The Parish Magazine December 2023

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18 The Parish Magazine - December 2023 feature — 2 Please mention The Parish Magazine when responding to advertisements Homecare you can rely on Our local team of care professionals can help with: • Meal Preparation • Medication • Personal Care • Companionship • Help around the home • And much more… To find out more call or visit: 01182 371 573 goodoakshomecare.co.uk/ reading ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN Our talented team of Architects and Designers offer the following services to make your vision a reality: Free Initial Consultation Concept Design 3D Modelling Loft Conversions - Extensions - New Builds Planning Applications Permitted Development Applications Building Regulation Applications Tender / Construction Production Information Project Management E: info@cblsconsultants.co.uk T: 07980394261 www.cblsconsultants.co.uk
The Parish Magazine - December 2023 19 feature — 2 800 year anniversary of the first Nativity play This Christmas, thousands of Nativity plays will be held around the world and countless millions of Nativity sets will be unpacked and put on display in our homes, churches, shops and places of entertainment and work. Have you ever wondered who staged the very first play or created the first Nativity set? It was St Francis of Assisi, who came up with the idea exactly 800 years ago in Greccio, Italy, on Christmas Day December 1223. Francis had been born into a wealthy family, but abandoned his noble inheritance when he became a Christian. Instead, he had turned to a life of great simplicity, in service to Christ’s church. Francis spent many hours meditating on the stories of the life of Christ, and even travelled to the Holy Land in 1219 and 1220, to see the various holy sites of Jesus’s life. The sites deeply moved him, as they brought the Bible stories to vibrant life. INSPIRATION Back in Italy, in November of 1223, Francis was in Rome, and he had an idea. Why not share something of the inspiration of the Holy Land with his people here in Italy? Barely 50 miles to the north, in Greccio, he knew many people to whom he had been ministering for years. He could at least show them something of the simplicity of the birth of Jesus. And so it was that, two weeks before Christmas, Francis asked his friend, the Lord of Greccio, Giovanni Velita, to prepare a nearby cave with live animals and a hay-filled manger. That cave, beside some rocky crags, became the venue of the very first ever Nativity scene. On Christmas 1223, when the people of Greccio attended Christmas Mass as usual, they were invited to ‘come and see’ the simple scene. According to his biographer, Brother Thomas of Celano, Francis wanted people to see what Jesus had 'suffered for lack of the necessities of Sonning School pupils' Nativity at St Andrew's in December 2022 a new-born babe, and how He lay in the manger between the ox and ass.' According to eyewitness accounts of the moment, fires lit the dark scene while crowds arrived at the spot carrying candles and torches. There were also accounts of miracles happening that night. Some people had a vision of a real infant in the empty manger, and others reported miraculous healings. CELEBRATIONS All in all, the Nativity scene was an instant success, and soon other communities were staging their own. Some people, not wanting to miss out on the celebrations, began to build life-size models of the Nativity in their gardens and those without garden space began to make smaller sets to display indoors. No one knows how many billion Nativities will be going on display in the world this Christmastide — and there are countless different versions from homemade sets to mass Indygo Photography produced ones, and they can be made from any material you can think of. A fascinating aspect of the Nativity set is that it as you travel around the world you find different characters and different animals included that reflect the culture of the country in which they are made.* Today, you can still visit the cave and rocks where the first Nativity was staged. It is now a Franciscan hermitage and sanctuary. Every year at Christmas, the people of Greccio stage a live, historical re-enactment of St Francis and the first Nativity scene. Pope Francis has visited the spot two times: in 2016 and then in 2019, when he signed an apostolic letter on the importance of Nativity scenes. *My collection of over 160 Nativity sets from around the world will be on display in St Mary's Church Twyford during the Twyford Christmas Fayre 6-9pm on Friday 1 December - editor
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The Parish Magazine December 2023

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