Milford chronicle., 1956-12-21
" iLmingtOn Manor
Church To Present
Christmas Drama
CONTINUED from firgt pagel

4
Bethlehem Road is as far away
as Judean Hills but as near as
New Castle, Delaware.
While the scribe, The Rev
Brooks E. Reynolds, Minister,
reads the familiar Nativity story,
two different interpretations of it
are given, one by the Prophet of
Doom, The Rev. Ralph Hall Coils,
/ Minister of Christian Education,
and the other by the Prophet of
Hope, The Rev. Sidney B. Bradley,
Associate Minister, the former calls
| the story a beautiful dream of long
ago and asks the latter to show him
any evidence of that Peace on
Earth promised at the birth of the
/ Christ Child. Like jeremiah of old
/ the Prophet of Doom forsees only
dark night of universal destruc-
ton. Because ye have put faith in
nuclear bombs rather than in the
words of the Lord, Fire shall fall
on you from heaven"
The Prophet of Hope calls on the
| Watchman in his tower for sign
| in the earth's dark night. The
Watchman breaks into song as he
| glimpses the rising of star, as
cending higher and higher. destined
to shine at last over all the earth.
The Prophet of Hope then pro-
claims a pilgrimage beginning with
that 75-mile Journey which Mary
and Joseph made from Nazareth to
the City of David. The Bethlehem
of long ago becomes here and now
as we watch while "All the world
goes to be enrolled" Past the booth
of the census taker come Roman
soldiers, priests, Jewish nobility,
peasants, village girls carrying wa
ter from the well, beggars, even a
leper croGching by the wall, all
the high ana mighty gain admit
tance to The Inn but when the
humble carpenter Joseph arrives
with his wife, Mary, and little
gray burro, there is no place for
them but the stable even at his
birth despised and rejected of men"
comments the Prophet of Doom.
But he is answered at once by the
Prophet of Hope, "Lo how the very
gates of heaven open at his COM
ing"
Whereupon the scene shifts to
the nearby fields where shepherds
watch their fiocks by night. Glory
music announces the coming of the
Angelic Host.
After they have left, the Prophet
of Doom throws out another chal-
lenge to his fellow Prophet. after
1000 years, I still behold War, not
Peace-on earth, l hear not the
whirl of angel wings but of jet
bomber wings"
The Prophet of Hope replies that
thousand years are as day in
the eternity of God and declared
that now as then there are Wise
Men with whom God shares his
mysteries.
Over the crest of the hill, the
slow progress of a camel that ship
of the desert, announces the COM
ing of the Magi, those men of mys-
terry whose home was somewhere
| in the East The Bible does not say
how many there were. Legendary
lore makes them three, names. them
Gaspar, Melchoir and Balthasor,
and attaches symbolism to their
gifts of gold, frankincense, and
myrrh. OF especial significance to
Wilmington M amor Methodist
Church is the fact that the Wise
Man who carries a Golden Treasure
chest will bear the free-will offer
ing of the evening given by those
who will watch and by those who
will participate in the pageant.
The Wise Men are joined at the
manger not only by the shepherds
but by pilgrims of today from diff
ferent countries, races, and even
different creeds. The journey of the
past continues not only in the pres
ent but in the future, as the feet OF
little children start travelling the
Bethlehem Road. 1t is envisioned
at last as that City of Universal
Peace toward which all the world
must go to be enrolled.
wherever you shall see mer
kneel, Before the Prince oi
Peace, There you shall find the
child newborn, Within the man
ger of mems hearts"