On Old Pecos Trail, a living Nativity scene

Dennis J. Carroll | For The New Mexican

12/19/2008 - 12/20/08

It was a scene taken directly from St. Luke's account of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.

There were hosts of angels in the heavens (well, two anyway), shepherds tending their flocks on a cold winter's night, and Mary and Joseph in a lowly stable hovering lovingly over the Christ child wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manager.

Then there was the gray donkey that kept nibbling away at the back of one of the three wise men's robes.

St. Luke may not have mentioned that part, but it didn't really matter Friday evening to the participants and the hundreds of people who turned out at the First Baptist Church on Old Pecos Trail to view the congregation's living Nativity scene.

"I actually felt like Mary when I was out there," said Dawn Keen, one of two young members of the congregation who were tapped to play the mother of Jesus. "I considered it an honor."

The 30 or so shepherds and wise men, plus Mary and Joseph, took turns working in 30-minute shifts at the three scenes erected on the sprawling church lawn. During their breaks, the actors scurried back through the cold into the church to eat pizza and drink sodas while Bernette Jarvis adjusted their crowns and cloaks.

The manger scene consisted of three kneeling shepherds, the wise men, Mary, Joseph and the Christ child (a doll), three sheep, a horse, a goat and the donkey.

In another scene down a path lit by dozens of farolitos, five shepherds watched over five more sheep, and in the third scene, two camels — Missy and Tucson — brought up from Albuquerque, chomped away on hay, waiting for the wise men to return. Apparently one of the three wise men was going to have to walk home, another deviation from Biblical accounts.

It was the first time in the nearly 20 years of the event that camels were part of the scene.

"It's our gift to Santa Fe," Pastor Lee Herring said of the three scenes, which lit up much of Old Pecos Trail north of St. Michael's Drive.

Herring said the live re-enactment was an important way "to remind the Santa Fe community that (the birth of Jesus) is the reason we celebrate Christmas."

For many, the church's event is a yearly night out for the family.

Larry and Maya Mirabal said they have shown up every year since they started dating 18 years ago. "My mom used to bring me here when I was in pre-school," Larry Mirabal said.

"To see real people is really a reminder of why we celebrate Christmas," said Maya Mirabal. "It makes it seem more real."

Beside the usual cast of shepherds, wise men from afar and the hosts of angels, there were a bunch of musicians and singers entertaining in the church auditorium, where visitors could munch on assorted cakes and cookies and drink coffee or hot apple cider.

And for New Testament purists, it should be noted that though this Mary and Joseph are not married, they are engaged. Joseph (Steve Gurule) said he and Mary (Keen) plan to wed "sometime in January."

The living Nativity will be staged again from 6 to 8:30 tonight at the church, 1605 Old Pecos Trail.

Dennis Carroll can be reached at dcarroll@sfnewmexican, or 986-3091.