4th Wiseman

Every Christmas, I ask myself, if I had been a student of the stars, would I have believed the new star in the sky announced the birth of a king?

George Donaldson - wise beyond years

Scott Crain asks the same question in Chasing Starlight. In this creative Christmas monologue, Crain examines the 4th Wiseman, an astrologer who made the fateful decision to stay home rather accompany his colleagues to investigate the brilliant light.

I love getting ready for our church's annual Christmas Eve service. First, I find a wiseman-looking fellow to perform the monologue. I rehearse him until he wants to shoot me. I insist he dig deeper into the motivation for the 4th Wiseman's fateful decision with every minute spent on the boards. Then I add the music that will underscore the piece. But I do not actually have a 4th Wiseman character until I break out the wiseman costume. Once I put the actor in the wiseman costume I can SEE characterization truly developed.

Something about the luxurious fabrics, sparkly sequins, and the turbaned hat transforms the actor into the 4th Wiseman.

God did the same thing for us.

He gave us a great script (His Word) and sent a cloud of witnesses to rehearse the benefits of his involvement in our lives. But it was not until the Incarnate donned the costume of humanity and became flesh that we could SEE our Creator's true character.

Lord, help me to continually don the character of Christ that the world may see you.