Our Future Nativity

It’s the festive season and with it comes the familiar rhythm of Christmas in schools - decorations going up, songs being practised and children counting down the days to the holidays. In the middle of all this activity, it’s easy to move through Christmas on autopilot. Yet this season offers a chance to pause and look back at where many of these traditions began and why they matter. Few traditions capture the heart of Christmas quite like the nativity.

The nativity tells the story of the birth of Jesus Christ, the very reason Christmas exists at all. Long before Christmas became associated with shopping lists, parties or festive themes, it was centred on this story. The values we now loosely associate with Christmas - kindness, generosity, peace and goodwill - all flow directly from the nativity narrative. When the story is removed, the values remain, but their meaning becomes thinner. Christmas begins to feel pleasant, but vague.

What many people don’t realise is that the nativity as we know it today did not come straight from the Bible in its familiar form. While the birth of Jesus is recorded in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, the idea of gathering all the characters into one scene came much later. The first recorded nativity scene was created in 1223 by St Francis of Assisi. He wanted ordinary people, many of whom could not read, to understand and connect with the story of Jesus’ birth. By recreating it visually, using real people and animals, the story became something they could see and feel rather than simply hear about.

This is important!

The nativity was never meant to be a performance for performance’s sake. It was created as a teaching tool. It was meant to make the Gospel accessible, especially to children and those without formal education. From the beginning, the nativity was about learning through seeing. That same principle is exactly why the nativity still works so well in schools today. Children are visual learners. They learn through stories, pictures, movement and imitation. Asking a child to understand abstract ideas about faith, humility or love through explanation alone is difficult. Showing them those ideas through a story they can step into is far more powerful.

The central message of the nativity is simple, yet deeply profound: God entered the world as a vulnerable child. This is not an easy concept to explain, even to adults. Yet when children see a baby placed in a manger, surrounded by simple surroundings and ordinary people, the message makes sense at a level deeper than words. They may not be able to articulate theology, but they understand gentleness, care and humility when they see it acted out. A nativity play allows children to do more than listen. They become part of the story. They sing it, move within it and take on its characters. In doing so, the Gospel becomes something lived rather than something distant. This kind of learning stays with children. Long after lines are forgotten, the images remain. Many adults can still picture their childhood nativity scenes clearly, even decades later.

The nativity also quietly teaches values that are increasingly rare. It presents a very different idea of what matters. In the nativity story, importance is not linked to wealth, power or status. Jesus is not born in a palace. The first visitors are not influential figures, but shepherds, ordinary people doing ordinary work. This challenges the idea that worth must be earned or displayed.

In the context of a school play, this message is reinforced in a practical way. Every child has a role. Some speak, some sing, some stand quietly, but all are needed. The story cannot be told without them. This reflects the heart of the nativity itself: that everyone matters and everyone belongs. For families, nativity plays often become meaningful moments in an otherwise busy season. They offer a pause, a reminder of what Christmas is really about. Even for those who do not actively practise the Christian faith, the nativity provides context. It explains why Christmas exists in the first place, rather than presenting it as a collection of disconnected traditions.

In recent years, many Christmas activities have shifted towards more general seasonal themes. While these can be enjoyable, there is a risk that Christmas becomes detached from its meaning altogether. Without the nativity, celebrations can feel cheerful but empty. The nativity gives Christmas its centre. It provides a story that holds everything else together. Keeping the nativity at the heart of Christmas activities does not limit creativity or joy. If anything, it deepens them. Songs, performances and celebrations carry more weight when they point back to a clear and meaningful story. Without that anchor, Christmas risks becoming sentimental rather than significant.

The nativity has lasted for centuries not by accident, but because it continues to serve a purpose. It teaches the Gospel visually, reaches children in a way words alone cannot and passes on meaning from one generation to the next. It does not just explain where Christmas came from...it shows why it matters!

As the festive season unfolds, the nativity deserves to remain more than a background tradition. It is a living story, created to be seen, shared and understood. In keeping it central, schools preserve not just a familiar play, but the very heart of Christmas itself.