At a time when the traditional nativity play is reported to be under threat of extinction in our schools, there is something deliciously subversive about the city of Liverpool choosing to inaugurate its year as the European Capital of Culture with its own, unique take on the story of Jesus' birth.
Last Sunday's Liverpool Nativity was a contemporary retelling of the old, old story on a grand scale. Famous Merseyside faces joined together with relatively unknown local actors and members of the Liverpudlian public to tell a tale of an asylum-seeking Joseph and his café-worker girlfriend, Mary, struggling against oppressive local government to bring God's Son into the world.
Like so many traditional nativity plays, this one was not without humour. It was, however, refreshingly free from the sentimentality that routinely smothers all trace of the true wonder of Christmas in more traditional productions. There was no place here for 'Away in a Manger' with its incarnation-defying 'little Lord Jesus' who wakes without a whimper in response to the lowing of inconsiderate cattle.
In fact, there was no place in the Liverpool Nativity for any of the carols and songs you'd normally expect to hear in a nativity play. Instead - and this was a central feature of the production - the story was interpreted through the popular music of various Liverpudlian bands, such as Echo & the Bunnymen, the La's, the Zutons and, of course, the Beatles.
Naturally, this meant that each song was being used for a purpose other than that for which it was composed. John Lennon did not write 'Beautiful Boy' as a description of the newborn Christ-child, for example - but nonetheless in this new context that was what his lyrics became.
Maybe some purist fans of these bands will regard such borrowing as akin to blasphemy, but isn't the choice of music for the Liverpool Nativity a creative attempt to celebrate Jesus' birth in song? In this regard, it is entirely faithful to the account of his birth in Luke's Gospel, where key characters - Mary, Zechariah, the angels, Simeon - just can't help but burst into song in response to what God has done.
May God give each of us the imagination during this festive season to discern and declare the significance of seemingly ordinary words and events in the light of the timeless, awesome truth that is the real meaning of Christmas!
Nigel Hopper (LICC)
I'd like to record a thankyou to the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity, (who so often write the sort of articles I wish I could) for permitting me to reproduce their writings. May the Lord prosper your work!
To all readers of my blog.....a very Happy Christmas. May Jesus be born in you. 'This is love indeed--we did not love God, but He loved us and sent His Son to be an atoning sacrifice for our sins..' 1 John 4:10
2 comments:
This is great, Mike. I missedthe actual nativity showing, but I feel that there is a change on the wind with the media, especially as I've just heard that there will be a series in the run-up to Easter after Eastenders on BBC1, all about the Easter story. Lets hope that 2008 (especially with the great banner of Hope 08 - www.hope08.com) is a year of a massive change in this nation.
"Look at the nations and watch, be utterly amazed, for I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe even if you were told" (Somewhere in Habbakuk). My prayer is that this is a prophecy for our days and our nation. God can blow us away with what he does - let's hope we're ready!
God bless your ministry
Judith:) xXx
Just catching up with Mike's Blog. We watched the Liverpool Nativity and it made me think about "The Man Born To Be King".
Having read Judith's comment, I should explain:- In the 'radio days' of the Beeb, they commissioned a series of twelve radio plays retelling the life of Christ. The scholar and popular mystery writer, Dorothy L. Sayers, a member of the Church of England, wrote 'The Man Born to Be King'. The idea was to broadcast it in the 'Children's Hour' slot (remember that?) at monthly intervals during the early part of WW2 (not that I was around then!).
This is what The Christian History Institute had to say about ‘The Man Born To Be King’
"At a press conference, she explained that in order to adapt the gospels to radio, she had invented a few characters and combined Bible personages. To make the radio voices distinct, she had sometimes used American slang or regional accents. For instance, Matthew says, "The fact is Philip, you've been had for a sucker. You ought to keep your eyes skinned."
From the reaction, one would have thought that she had burned a Bible in St. Paul's Cathedral. Before a single play was released, newspaper headlines screamed "blasphemy!" Atheists complained that Christians were being given free radio time for propaganda. Language lovers griped, "Should children listen to such unwholesome, American slang...?" The Lord's Day Observance Society complained, "A sinful man presuming to impersonate the Sinless One! It detracts from the honour due to the Divine Majesty."
Prime Minister Churchill was swamped with letters urging a ban on the plays. The Archbishop of Canterbury, leading official of the Church of England, received a similar flood of requests. A question was raised about the plays in the House of Commons. Dorothy continued writing.
Although she is best known as the creator of detective Lord Peter Wimsy, Dorothy was well qualified to write Christian plays. She had already done two for Canterbury Cathedral, both of which were so good they ran for several weeks in London.
No detective had to be called in to learn where she stood on matters of faith. Reared in the Church of England, she did not follow the path of the majority of intellectuals, who abandoned the church. Although she had not lived a saintly life, neither had she renounced her faith. Just how satisfying Christianity was for her became clear in 1938 when she wrote a Sunday editorial for the Times. "The Christian faith is the most exciting drama that ever staggered the imagination of man...and the dogma is the drama." A typical Sayers' approach was to poke fun at Higher Criticism by soberly applying its techniques to Sherlock Holmes mysteries!
She accused religious leaders of being so careful to say nothing that would offend anyone that they said nothing worth saying at all. In her radio dramas she presented Christ's story with superb craftsmanship. She even had to invent the form she used. The nearest equivalent was the cycle of Arthurian legends.
The first play from 'The Man Born to Be King' aired on December 21st, 1941. Most listeners who contacted the BBC said they loved it. For many, the play raised morale by reminding them of their Christian roots. Dorothy made Christ's life seem so real that people were forced to reconsider it’s meaning for themselves. The Bishop of Winchester said the cycle was the greatest evangelical appeal made in the twentieth century."
Wow! Wouldn't it be wonderful if the TV companies, with their 21st century technology, could evoke/provoke that kind of response today?
Nick
Post a Comment