A few months after I was married, my husband and I joined other members of my family to clean my great-aunt’s home. A widow without children, she had traveled the world and collected many treasures. Her death had left all of us with tender feelings. We divided her valuables and began the overwhelming task of sorting through everything left.
I was assigned to clean a basement crawl space. In a dark, dirty corner, I found a shoebox containing an old Nativity scene. Each figurine was covered in dust. Nevertheless, as I was preparing to celebrate my first Christmas with my new husband, I put the box in our car.
That night I placed the Nativity on a homemade bookshelf in our basement apartment. The next morning I accidentally knocked the shepherd on the floor. Its leg broke on impact. Without much thought, my husband glued it back on.
We didn’t think much more about the Nativity until my mother visited a few days later.
“Where did you get a Hummel Nativity?” she exclaimed.
I picked up a wise man, holding it upside down so you could see the insignia on the bottom.
“It’s not Hummel,” I said. “It says ‘Goebel.’”
Patiently pushing all the figures in the set away from the edge of the bookshelf, my mother said, “Do you know what you have?”
I soon learned that Goebel represented the W. Goebel Porzellanfabrik renowned porcelain company in Rödental, Germany. It manufactures figurines made from drawings by artist Berta Hummel.
Because of its creator, my Nativity had significant value.
My mother recognized what I had missed.
I thought about my Nativity this week, as my family attended the Church’s production “Savior of the World” in the Conference Center Theater.
“Savior of the World” is a two-hour musical based on events surrounding the birth and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
This was my family’s first experience with the production, its beautiful music, dedicated cast and powerful message.
Before attending the production, my family had spent the day shopping and decorating for the season. I had addressed Christmas cards and wrapped presents.
Not once, however, did I think about the Savior’s life, ministry and Resurrection.
Yet as I watched the production — the angel Gabriel’s appearance to Zacharias, Elisabeth’s joy to bear a son, and of Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem — I pondered the Christmas miracle.
My favorite scene of the production was the angelic visit to shepherds, announcing the birth of the Savior, and the shepherds’ quick response to see the baby.
I thought of my great-aunt’s Nativity — including the lack of care I gave it when I brought it home — and of my mother’s question.
“Do you know what you have?”
Just as many years ago I had failed to understand the value of a precious Nativity or its creator, I had begun this Christmas season without pondering and expressing gratitude for the Beloved Son that Nativity celebrated and the Creator, the Savior of the world.
Sacred music and a committed cast changed that for me.
Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles attended the “Savior of the World” production with his family.
After the event, he talked to the cast, reminding them that their performance sent an important message: “I believe in Jesus Christ, and I follow Him.”
Then Elder Andersen shared his own testimony. “He is who we claim Him to be — the Savior and Redeemer of all.”
He promised the cast that the spirit felt during the production would “continue and expand” and that the faith of many would be “enriched, enlarged, solidified and blessed.”
After the first Christmas with our Goebel Nativity, my husband brought home our first piece of store-bought furniture — a curio cabinet. We placed the Nativity inside. With an understanding of what it was and who made it, we treated it differently. We took great steps to protect it.
We display it year-round.
It is not so different from our own knowledge of the Savior and the miracle of His birth, life and Resurrection.
This knowledge has the greatest meaning at Christmas — when as members of the Lord’s true Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we can each answer a most important question: “Do you know what you have?”
In speaking to the cast of “Savior of the World,” Elder Andersen explained why it matters.
Paraphrasing Matthew 10:32, Elder Andersen said, “The Savior said that he or she who would confess His name before men, He (the Savior) would confess them before the Father.
“Tonight you have beautifully confessed His name and He will remember yours.”
— Sarah Jane Weaver is editor of the Church News.
