Complacency in Religion

Robinson's story is a clear picture of religious practice that has become routine resulting in a lack of spiritual understanding for the very people it is meant to strengthen. The Christmas pageant is an annual tradition. People expect it to happen every year, but it is always the same. On one level that is to be expected, because the nativity story itself does not change. But the production is staged the same way every year, by the same leader and there is always the same casting among the children. For many, like Father, it has become an event to attend simply because it is expected, not because it is meaningful and a heartfelt celebration of Jesus' birth.

Some in the congregation seem to have also lost, or perhaps never had, an understanding of the significance of Jesus' coming and the purpose of church itself...