By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

CASCO — December is a time of good deeds.

In the weeks before Christmas known as Advent, many Christians make a conscious effort to connect with Christ’s birth.

At one community church, the baby Jesus went missing from the outdoor nativity scene, also known as a crèche. The figure of Mary was also swiped from the crèche.

People’s responses to this incident illustrate how human kindness is alive and well.

Jesus and Mary will be replaced by an anonymous donor who heard about it on the church’s Facebook page, according to Rev. Joyce Long, with the Casco Village Church United Church of Christ.

Plus, the person plans to gift a few more figures to the church’s nativity scene, which is where Silent Night is sung during late Christmas Eve services.

Last week, Long was wondering why someone took the two-dimensional painted wooden figures. Mostly, she was searching a wide perimeter around the church in case the pieces had been tossed.

This week, she is thanking two strangers and a fellow parishioner for three offers to replace the figures of Mary and baby.

One of the men, who is a member of the church, volunteered to craft the new pieces, she said.

“A perfect stranger contacted us and offered to make a Mary and Jesus. They left a message on the church phone. I haven’t talked to them” directly, she said.

“Another person has the pieces that will fit” the church’s nativity scene, Long said.

“A woman who wanted to remain nameless” learned about the church’s need “through Facebook,” she said.

“We have someone from our church that is going to drive to Limington to pick up” the donated figures for the crèche, she said.

Baby Jesus and Mary will be in place before Thursday’s Christmas Eve services.

“I had a Plan B anyways,” Long said.