. Most people think he was just being mean and racist.
Josh: (with a bit of recognition in voice) Now that you say that, I'm remembering a bit more of the story. Later a woman from up by Dunlap or in the foothills came and did some kind of healing ceremony, didn't she?
Mike: That's right. That's what I'm getting at. She was a Native American woman and she did this ceremony to bring peace and healing to the people who were hurt by it. They could have been angry at the man, and some of them were, but with her ceremony they could lay it to rest.
Ross: Why did she do it?
Mike: I don't know. I don't think she even knew those people who cared about the tree. She just came and helped.
Ross: Yeah? Mike: Yeah, what? Ross: I'm thinking.
Josh: (chuckling a little) That's good. What about?
Ross: This story sounds sort of familiar. Do you know what I mean? Like maybe Jesus and Mary and Joseph were sitting there. And maybe the woman was like the wise men. Only she was the wise woman.
Josh: Hmmm. I see where you're going with this and it sounds intriguing. Go on.
Ross: Well, she followed her instincts or her calling or whatever it was. Like the star in the Bible story. And she took a gift too. It wasn't gold or frankincense or myrrh. It was a gift that came from her heart. It was a spirit of peace.
Mike: I hear you now. It makes sense, too. And it makes me think of a verse we keep hearing. I wasn't always sure what it meant but maybe this is it. ``If you do it to one of the least of these, my sisters, you do it to me.''
Josh: So if she took them her gift, then she did it to Jesus. He was there.
Ross: This is giving me goose bumps, its so cool.
Mike: I wonder what that would mean if I took it seriously.
Ross: Yeah, it would be like Christmas all year long, wouldn't it?
Carol: ``Tell Me About the Star'' Duet: Kate Milton & Christine Moyer
Congregational Carol: ``Love Came Down at Christmas'' No. 208
Scene 4 Fifth Grade Orchestra Class
Setting: Fifth grade orchestra class. Peter, Andy and Yessica are sitting with their violins practicing simple notes and fingerings.
Nick: I was walking down the hallway at school the other day and happened to glance into the music room. The fifth graders were practicing violin. It was awful!
Ben: Awful, Nick?
Nick: Well, it did sound like fifth graders!
Kendra: What happened next?
Nick: Then all at once it started sounding different--I could recognize what they were playing. I could hear parts and then even singing. It was as if the whole angel chorus had joined them. It was beautiful! And then I saw that Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus were sitting in the back corner of the classroom, and the fifth graders were playing for them!
Kendra: Why would they be playing for Jesus?
Nick: Well, it reminded me of something from Colossians--something Paul wrote about - that whatever you do you should work at with all your heart, as though you were working for the Lord and not for anyone else.
Carol ``Silent Night'' FMC/PIM children sing verse 1; Congregation vs. 2-3 No. 193
Scene 5 Hmong Refugee Home
Congregational Carol ``Where is this stupendous stranger'' No. 200
Setting: Living room/kitchen with Hmong family sitting together. A story quilt hangs on the wall. Visitors bring groceries & are served a drink. They all look at the story quilt.
Alex: Did you hear about the refugees who came to Fresno last summer? It was in June, I think.
Tom: I heard about that. They are Hmong people, aren't they?
Alex: Yeah, I had to get our atlas out to find out where their country is. They're from Laos. Do you know much about the Hmong people?
Tom: I didn't before, but when I heard about them arriving here, I read a little bit about it. And I talked to a student at Fresno Pacific University. His name is Kong and he was happy to tell me more.
Loren: Maybe he'd talk to the youth group sometime.
Alex: Anyway, I keep reading the stories about the Hmong people settling into Fresno County and it has made me think a lot about what it is to be a refugee. I've wondered what if my family and I had to leave our home and go live someplace else where we didn't know the language or the culture. Just thinking about it is kind of scary.
Tom: Yeah, it really would be frightening. I wonder what I would take along that would give me a feeling of home if I went to live in another country. Especially if I had to go because something would happen to us if we stayed here. And what if I couldn't take much--what would I take?
Loren: I'd want to take some photos, of course. And the quilt my grandparents made me. Its so cool; Grandpa cut out all the squares and Grandma sewed it together. I feel so warm when I sleep under it on winter nights.
Alex: I wonder what a Hmong family might bring along. Can you ask your friend?
