Digital Evangelism Issues

Mary (Tatiana Maslany) and Joseph (Andrew Buchan) welcome a new arrival. BBC.

The BBC 4-part serial Nativity aired in the week before Christmas to wide acclaim. If it was not screened in your country, doubtless it will available on DVD before long.

I am among those who often find screen retellings of Bible stories tedious: identikit long robes from some 1950s costume department, wooden acting that tries to achieve imagined other-worldly religious ambience, all mixed with an overdose of syrup and generalized schmaltz.

The Nativity was refreshingly different. It was crisply written by top UK screenwriter Tony Jordan (Eastenders, Life on Mars), with excellent casting and convincing acting throughout. In any retelling like this (two hours screen time), of course much of what is portrayed is ‘might have been’, a personal interpretation by the writer. [Spoiler warning: if you don't want to know plot details, skip the following paragraphs.]

Prophecy

Although there were a few points at which the writer deviated from the bible account – for instance the Magi did not meet Herod in Jerusalem, but only by proxy through his envoy; and more could have been made of the meeting between Elizabeth and Mary in terms of Elizabeth’s immediate spiritual insight into the situation – the overall message was very clear. There was a very strong emphasis on fulfillment of prophecy: the birth of Messiah to a virgin in Bethlehem, as the Son of God who would take away sins.

The portrayal of the Magi was interesting: god-fearing Gentiles who were also keenly expecting the birth of Messiah, as a particular fulfillment of the prophecy of Balaam. Their astronomical research into the expected planetary conjunction led them to set out before its full appearing. (Of course, surely God would want to signify the most important birth in human history with a clear sign in the heavens, and also demonstrate its meaning to representatives of both Jews and Gentiles?)

Herod’s portrayal was chilling – an unstable paranoid psychopath, isolated in a twilight world of fear and ill-health.

Shame cultures

What many in the West may not fully grasp about the nativity story: the power of a shame culture to reject those who have apparently broken its rules. It is not so many years since single mothers were appallingly treated in the West. To anyone watching this film in the Middle East, the portrayal of Mary’s rejection would have been entirely expected and familiar. She must have needed every day of her three-month stay with her wise older mentor Elizabeth, the only person in the world who understood her situation, to gain strength to cope with what must have been months, probably years, of rejection and suspicion.

There was a helpful back-story about the life of one of the shepherds, setting the context of harsh Roman occupation by his anger at ill-treatment when the illness of his wife prevented timely tax payment.

The arrival of Gabriel to Mary, and later the shepherds, was refreshingly normal – he made his announcement seated, at their level. Mercifully, there was no attempt to portray the singing angels at the announcement to the shepherds, for how could you portray such a supernatural event without it seeming like pantomime special effects.

The writer has chosen to delay Joseph’s full acceptance of Mary’s story (despite his dream from Gabriel) till the birth in the stable. And there may well have been some truth in this – how long does it take most of us to even partially grasp something that God is showing us? How long did it take Peter, despite three years of teaching in word and deed, to actually ‘get’ that the good news was for Gentiles too?

A very reasonable ‘might have been’ was Joseph’s expectation that he and Mary could lodge in Bethlehem (his ancestral town) with a relative, Rachael. Her refusal to allow Mary to stay (bad news travels fast anywhere) forced them to seek an alternative.

The stable

In this story, everything culminates in the stable. The arrival of the shepherds and the Magi, Joseph’s final full understanding of the significance of who Jesus really is and his reconciliation with Mary, healing for the angry shepherd, and a ‘Simeon moment’ for the Magi, with the full conjunction of the planets into a powerful light above Bethlehem. It all powerfully comes together in the final scene of healing, understanding and revelation.

Tony Jordan claims that researching and writing the story has changed him.

It was as good a screen bible story as I have seen, all credit to a secular state broadcaster for commissioning this serial. Thanks BBC.

Here’s the trailer:

Outreach websites that created outsider-friendly pages about Christmas have received thousands of visitors over the last month. Many people go online to discover information about the background to Christmas, or how it is celebrated in different cultures or times in history. Consider ways to engage with this interest in 2011 – perhaps schedule a discussion about this for September. Here are free Christmas-related articles to use on websites and in print. Consider one for your church website.

Nativity by children

St Paul’s Arts and Media in New Zealand produced this charming video…

And finally…

For two entertaining social-networking takes on the Nativity:

And here’s Pastor Tim’s listing of Funny Christmas Pictures

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