Learning From the Herdmans
Three Lessons From “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever”
“The Herdmans are absolutely the worst kids in the history of the world.”
That’s the opening line from The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, a new movie sure to be a Christmas season favorite for years to come.
It’s a funny, entertaining movie that features the Herdmans, a family of six unruly children whose parents are never around. The family’s ringleader is the oldest child Imogene, a tough, brash, 12-year-old girl who smokes cigars.
The chaos begins when she and her siblings unexpectedly appear at church one Sunday for free snacks but end up hijacking the leading roles in the Christmas program.
It’s a movie that sneaks up on you and touches your heart, especially near the end.
Three Terrific Lessons
Upon watching the movie again last week, three lessons drew my attention as we enter 2025.
Seeking God
Set in a small Midwestern town in the 1970s/1980s, the movie had me longing for a time I was lucky enough to grow up in. It was an era before smartphones, the Internet, and video games. Families ate supper together with food prepared by a stay-at-home mom. The only way someone from the outside could disrupt a family’s inner sanctum at night was through a phone call to your landline or a knock on your front door.
In a scene reminiscent of that era, Imogene leads her younger brothers and sisters to the library for the first time in their lives, on a quest to find out more about the Christmas story. Imogene barks instructions to her rowdy siblings around a big table while they all page through a stack of books. Imogene commandeers a girl outside their family, the story’s narrator, to help them use the card catalog in their Internet-less search.
As the narrator girl says, “I’d had plenty of homework assignments where I had to go to the library, but I don’t think I was ever as interested in anything as Imogene was in the Christmas story.”
May we all show such enthusiasm and be as curious as Imogene, especially about God and Jesus and how He wants us to live.
Deep Giving
During rehearsals, the Herdmans badger the first-time pageant director, the narrator girl’s mom, with probing questions about the Christmas story. The Herdmans lashed out in outrage when they heard the wise men merely brought “cheap oils and perfume” (frankincense and myrrh) for baby Jesus.
This fury leads to the Herdmans improvising a different gift from the wise men during the pageant, a present that was much more meaningful to them.
Their thoughtful gift put a lump in my throat and made me reflect on my giving to God and Jesus.
What do I give that comes close to the sacrifice made by the Herdmans? A family of kids from a home in disarray? A group of kids growing up with far fewer blessings than I have enjoyed?
Learning From Everyone
Assume that the person you are listening to might know something you don’t.
Jordan Peterson (Rule #9, 12 Rules of Life)
At the start of the movie, the townspeople rejoiced that the Herdmans didn’t belong to the church, that it was their one sanctuary from their misconduct. When Imogene and the gang seized control of the Christmas pageant, the people immediately plotted to kick the family out of the play and the church altogether.
But as the pageant director reminded her daughter, “The whole point of the story is that Jesus was born for the Herdmans as much as he was for us.”
The Herdmans lied. They stole. They beat up little kids. They took the Lord’s name in vain. They did one horrible thing after another.
The troublesome family did many things that one should never imitate.
But in the end, the townspeople acknowledged that having the Herdmans in the pageant was a blessing, that the wild bunch warmed their hearts and brought them an understanding of the Christmas story that had previously eluded them.
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Image credit: Alamy
Sharing Midwestern values through the stories of a hard-working single dad, all for the glory of God.