Advent is a time when a lot of churches have “living nativity” scenes that use live animals. The story of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem has been told in so many different ways over so many years that different people have different pictures in their imaginations about what it must have been like. For a lot of people, animals are important in their image of the birth in Bethlehem. The Bible doesn’t directly mention animals being present. Luke’s gospel does report that the infant was laid in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. From that, people have created an entire scene that involves a stable, sheep, cattle, camels, and lots of other animals.

When I was young, perhaps a kindergartener, we had a Christmas pageant at our church based on the song “The Friendly Beasts.” We had homemade stuffed animals for each of the verses. My verse was about the cow:

I, said the cow, all white and red
I gave my manger for his bed
I gave him my hay to pillow his head
I, said the cow, all white and red.

There were verses about a donkey, sheep, and a dove. We still have that homemade red and white cow around our house. It doesn’t look like any real cow that I’ve seen. It is a bright red animal with white spots, reminiscent of the pattern of colors of a holstein cow.

The gospels don’t say anything about there being a cow. It has been added based on the fact that there was a manger present. It is highly unlikely that an impoverished family in 1st Century Palestine under Roman Rule could have afforded to own a cow. Cattle bones have been found in archaeological excavations of the region. The Romans had cattle. They weren’t red and white, like a holstein or Hereford. They were likely zebu-like cattle, used primarily for pulling heavy objects. They would have been a status symbol. Someone with one or more cows would have been a wealthy person.

Then again, the bible doesn’t mention donkeys or doves at Jesus’ birth. The donkey is inferred from the fact that Joseph and Mary had to travel and that she was pregnant and very close to the time of giving birth. It is possible that they might have had a domestic ass of some kind, but it is equally possible that they did not. As to sheep, Luke does mention sheep, but they weren’t in the home where Mary and Joseph were visiting relatives. They were out in the fields. One presumes that the weather was good enough that the shepherds were grazing the sheep far enough away from town that they didn’t bring them back to their owners at night. This was a common occurrence. Shepherds gathered sheep from various homes into flocks land kept watch over them as they grazed in fields away from the town. If the family was fortunate, they might have had one or more goats that also were herded by the shepherds.

I prefer to imagine the animals were away. The “inn” or guest area of the home was full because of many relatives coming to town for the registration. The lower level common living area, where animals were also kept on stormy nights, was clean because the animals were away. The manger might have had fresh straw or hay, prepared for when a single lamb or a perhaps a couple of ewes with lambs would return when the shepherds brought them back.

Then there are the camels. We have several nativity sets with camels, some with multiple camels. The camels are envisioned because of the report of visitors from the east that appears in Matthew’s Gospel. Camels were used to carry people and goods in caravans in the ancient near east. The magi might have had a camel. Then again, the size of their caravan isn’t known. We don’t even know how many there were. What we do know is that they had three gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Gathering animals for a living nativity can be a challenge. Most of the living nativity scenes I have seen have had have come up with one or more adult sheep. There are a few ranchers who will breed a few ewes early in order to have lambs for church pageants, but it isn’t really the usual time for lambing. A few scenes have managed a Spanish burro or a miniature donkey. I’ve seen several that have a single cow, usually angus, Hereford, or Charolais, or a mixed breed cow. Camels are hard to come by in the places where I have lived. I think they are pretty hard to come by in a lot of places.

The folks at Bridgeman Baptist Community Church in Brisbane, Australia, arranged to have three camels for their living nativity this year. It was a full-fledged production, but as sometimes happens with such events, they ran into a bit of a problem. Camels are fairly intelligent and resourceful animals and these three managed to open the gate of their pen at the church. They went for a stroll about the city causing chaos among commuters by going the wrong way on the street. They were eventually returned to the church’s yard without injury. The church posted on Facebook, “Our camels got a bit lost on the way to Bethlehem!”

It is a good thing that Brisbane drivers slowed down and avoided contact with the camels. A collision with a camel might cause a lot of damage and even injury.

I’m comfortable with toy camels in our nativity scenes. I don’t feel a need for live animals in our Christmas pageants. But I do find stories of the problems encountered by other churches with animals in their scenes to be entertaining. Almost every year I find one or more articles about animals escaping from church nativity scenes. In general churches don’t have the kind of fences that are most effective.

And when I feel a need to see some live animals, I can always go to the farm. They also have had experience with sheep and cows that get on the wrong side of the fence, and they have stories to tell about herding animals back home. That is part of the process of keeping animals, I guess. I’ve done a bit of fence mending myself - enough to feel no desire to set up temporary corrals at the church.

However you imagine the scene of the birth of Jesus, may the images in your mind bring you peace and good will.