Commotion erupted backstage of the church Christmas play when a five-year-0ld girl, who was slated to play Mary, refused to wear anything but her new red dress.
The adults backstage pleaded with her, the director spoke to her, and finally her parents talked to her about the need to wear the costume for Mary instead of her new red dress. The little girl would not be moved, and insisted on wearing the dress, or she would not go onstage. The play was already late in starting, so the director stepped to the microphone and announced, "Due to circumstances beyond our control, Mary, the mother of Jesus, will appear tonight in a new red dress."
The congregation erupted in laughter. A voice was heard from behind the curtain shouting, "If Mary had had a new red dress, she would have worn it!"
I agree with her. That little girl understood something that we forget-- although Mary was the virgin mother of the Savior, she was still a real woman with real feelings. Imagine the emotions Mary must have carried that first Christmas: frustration at those who did not understand that her child was conceived by the Holy Spirit, fear at what Joseph would think, and amazement at the arrival of shepherds from
Yes, the birth of Mary's son was no sideline show. This was the event that ushered the Savior of the world onto the stage of world history. So I must agree with the little girl in the church play-- if Mary had had a new red dress, she would have worn it!
Copyright 2007 by Bob Rogers
1 comment:
Mary is depicted in many many medieval and modern period artworks wearing a red dress, a colour symbolic of the virtue of charity. It was the Romans who believed that a woman in red was without value.
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