Tom: I'm ahead of you on that. There it is, on the wall.
Loren: Does it mean anything? What do you know about it?
Tom: It's a story cloth. The Hmong women have a special embroidery technique. All those pictures on it tell part of their story about becoming refugees and needing to leave their homes in the mountains of Laos.
Loren: That's sort of like Mary and Joseph, isn't it? They left their home and had to look for a place to stay in a new country where they didn't know anyone. And they didn't have any refugee organization to help them, either.
Alex: I never thought of it that way. They must have been nervous too.
Loren: I'm sure they were. I know I'd have been.
Tom: Look, over there. That is Mary. She's holding the story cloth and a baby.
Loren: You're right,Tom. And they're Hmong!
(silence for a few seconds as they think)
Alex: Are we welcoming them like we should?
(more silence)
Together (softly): I wonder...
Carol ``Christ in the Stranger's Guise'' by A. Burt women's trio (We cut this number--didn't use)
Congregational Carol ``Infant holy, infant lowly'' No. 206
Scene 6 A Reedley Kitchen
Setting: Kitchen, a table, three women (3 generations?) standing around it making tamales.
Oscar: What is it we're supposed to be looking for?
Daisy: Weren't you listening?
Oscar: Sort of, but I'm not sure what we're supposed to look for. (Incredulous tone) Where do they think we'll find a manger scene in Fresno County?
Marvin: It's not JUST a manger scene we're looking for. We want to find scenes of Christmas. We have to think a little deeper than that!
Angelica: Let's keep trying. I think we'll find it if we don't give up.
Oscar: Hey look. There's my mom and my sister and my aunt making our Christmas tamales.
Angelica: Sounds great. My Mom is making ours tomorrow.
Marvin: I can't wait for Christmas Day. All that good food.
Daisy: Tamales and pisole.
Angelica: Some of my friends have turkey and mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie
Oscar: And the flan. Don't forget the flan!
Daisy: Couldn't forget that. I love your mom's flan.
Oscar: I'd go help but I think I'd just get in the way. I'll help eat it.
Marvin: I don't know. Maybe you're onto something. It's a lot of work and they might like the help.
Daisy: Besides, they have fun making it and we can hear what they're talking about. Let's surprise them and ask to help.
Oscar: But aren't we supposed to be out looking for something for youth group?
Angelica: Yeah, but think of it. What is Christmas about anyway?
Daisy: What are you getting at?
Angelica: Well, Steve told us to look for Christmas scenes, to find the meaning of Christmas. What is it, if it isn't family and doing stuff together and making good food and honoring each of our own traditions--whatever those traditions are.
Oscar: And the cool part is sharing those traditions with others. Ours came from Mexico. Others came from places in Europe and elsewhere. I like eating pumpkin pie. And you love my mom's tamales and flan.
Marvin: We were looking so hard that we missed the obvious.
Daisy: Didn't Jesus say that when two or three gather in his name, he is present there? So when we invite Jesus into our homes and treat each other the right way, the way God teaches us, then Jesus is present there!
Oscar: Yeah...You know what?
Angelica: No, what?
Oscar: Maybe I WILL ask to help--They would be so surprised!
Angelica: Ask your mom if I can help too.
Oscar: I will. Let's all go.
Congregational Carol ``Oh, how joyfully'' No. 209
Scene 7 An Orange Cove Packing Shed
Setting: Packing shed where oranges are being packed into fruit boxes for shipping. People begin to arrive with dishes of food and holiday decorations. They are singing ``O Come Let Us Adore Him''. The Holy Family is sitting with some orange crates on center stage. They lay the baby in a crate and care for it. (We cut ``O Come Let Us Adore Him- -too complicated to work out--We did have nearly entire cast join the celebration on stage)
Dietrich: I never dreamed the packing shed would be over in Orange Cove. But look at all the people gathering. I think we've found it!
Anton: It sure looks like people have come from everywhere: the shopping malls, the foothills, the river, distant countries, families, all ages.
Dietrich: It reminds me of what Simeon said at the temple when Mary and Joseph took baby Jesus there. ``With my own eyes I have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light to reveal your will to the Gentiles and bring glory to your people Israel.''
Anton: Come on, Dietrich. We don't want to be late. Let's go join the celebration.
