37 KINGS AND A BUDGERIGAR:
Advent reflections inspired by nativity sets from
around the world
By Richard Littledale
Authentic. 95 pages. £7.99.
ISBN 978 1 788 931 588
37 Kings and a Budgerigar is surely designed for those of us who still laugh at Love Actually’s deadpan ‘Duh’ in response to the important question: ‘There was more than one lobster present at the birth of Jesus?’
Fear not, Richard Curtis – there exists a nativity set which proudly includes a budgerigar. And it – along with 50 others – is used in 37 Kings and a Budgerigar by Richard Littledale for an unusual walk through the Christmas story.
Each devotion begins with a photo of a nativity set and a story about it. After this, there’s a reading, followed by a reflection and a prayer. There’s a sense of the reader being invited into Richard’s home to view his collection, and as such, 37 Kings seems designed for 2020 – it is beautifully gentle.
A little unsettled
There are parts which gave me pause. For instance, while I completely agree that we mustn’t create God in our own image, I’m unsettled by the comment that Jesus ‘is never our Jesus in the sense that He belongs to us’ (p.21) – it is a sizeable jump from the first to the second, and what do we do with Paul’s reference to ‘Christ Jesus my Lord’ in Philippians 3:8?
Similarly, I struggled with Richard’s depiction of what happened on Good Friday. Of course, even Calvary couldn’t stop God being Trinity (which is perhaps what Richard means when he says ‘Far from abandoning Jesus…’, p.81) but that’s different from recasting Jesus’ forsakenness as the Father ‘holding onto Him throughout it.’
Even with those caveats, I’d definitely recommend 37 Kings. Its approach is wonderful for anyone who tastes Christmas through a wave of over-familiarity. It’s the same story – but you approach from a different direction. You approach through the ship-in-a-bottle set, and its reminder that Jesus is ‘God’s best message’ (p.40). You approach through nativity sets from around the world, and a visual demonstration of the global importance of Christmas. And you approach through the set without faces, and the haunting question (p.11): ‘If you had been there… what might have been seen on your face?’
