I was speaking to one of the people at the church I pastor. They were a relatively new Jesus-follower and they were telling me about their shopping adventure and their quest to purchase a Nativity Scene.
You know what that is, right? Some may call it a “manger scene.” It is a representation of May and Joseph and baby Jesus.
This person went to several stores and were surprised how difficult they were to find. But here’s what happened at one of the last stores they went to:
After several failed attempts to purchase a Nativity set to complete my Christmas home decor, I thought to myself ..”there HAS to be a store around here somewhere with one for sale! After all it is Christmas!!” Feeling somewhat discouraged, leaving empty handed from Michael’s arts & crafts store, the lady at the cash register directed me to the neighbouring store, Bed Bath and Beyond. Not realizing they even had a decor section, I made my way over to the twinkling lights and reindeer displayed in their rather small Christmas section.
Looking over the merchandise a couple of times to no avail, I approached the sales associate, a young man who looked like he was in his early twenties. I asked him, “Excuse me, do you have any Nativity sets available please?”.
There was a pause, followed by an awkward look on the young man’s face as if he was waiting for me to continue with my explanation.
“Ah…um…can you please describe what that is please?” was his response. Astonished, I explained what it is. He blatantly said “Oh, no we don’t carry those.”
Sad, I made my way through the rows of lit up Santa’s, elves and snow globes only to leave a store once again with no sign of Baby Jesus.
This is a true sign that our culture has totally lost the true meaning of Christmas! We certainly have a lot of prayer and work and to do for the next generations to teach them about the true meaning of Christmas!