The Case of the Missing Baby

Special Installment: Christmas Eve

Editor Timothy Merrill ordered a hand-carved nativity scene. But something was missing. Actually, Someone was missing.

It’s very difficult to get through the Advent season without seeing a nativity scene. We no longer see these on the courthouse lawn, but we’re likely to see such scenes in shopping malls, in the homes of our friends or on the lawns of our neighbors. (If a nativity scene has been constructed or placed on display in the church you serve, you can mention it here

Such scenes can be found all over the world. Some nativity scenes are huge. Others are small enough to fit on the mantel in the living room. The figures in these Christmas crèches might be made from olive wood, alabaster, banana leaves, soapstone, marble, cedar, terra cotta or driftwood. These sets are found in the Philippines, Mexico, Kenya, Ecuador, Vietnam and elsewhere.

Sometimes, nativity scenes go missing. Just last year, a councilwoman in Pittsburgh discovered that a personal nativity scene, a family heirloom, had gone missing after she placed it under the City Council Christmas tree. It was a...