Mary the Man

Last night we went to a thing called "Living Bethlehem" at Aldersgate United Methodist Church. This is a pretty cool thing (pretty cool being a great rating from me!). Costumed characters lead you through the story of Jesus' birth from the announcement of the angels to the stable scene. Excitement mounts as your host leads you through Bethlehem to meet the locals who have all heard rumors of a baby - who will get rid of the terrible Romans - who, by the way, must be greeted with, "Hail Caesar" if they walk by lest they throw you in jail.

I do most sincerely apologize to the teenage centurion who I embarassed when he said,
"Welcome to Jerusalem!" and I blurted out,
"Jerusalem?" I did not mean to embarass you - I thought perhaps this journey was going to be longer than anticipated and was trying to understand. Your reply of,
"Oh wherever we are," helped me to geographically locate myself.

There were a few snaffoos in terms of historical accuracy and drachma are the currency of Greece but the best part came at the end. As we rounded the final corner to pet all the animals there was glimpse of the nativity scene. There, all dressed in blue, the traditional color for Mary, was a man - in Mary garb - staring serenely at a baby in a manger. Hmmm....I thought....that's a challenge - but why not, why not have a man playing Mary? I mused on this a while and watched out of the corner of my eye to make sure my kids did not stand behind any animals which could kick them..

Surely that would offend people I thought... but how brave. Then I noticed in the corner of the stable was another person - a woman dressed in green - aha I thought, there she is. But I was kind of dissappointed too - it suddenly became all too ordinary. I felt a pout coming on - instead of keeping it to myself - and because it was too good not to share - I whispered to my husband that usually Mary is blue - this was a mistake because he started laughing and could not stop.

But why not - I am not asking this to poke fun at something which was a great offering to the community and an expression of the real meaning of Christmas which is readily accessible to folks around here. Of course - I come away with a bizarre question about casting Mary as a man - but it is a good question - why not? Or is that just a stupid question? It was an honest mistake when I thought that is what they had done (Zechariah was a woman - so I was not so far in left field).......why not?