A figurine of baby Jesus was stolen Wednesday night from a display outside the Our Redeemer Lutheran Church on University Avenue, the church’s pastor said.

The church set up a Nativity scene depicting the birth of Jesus on the grass near the sidewalk, but after an evening service Pastor Christian Rasmussen found out that the plexiglass around the display was broken and the baby Jesus figurine was missing.

Rasmussen said it’s the third time in the last 20 years that the baby Jesus has been stolen from the display. It was returned once, but was painted black.

He hopes it’s returned again, but isn’t upset that it was taken.

“Some of my friends said, ‘He needed or she needed baby Jesus more than we did.’ I thought that was pretty funny,” he said.