Nativity plays for children have long been a staple of churches during the Christmas season. I participated in nativity dramas as a child. I was never chosen to play the lead role of Joseph since I couldn’t be trusted to remain at Mary’s side through the manger scene. I was typically cast in a non-speaking, support role, usually one of the shepherds dressed in a bathrobe and carrying a shepherd’s crook.
Today’s prayer post introduces us to a monk who utilized liturgical drama to illustrate biblical principles to large numbers of illiterate worshipers in the tenth century. Ethelwold (or Aethelwold (908-984) was a driving force in bringing much-needed reform to monastic life in Anglo-Saxon England. He was given the challenging assignment of restoring an abandoned monastery ravaged by Viking raids. He not only revitalized a local monastery but compiled a manual for monastic life based on the Rule of St. Benedict. This Regularis Concordia manual from AD 973 included directives for how to incorporate the dramatic retelling of the resurrection into Easter liturgy. The three Mary’s dressed in white carry spices to the tomb, singing in alternating fashion as they make their way down the aisle to the altar where the sepulcher is located. An angel holding the linen shroud that wrapped Jesus’ body greets them, “Whom do you seek?” “Jesus of Nazareth,” the women answer. “He is not here,” the angel declares, “He has risen, as was prophesied. Go announce that he is risen from the dead.” By the eleventh century, liturgical drama extended beyond Easter to include other biblical events, most notably Christmas. The Officium Pastorum capitalized on Ethelwold’s Easter reenactment to bring the Christmas story to life. The midwives who encircle the manger ask the shepherds, “Whom do you seek at the manger?” The shepherds answer, “The Savior, Christ the Lord, the child wrapped in swaddling clothes, as the angel said.” We have Ethelwold to thank for making abstract theology come alive by incorporating visual storytelling into worship to aid those who couldn’t read the story for themselves. He leads us to pray: