Reverend Bill Sterritt of the Amicable Congregational Church in Tiverton created one of the best Rhode Island holiday traditions.

He recast the story of the first Christmas in modern times. Baby Jesus is a girl named Hope, Mary is a teenage runaway from Connecticut and Joseph is an undocumented worker named Jose.

There are life-sized statues of Sterritt’s modern-day nativity characters in front of the church on Main Road in Tiverton – about halfway between Fall River and Little Compton along one of the prettier country roads in Rhode Island.

RI Future first reported this story in 2012 and it made some people really angry. Sterritt wrote a short story to accompany Michael Higgins’ chainsaw sculptures and RI Future serialized it, posting one installment a day in December, 2012.

Here it is again – this year in its entirety – if you’d like to spend some time over the holidays reading a Rhode Islander’s take on if the first Christmas happened in today’s world.

• Chapter 1 – Jose Crosses the Border
• Chapter 2 – Jose’s Union Sympathies
• Chapter 3 – A Child Bearing a Child
• Chapter 4 – A Miraculous Pregnancy
• Chapter 5 – A Hospital Turns Them Away
• Chapter 6 – Jose and Maura, Out In the Cold
• Chapter 7 – A Baby Is Born
• Chapter 8 – A Man Named Gabe
• Chapter 9 – A Baby Named Hope
• Chapter 10 – David Eagle Wing
• Chapter 11 – A Child To Die For
• Chapter 12 – Anna on the Nightshift
• Chapter 13 – The Long Journey West
• Chapter 14 – ‘We Are Joined for a Purpose’
• Chapter 15 – We Are Close
• Chapter 16 – The Arrival

And some pictures I took in 2012 of Michael Higgins’ chainsaw sculptures:

Not only did she have three strangely dressed foreigners standing before her, their question was almost equally as absurd as their presence. To mollify them, the nurse said there had been several births that day. When these three strangers asked to see the babies, the nurse, at first, said it was impossible. But since they were persistent and she began to lose her fear of them, she told them they would have to wait until an orderly was free to accompany them.

After about an hour they were escorted up to the maternity ward. Standing in front of the plate glass window and staring into the room with the small, individual baby beds, the three visitors were somewhat taken aback. They had not expected to see the babies separated from their mothers. Disappointed they realized that the child they were looking for, the family in Isma’il’s vision, would not be found in the hospital.

Thanking the orderly and the nurse, Ani, Appar, and Isma’il left the hospital feeling frustrated and lost. They had not gone ten feet before a young woman, bundled against the cold, ran into Appar. Both were surprised and stopped. The woman started to apologize, when she saw who was standing in front of her. She stopped in mid-sentence and then continued, “Who are you? What do you want?”

Without really thinking about what he was saying, Appar answered the woman’s question. “My name is Appar. I am travelling with my friends. We have come a long way and are looking for a couple with a newborn baby.”

Harold escorted them to the door.

“I know you feel a sense of urgency, but I cannot speed up the visa approval process. Your visas will be ready in six weeks.” Pleased they would be able to travel to the United States, but disappointed about the wait, they left the embassy.

During the next six weeks they made their travel plans. Even though the visas would have been available around December 17, the first flight to Chicago that was not full left December 23. Ani‟s charts said, of all the possible dates, December 24 and December 25 were the best. This would make the timing very difficult, but they trusted in the spirit that had led them to this point and booked the flight. As it turned out, their visas were not ready until December 20.

They arrived at New Delhi‟s Indira Gandhi International Airport on the evening of December 22. They wanted everything in order, so they would not miss their 5:50 a.m. flight the following day. Their Air India flight was uneventful, and, after almost 10 hours in the air, they landed in London from there they continued on to Chicago. The plane was on time, landing at 2:30 p.m. – and it was still December 23.

Leaving the plane, they joined the long line waiting to go through immigration. When they got to the immigration agent, she scanned their passport and waited. After several minutes, the agent looked at them closely and said they would have to meet with the director.

There had been a snafu and their paperwork had not arrived, said the director, when the three were seated in his office. They would have to wait in the airport detention area until the letter arrived. Several officers from the airport security then ushered them away.

Isma‟il and Appar were placed together in a small cell with no windows and Ani was placed across the hall alone. It took all her meditative powers not to be overwhelmed by this situation. Being locked away like this brought back the horrors of her cruel 10-year confinement in the Chinese prisons in Tibet. Besides the person who brought them food and drinks, they saw no one the rest of the day.

The following morning they were escorted back to the director, who told them that the letter had arrived. But he still felt uneasy about their reason for traveling to the United States.

“Without a doubt we are joined together for a purpose,” said Ani. “I will study all my charts again. Perhaps with the information you have shared with me, I will be able to better understand what they are foretelling and what is expected of us. I have the feeling we should not waste any time. You two are surely very tired from your trip here. Get some rest. I will go back and study the charts.”

