Simple Shepherds' Christmas Stories

By Jean W. Yeager

CHRISTMAS SHEPHERDS stories – These are “shepherdly-simple” retellings of old stories along the lines of the “Uberufer Shepherd's Plays”, a cycle of religious plays which have been in continuous production since the 16th or 17th Century.

I came across these plays when my kids were in Waldorf schools. These plays have been traditionally performed at Waldorf / Steiner schools around the world. In addition, I have had the occasion to act in productions of these plays for many years. When my kids graduated, I lost contact with the productions.

So, in an effort to re-kindle the Christmas stories in an old, culturally simplistic form, I have written them as a part of the annual cycle of my blog at www.threesimplequestions.blogspot.com and now they are available in book form.

Part 1 - The Shepherds make their way to Bethlehem to sell their sheep to pay for taxes. They pass the time complaining about taxes, drinking wine and dancing to stay warm. An Angel appears and send them to Bethlehem to find a child.

Part 2 - A surly Innkeeper sends the Shepherds off with a kick and a curse and puts Mary and Joseph in his stable. He takes in only people with “money in purse.”

Part 3 – The Stable, Mary and Joseph. Joseph worries about the taxing day. A Child of Light is born in the darkness.

Part 4 - the Conclusion of this shepherdly-crude retelling of the Christmas story. The Shepherds are visited by the Angel and go to the Stable. They give their gifts to The Child and wonder why He is born in such a poor place.

Innocence Slain By Power – The Three Magi and King Herod.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jean W. Yeager
• Release date: Dec 9, 2023
• ISBN: 9798892989190

Jean W. Yeager

Jean W. Yeager- PERSONAL BIO A profile in our local newspaper;RUTLAND HERALD, March 2016 by Joanna Tebbs-Younghttps://www.rutlandherald.com/news/yeager-asking-not-so-simple-questions/article_2b9350e2-54dc-5c4d-971d-7d4eafdbc4fd.html“Jean Yeager is a deep thinking, dry-humored, spiritually-minded, and fabulously uniquewriter. His subject choices are often unusual and his metaphors are always creative. He makes connections between things many would never think of (for example, I recall in one writing session he wrote about a ‘gravel pit wound”’.”“But best of all, he’s an incredibly likable man....”“Yeager, born and raised in Texas, began writing as a teenager. He eventually got into advertising for major corporations, including McDonalds, 7-Eleven, and Coca-Cola, for which he won awards. He even wrote a film for then President Ronald Reagan.”“In his mid-forties, he left the advertising business and became a consultant of socially- progressive nonprofits. He and his wife moved to Rutland in 2008 after retiring from his job as Executive Director of a nonprofit in Ann Arbor, Michigan.My wife Marietta and I are practicing Quakers and are very active the Rutland, VT community restorative justice work. I conduct adult education courses classes in Rudolf Steiner’s Six Subsidiary Exercise and an Introduction to Biography class in my local jail.

Book preview

SIMPLE SHEPHERDS’

CHRISTMAS STORIES

––––––––

By Jean W. Yeager

(C) 2023 Jean W. Yeager

These chapters appear as annual seasonal posts on

Th3 Simple Questions bLog

Threesimplequestions.blogspot.com

LUCKY PHONE CALL PUBLISHING

38 Kendall Ave.

Rutland, VT 05701

[e-mail]

ISBN: 978-1-736-7881-0-3

SIMPLE SHEPHERDS’

CHRISTMAS STORIES

CHRISTMAS SHEPHERDS’ stories – These are shepherdly-simple retellings of old stories along the lines of the Uberufer Shepherd's Plays, a cycle of religious plays which have been in continuous production since the 16th or 17th Century.

I came across these plays when my kids were in Waldorf schools. These plays have been traditionally performed at Waldorf / Steiner schools around the world.  I have had the occasion to act in productions of these plays. When my kids graduated, I lost contact with the productions. Our culture in America got more complex, technical, and harder in many ways, and I found myself longing to re-experience these stories in some form.

So, in an effort to reexperience these Christmas stories in an old, culturally simplistic form, I