Not to be a Scrooge, but I confess, I'm not big on Christmas plays. I always feel a slight cringe when I see one. There are a number of reasons, but mainly because we put on christmas plays primarily so that we can admire our children as cute and funny. If we were really serious about the spiritual value of acting out the story of Jesus' birth why don't adults ever play the roles?  In this way, as the one time in most churches that children have a significant role in the church,  the christmas play conveys the message that children's contribution is to perform so we can feel good about how adorable they are. Therefore, I'm not sure that it ever contributes much to a child or adult's spiritual growth and it may even be counterproductive.

 So I was surprised the other day when a young person said that participating in the annual Christmas pageant was significant in his spiritual development. Rather than putting it down to the pageant itself I thought about the principles that come into play (pardon the pun). 

1. Children perceive it as spiritually significant (even if adult's don't) since they are retelling the important story of Jesus' birth.
2. What they do is appreciated. There is anticipation, photographs, applause and congratulations. 
3. The roles take effort and practice.  
4. It is something special and memorable.

All of this can be formative for a child's character and spiritual life. Can we duplicate these principles in other ways so that children are often involved in significant, appreciated, disciplined and memorable acts of service. What difference might it make in their life and walk with God if we did this on a regular basis; say, each Sunday! 

When it comes to the pageant, I still don't really like it. In my view we ought to involve children in ministry and not just performance. Unless of course we are very careful to frame the pageant as an act of ministry and story telling; in which case adults should be ready to act as well!

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