With that said all three stood up and left the tea room. Isma’il and Appar returned to the retreat center to rest. Ani headed to Library of Tibetan Works and Archives to consult the astrological and astronomical tables and charts. She wished she were back at the Tibetan Medical and Astrological Institute in Gangchen Kyishong, the center for the study of traditional Tibetan medicine. There would have been a greater depth of materials. She would just have to make do with what was here in McLeod Gunj.

The hours of study flew by. Ani had forgotten how much she had enjoyed her five years studying to become an astro-practitioner. Still this project was proving almost too difficult, even for Ani, who had a special talent for interpreting the signs. All her arranging and rearranging of numbers around stars and planets did nothing to lift the veil of secrecy. Just as she was about to give up, Ani remembered the new light she had seen in the northern sky recently. It had puzzled her, because she had never seen it before and because it stayed in a constant, stable position in relationship to the North Star.

Ani added this new object on the horizon to her calculations. Adjusting the charts accordingly, she began to read the results, and couldn’t believe what she saw. Bounding from her chair, quickly putting the charts and books back in their place, Ani left the library and ran as fast as she could back to Tushita Retreat Centre. Without even noticing that it was after midnight Ani began to pound on the guest room door. After what seemed like forever, Appar opened the door and Ani burst in.

“You won’t believe what I have found out!” she exclaimed. Standing and panting Ani looked into the bewildered faces of Isma’il and Appar.

This had not been a particularly busy night at Memorial Medical Center, but it seemed as if Anna Schaeffer had been on the go all night. She had just finished mopping up a patient’s blood and vomit around an emergency room bed and changed the sheets. Now Anna was hoping she could take a short break.

Getting used to the night shift had been a big adjustment. Originally she had agreed to take the shift because the fifty cents an hour higher pay looked very good. It also meant she could avoid paying for a baby sitter, since the children now slept through the night and a neighbor was willing to look in on them. Still, at $9 an hour she was having trouble making ends meet.

Just off the emergency room was a consultation room; a quiet spot where doctors and nurses could meet with a patient’s family. It was here that Anna sought a place to sit in the dark early morning hours. She had no more than sat down when she heard a gentle voice say, “Hello, Anna.” Anna stood and turned toward the voice. When she saw who it was her mouth dropped open in amazement. She was rendered speechless.

“There is no reason to be afraid, Anna. I see that you remember me.”

Remember? Anna thought to herself. How could I forget? After all it was Gabe who had come to her in her darkest hour. It had been Gabe who gave her the strength and determination to survive, to start a new life – to be reborn. His sudden appearance brought back a flood of painful memories. Anna fell back into her seat, the memories and emotions overwhelming her.

How awful it had been. Growing up Anna just assumed that it was a parent’s job to punish children for being bad. As a small child, Anna had been spanked for wetting her bed or slapped if her parents thought she was too loud. There was the time all her sheets, blankets and pillows were tossed out the window from their second story apartment into the pouring rain, because she had not made her bed. As she got older her father’s spankings became more like beatings.

When she was 14 and a freshman in high school, she met Jude, an 18-year-old senior. He had taken an interest in her, listening to her troubles, offering his support. Jude seemed to be the answer to her prayers and she latched on to him, blind to warning signs of trouble – too much alcohol and a quick temper. But she was in love and her father’s abuse had dulled her instincts.

Anna was 16 when she became pregnant. With her parents’ permission she and Jude got married. Shortly after their first child was born, Anna was pregnant again. With the pressure of having a wife and children, Jude’s quick temper picked up speed and he began to lash out at his wife and children. Anna was caught again. Where could she turn? Her parents were glad to have her gone and Jude’s family, she had since found out, had a history of abuse and didn’t understand Anna’s problem.

Several times Anna had gone to the local women’s shelter only to weaken and return to Jude. One evening Jude had been in an especially foul mood. He had come home drunk and began to beat the baby for crying. That is when Anna walked out of the apartment with both children never to return.

As she walked down the street, uncertain about where to go and feeling completely lost and alone, she was approached by a tall African-American man dressed in black. It had been Gabe. Gabe’s reassuring words, “Fear not,” and his gentle manner calmed her initial fear. It was Gabe who directed her to a good shelter. The shelter gave her great support, took care of the legal paper work for separation from her husband, and provided the initial counselling that she needed. Her counsellor encouraged her to move away and start life anew, which is how she had ended up in Springfield, took the training to be a Certified Nurse Assistant, and began working at Memorial six months ago.

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Editor’s note: Check back here tomorrow for the next installment in Rev. Bill Sterritt’s modern adaptation of the nativity story. RI Future is serializing Sterritt’s 26-page short story throughout the holiday season.  Here’s my post on the Amicable Congregational Church’s nativity story and scene.

