Mary and Joseph were headed for Bethlehem when the donkey hauling the Virgin spooked, bucked her and bolted. Joseph frantically jumped on the donkey’s hind end but fell off and got caught in the reins. The creature kept going, dragging Joseph behind for several hundred feet before it finally settled down.<\/p>\n
That mishap, of course, doesn’t appear in the Bible. It’s from a so-called living nativity scene that was performed here two years ago at the Fellowship Baptist Church.<\/p>\n
These Christmas season spectacles, in which human volunteers and farm animals are recruited to stand in for Mary, Joseph and the rest of the cr\u00c3\u00a8che-come-to-life, are growing in popularity. They’re drawing big crowds, especially children, who are sometimes allowed to pet the barn animals and take a peek at the swaddled infant starring as Baby Jesus. But the realism has ushered in some less-than-joyous moments like the one at Fellowship Baptist.<\/p>\n
“We don’t have that scene anymore,” says Pastor Andy Wallin of this church near Philadelphia, which now uses a tape recording to narrate how Mary and Joseph arrived at their destination. “We gave up on trying to tame the donkey.”<\/p>\n