Imperfectly Perfect

Monday Ministerial Musings

By Rev. Mark William Ennis

2021 Blog Number 50

December 13, 2021

Imperfectly Perfect

One of the great things that I have always enjoyed about church throughout my life is the annual Christmas pageant. As a little boy our pageant was always held on Christmas Eve. I frustrated my mother by falling asleep and missing my first performance. I don’t think that she ever forgave me. A few years later the whole cast got a virus and the play had to be cancelled. Frequently, pageants simply don’t go well.

Several years ago, due to a small Sunday School, we had to expand the Children’s play to an intergenerational version. It was rather fun to have people of all ages be part of this play, and a good education for the young people to be seeing older people participate in such activities.

The movie “The Preacher’s Wife” starring Whitney Houston has several scenes about a church performing a Christmas Play. Like the ones I have been a part of, not much goes right. There are a number of mishaps. Despite all the problems, the children have a wonderful experience and learn again of the miracle of Christmas, God becoming human for the sake of humanity.

How can something that goes so wrong possibly be so good? I think that it is because of the very simply message. God loves us enough to incarnate into human form. The message is powerful and is strong enough to overcome imperfection in our delivery. Yes, our pageants are imperfect, but the message is perfect and has the power to transform hearts. Perhaps that is why the story “A Christmas Carol” is so powerful. It is a simple story of the love of Christmas transforming the heart of Ebenezer Scrooge. God’s love is transforming, even if we as a church are imperfect at communicating it.

Isn’t this a microcosm of all that we do as faithful Christians. We are here to proclaim the love of Christ however imperfectly we do it. We can’t wait for the perfect time or the perfect means. But we must never stop proclaiming.

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