• Chapter 1 – Jose Crosses the Border
  
• Chapter 2 – Jose’s Union Sympathies
• Chapter 3 – A Child Bearing a Child
• Chapter 4 – A Miraculous Pregnancy
• Chapter 5 – A Hospital Turns Them Away
• Chapter 6 – Jose and Maura, Out In the Cold
• Chapter 7 – A Baby Is Born
• Chapter 8 – A Man Named Gabe
• Chapter 9 – A Baby Named Hope
• Chapter 10 – David Eagle Wing
• Chapter 11 – A Child To Die For

The hair on the back of David Eagle Wing’s neck rose, causing him to pause and look around. There was something about this night that seemed different, but he couldn’t say why.

It wasn’t the fact that he was working in Walgreens in the middle of the night. He had gotten used to living life under the glare of florescent lighting. Strange as it sounded working the night shift was not as bad as one might imagine. David had always chaffed under the watchful eye of management and there was a certain amount of independence working through the night. There was enough to do, but he could decide when to do what. Occasionally, in the middle of the night, a customer would come in needing assistance, but otherwise he could set his own pace without someone always standing over him.

After allowing time for his few words to sink in, the stranger continued. “My name is Gabe. I saw the birth and thought company might be welcome at a time like this. By the way, congratulations.” Gabe knew the fear he was facing. He had been judged too often by the color of his skin and not by his intentions. So he remained where he was and waited for a response.

Jose was upset by this unexpected visit. He had forgotten how public Hope’s birth had been and still he was incensed that someone would invade his privacy. He stood up and in a low, menacing, but fear-filled voice Jose asked, “Who are you? What do you want from us? We have no money. There is nothing that we have that you would want. Go away and leave us alone.”

As they gazed at Hope, their daughter, Maura and Jose’s feeling of calm and assurance was dispelled as a shadow passed over them. The unexpected shadow brought their attention back to the present. Simultaneously their faces turned and looked up. Standing in front of them, both in the light and crowned by it, was the imposing figure of a man.

Before them stood an African-American man, easily six feet tall, wearing a long leather trench coat. On his head was a black knit hat, covering most of his forehead. At first glance there seemed to be a hardness to his face. Maybe it was the small scar on his right cheek, barely noticeable, but a little bit pink in the cold. He wore black leather gloves. His right hand was raised breast high with palm open, thumb bent. His coat was slightly open, so they could see that he wore a black turtle neck sweater. Around the neck of the sweater was a large, gold chain with a gold cross attached. His black cuffed dress slacks and black shoes were noticeable as they extended below the hem of his coat.

Jose’s instantaneous thought was defense. He was sure that no one big and black, standing in front of him in the middle of the night, could be up to any good. Jose had seen enough turf battles in his day to be leery of strangers. Jose’s was an automatic distrust built up over the years, fed more by rumor and stories, than by personal experience. Ever since his arrival in the States he had been warned by other Mexicans to avoid the unpredictable and often violent African-Americans. With fear running through his body, Jose began to stand, preparing to put himself between the stranger and Maura.

Maura had had few encounters with African-Americans, having grown up in a fairly wealthy area of Connecticut. For the most part those people could not afford to live in her town. Even if they could afford to live there financially, most African-Americans felt out of place, and unwanted, in such communities. So Maura’s initial reaction, upon seeing him, was to instinctively draw Hope closer to herself, attempting to protect her.

Before they could speak they heard the man, with his hand still raised, say, “Fear not.”

Jose heard the two words and almost allowed himself a sneer. Fear not? he questioned to himself. I find myself in a run-down part of Springfield, Illinois, and a stranger, a black man, tells me not to be afraid. Being afraid is what has kept me alive. Simply being approached by you, a stranger, is reason enough to be fearful.

Maura was confused by his words. But, as she studied him a bit more, she saw a kindness in his eyes that she had not expected. His words had sounded almost like a command, yet there resonated more in the baritone voice than just command. There was a kindness and a gentleness to be heard. There was also an air of confidence about him. Perhaps it was how he stood before them – so certain, so calm.

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Editor’s note: Check back here tomorrow for the next installment in Rev. Bill Sterritt’s modern adaptation of the nativity story. RI Future is serializing Sterritt’s 26-page short story throughout the holiday season.  Here’s my post on the Amicable Congregational Church’s nativity story and scene.

• Chapter 1 – Jose Crosses the Border
  
• Chapter 2 – Jose’s Union Sympathies
• Chapter 3 – A Child Bearing a Child
• Chapter 4 – A Miraculous Pregnancy
• Chapter 5 – A Hospital Turns Them Away
• Chapter 6 – Jose and Maura, Out In the Cold
• Chapter 7 – A Baby Is Born