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! ! ! ! ! Pictures by Mark Westbrook ! ! Story by Margaret Bevis
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Caesar reckons it’s high time he knew just how many folks there are in his empire.
! ! ! !He insists that !everybody treks !back to their home towns to ! be counted. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
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Joseph and his fiancĂŠe, Mary, set off from Nazareth, heading south 130 kilometres to Bethlehem. She is pregnant and the baby is due any minute now"!
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They make it to Bethlehem – just- but it’s no picnic. Mary’s in labour and all the hotels and B&Bs are full. !
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A nice guy who runs a pub-withrooms, takes pity on them. He does not have any spare space inside but sets them up in the shed with the animals.
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With no hospital and no midwife around, Joseph has to deliver the baby himselfit’s a boy. Mary wraps him in some scraps of material and improvises with the animal’s feeding trough to make a cot.
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! It’s late, dark and cold. The sheep ! on the hills around Bethlehem have ! a good team to look after them but ! right now these ‘shepherds’ are all ! huddled round a fire with mugs of ! tea – and about to get an outsize ! surprise.
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Joseph has got used to the idea that their baby, Jesus, is very special and that he, Joseph, is not the baby’s Father but that Jesus is God’s son and that God is able to send his angels to talk to him. Not so the shepherds – well not yet anyway.
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Forget the mugs of tea! Loads of singing angels arrive to tell the shepherds about this amazing new baby. !
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The sheep team are knocked out by the laser show but can’t resist going to look for themselves.
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Sure enough they find the baby in a feeding-trough-cot……and all the talk in the pub is about the “Liberator”.
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A! week or so later Joseph and Mary go ! to sort out their registration in Caesar’s big count. They meet a ! really old guy – Simeon. ! !
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Simeon is gobsmacked,! he reckons ! God had ! promised ! him! that he ! would meet the ! liberator ! before ! he ! died.
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! ! ! ! Simeon tells Mary that this baby is ! really going to make a difference ! and stir people up.
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A group of astrologers from the Far East turn up in Jerusalem, at Herod’s palace. They ask him about the new king.
! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Herod, not amused, asks ‘what new king?’ ! His Private Secretary shows him that 700 ! years ago some geezer called Micah fore! cast that it might be small but ! Bethlehem was where the ruler of Israel ! would be born. !
! ! ! ! Herod ! panics. ! But he’s ! not ! totally ! stupid. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
He pretends to his visitors that he is keen to respect the baby and asks them to let him know how to find him when they come back.
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The astrologers head off to Bethlehem. They are used to tracking stars so follow this very bright one to exactly the right place. ! !
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Excitement isn’t in it. They are just blown away when they see the baby in his mum’s arms.
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Once they get over the shock they give him expensive presents - gold, incense and myrrh (a sort of perfume).
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That night one of them dreams. God is in the dream and tells them they must steer clear of Herod – he’s up to no good.
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The astrologers go out of their way to avoid Jerusalem on the way back home. !
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Joseph dreams too. In his dream an angel warns him about Herod’s nasty plans. Herod wants to kill the baby Jesus.
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The angel’s instructions to them are very much to the point. “Go to Egypt and stay there until you get the allclear.” !
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In the morning Joseph, Mary and the baby Jesus leave quick-smart – no time for Corn Flakes. They stay in Egypt until Herod dies.
! ! ! #It’s a Boy” is dedicated to
Rob Lacey; his “Word on the Street” inspired the story.
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© Illustrations 2006 Mark Westbrook © Text 2006 Margaret Bevis Not to be reproduced for commercial gain
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BLOOMSBURY CENTRAL BAPTIST CHURCH 235 Shaftesbury Avenue, London WC2H 8EP
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!+44 (0) 20 7240 0544
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