Predictably most of the children, I reckon about 80%, went for Father Christmas - knowing that the big guy dressed in red probably didn't make an appearance in the Bible story, whereas the other five probably have something to do with the 'real' meaning of Christmas.
But the correct answer is not Father Christmas. The correct answer is the manger.
Of these six images only the manger is mentioned in the Bible account of the Christmas story.
Surprising?
We then went on to talk about other surprises in the Christmas story.
Mary was a surprising choice for such an important role, a peasant girl in a small village.
The shepherds were a surprising choice as the first to hear about Jesus and the first to tell others. If you wanted a popular and reliable witness you certainly didn't ask a first century shepherd.
The 'wise men' - really they were astrologers and we don't know how many of them there were - were surprised. They turned up in the capital city at the palace looking for this new born king but found the young boy living about 5 miles away in poverty in a little house.
But the biggest surprise in the story? That it happened - that God came as a baby, to be born into poverty, to grow up and about thirty years later, to die - to demonstrate God's love for me. That's the biggest surprise in this story - that God loves us.
Feel free to stop reading at this point - that's a summary of the assembly - but if you're interested in knowing a bit more about the donkey or the stable then you might like to read on.
For some of us it might come as quite a surprise to find out that none of the other five are part of the original story. Father Christmas - obviously isn't.
Most of us probably know that 25th December isn't Jesus' actual birthday but instead was chosen as the 3rd/4th century church took over a pagan festival. Depending on what you read you get different details about when and which festival but many have links to the winter solstice, to light, marking the shortest day in the year and the 'rebirth' of the sun. Given John's comments about Jesus being the 'light of the world', and 'the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it' this would seem a good choice. We have no idea as to Jesus' actual birthday - but not many peasant boys did back then. [It is also true that no where in the New Testament are we told to celebrate Jesus' birth - whereas we are told to remember and commemorate his death - but that's a whole different post.]
So the donkey - surely there was a donkey. How did Mary get to Bethlehem if not on a 'Little donkey, little donkey'? She may have gone by donkey, she may have had to walk. But walking 70 miles at 9 months pregnant? (I'm guessing 70 miles on the back of a donkey wouldn't be much fun either.) But where does it say that Mary gave birth within hours of arriving in Bethlehem, following a desperate search for somewhere to stay? They could have been there for weeks before Jesus was born. But there is no mention of a donkey.
But the stable and the inn keeper - surely they're a part of the story? Sorry - but not necessarily.
If you have a modern translation of Luke 2:7 you'll see that there was no 'guest room' available for Mary and Joseph - rather than older translations which talk of there being no place at the 'inn'. The word translated guest room/inn is only used in one other context in the New Testament - to talk about the guest room where Jesus ate the last supper with his disciples. When the good Samaritan takes the injured man to an inn - that's a different word altogether. So Mary and Joseph were probably staying with relatives, but because there was no other available space in the house they were staying in the part of the house where the animals were kept during the night - hence the reason for the manger. The animals would have been kept inside the house at night in order to keep them safe from harm.
But - there is a lot that we simply don't know about Jesus' birth - we are simply not told. And a lot that we think we do know comes from Christmas cards or Christmas Carols, rather than the New Testament.
But what we do know is that Jesus was born in order to save us from our sins. We know that God so loved the world that he sent Jesus. That's the real surprise of the story.
