For decades I preached a sermon nearly every week. The worship style of the congregations we served included a reflection on the scriptures that was anywhere from 7 to 30 minutes long. Most of the time, I prepared sermons that were between 10 and 15 minutes in length. I worked hard at learning the difference between spoken and written language and expressing myself with rhythm and pitch that engaged the congregation. I learned to look at the people in the pews and use their reactions as feedback to inform my preaching. I paid attention to the comments or lack of comments I received after worship. While preaching is understood as an important part of a pastor’s work, it isn’t the only task and there were many weeks - perhaps most of them - when I felt I could have used more time in preparation for preaching. I had to balance my need for study and reflection with my need to serve the people of the congregation. After all, preaching is only part of the relationship and I would have been unable to deliver consistently meaningful sermons if I didn’t get to know my congregation as individuals and as a group.

My current job doesn’t involve preaching. I have only delivered one sermon in the church where we now belong and that was before I was received into membership and before I began working for the church.

What I do now, however, gives me a fairly regular opportunity to deliver what in this church is called “Time with Children.” The traditions of this church are to pass around the responsibility for this part of the worship service and I participate as a member of the congregation more often than I am the presenter, but I do, as one of the Interim Ministers of Faith Formation, have responsibility for making sure that this part of worship has a leader and I have been invited by the lead pastor and other congregational leaders to appear in this part of worship on a regular basis. One of those opportunities will come this week. I’m on for presenting the time with children on Sunday.

I find that the task of preparing a five-minute time with children is every bit as challenging and engaging as preaching. On Sunday, after worship, I came up with a few ideas and jotted a few notes. Yesterday I led a small-group Bible Study and began to think about what might make the scriptures connect with younger children. Because our congregation is very careful about social distancing and because all of our worship is hybrid, which means there are many people who are participating over social media, I have focused a lot of attention on the visual aspects of my presentations. I’ve been using props for object lessons. I’ve been thinking about what items will connect with a child watching on a television screen.

We have used crèche or nativity scenes to teach the Christmas story for all of our careers. In my home, growing up, we had a crèche scene that came out with the Christmas decorations every year. On Christmas Eve, it was our family tradition to gather around the piano. Different family members would read different parts of the Christmas story from a family bible. We’d sing some familiar Christmas Carols. And one by one, each of us would put one or more figures into the crèche as the story unfolded. I remember holding a shepherd and a sheep and waiting until after the angel had appeared to the shepherds to place my figures in the scene.

Later, when we had children of our own, we always put out several crèche scenes, including ones with pieces that were appropriate for play for the children. We watched as they set up their own games and told their own stories about the figures. Often other toys entered into the scene and the figures were arranged in unusual ways. I remember seeing Mary and Joseph on the roof of the stable, sometimes with an angel. Our grandchildren play similar games. One week this Advent, we saw that Mary had left the baby Jesus with Joseph and gone across the room to consult with some angels. Another time all of the crèche figures were lined up in a grand procession with Mary bringing up the rear, holding a huge chest that usually is one of the gifts of the wise men.

The tradition of putting together a crèche dates back at least to St. Francis, who used live actors and animals to create teaching scenes. Understanding that the majority of the people in the church did not know how to read or write, he wanted to teach them Bible stories and so had them act them out. Often there were no speaking parts and actors simply stood still creating a strong visual story for those who were watching - almost like an illustration of a specific biblical scene. Nativity scenes were very popular among the people Francis served.

This week, I want to make a connection between playing with the toys that represent the characters in the story and the meeting of Mary and Elizabeth that is part of this week’s gospel reading. It seems to me that Mary and Elizabeth were also engaging their imaginations as they spoke. Although both were pregnant, neither had yet become a mother at the time of their meeting. They must have talked about the future and about what having a baby would be like. They used their imaginations, and one of the products of imagination is the Song that has become known as the Magnificat. Mary sang God’s glory as the two women visited.

Maybe a child holding a doll and pretending that the doll is the baby Jesus is a very similar activity to Mary singing her song of praise to Elizabeth. Both are engaging the imagination to think about how God and people are connected. Both are acts of connecting with the stories of our people.

In our Christmas pageant this week we will continue the tradition of having a live human baby. A family with a new baby will play the roles of the holy family. But for the worship service before the pageant I think I’ll use one of the dolls from the church nursery. Both will stir our imaginations and perhaps lead us to the kind of wonder and joy that inspired Mary’s song.