Vandalized nativity scene designer from Brainerd

Brainerd High School graduate John Zachary designed a nontraditional scene with a social message for his church in Claremont, Calif. Vandals who destroyed the the scene, which generated media attention across the country.

Photo by Contributed Photo /Chattanooga Times Free Press.

Brainerd High School graduate John Zachary has designed a nontraditional nativity scene with a social message for his church in Claremont, Calif., for six years. This is the first year that his design made someone angry enough to vandalize the scene depicting the birth of Christ.

This year’s nativity scene at Claremont United Methodist Church featured silhouettes of three couples, each holding hands. When congregants showed up for the 10 a.m. PST Christmas service, they found the male and female couples knocked over.

A sign above the images that read “Christ is Born” also was damaged, according to Zachary, who is a production designer for movies and television in Hollywood.

He said this year’s scene was based on the Martin Luther King Jr. quote, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

The net effect of the vandalism is that it has done on a greater scale what he had intended with the original scene, which was to get people talking. Zachary has placed the damaged pieces into a new art piece, which he said he kind of likes better. He’s also done several media interviews.

“It’s kind of an ideal situation that someone acted out in violence,” he said. “There has been a lot of dialogue and focus on the issue, and that is really the important thing. There has been a lot of respectful disagreement, which is great.”

His first design six years ago centered on poverty and depicted a homeless family. He’s also designed nativity scenes based on a mother and child in prison, a Middle Eastern scene with soldiers in the traditional roles of the Magi and another with the U.S.-Mexico border fence.

“It’s always something like that, and it has never been vandalized,” Zachary said.

“Instead of doing a traditional scene, I do something that is relevant in a contemporary context,” he said.

The scene, which features 8-foot figures back-lit in a shadow-box design, sits between the church and the Claremont School of Theology on Route 66, Zachary said.

He said he now has some ideas for next year’s design and this incident has made him more determined to do another one.

“Plus, people around have come to expect it.”