I think I was eight years old the first time I got to be in a Christmas pageant. I played the part of a shepherd at our church during the Christmas Eve service that year. I didn't have any lines, but I remember that I had to kneel on one knee for a very long time.  The whole chancel area of our sanctuary had been transformed into a living nativity scene. There in the center was the manger, with Mary and Joseph on either side. Then we, the shepherds, came up along on one side. Next, the three gift-bearing wise men came up on the other side. And then, on a kind of balcony overlooking the whole scene, there were sopranos from the church choir appearing as singing angels in the skies overhead. 

It was very exciting for me, as a child, to be part of that scene, for it was such a familiar and c…