Posts
12/11/2010 05:32:00 PM
David Michels
Christmas Concerts...Holiday Events...Seasonal Band Performances. Our gifted children have been busy over the past two weeks, and by extension their parents. For our second event today however we were just spectators for Stoneridge Fellowship Church's annual performance of their Christmas Musical "This Very Night!" As the title suggests, this is the Christmas story from the perspective of Mary and Joseph. The acting and singing was wonderful. My son was particularly impressed with the real farm animals.
Mounting a production like this is no small feat. Six performances. 3000 spectators. 240 cast and performers (many of whom were children. Baby "Jesus", no crying he made!) 7500 hours of practice. Did I mention the sheep and chickens? It was also a highly technical performance, with complex lighting and video production. There were three large screen monitors in the sanctuary, so we wouldn't miss an angle. We are very much a media generation, and people expect that kind of technical wizardry.
What touched me though wasn't the sophisticated performance. It was the timeless story; part of my faith and upbringing. I sang in a few Sunday School Christmas concerts myself; and like thousands of others, I've been the shepherd (and probably even the sheep though I can't remember.) Years ago I spent a Christmas in Kenya. I was visiting a small church near Kisumu on Lake Victoria. I didn't speak Luo, I was hot, and I didn't feel Christmasy. Then the children came in and processed to the front. They wore bathrobes, with towels on their heads. A young lady with a baby doll. A boy watching over her. Shepherds and kings. I didn't understand one word; yet I knew them all: "In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus...." This is the power of storytelling at its finest.
I appreciated the polish and professionalism of Stoneridge's "This Very Night." But the power remains in the storytelling: “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
Mounting a production like this is no small feat. Six performances. 3000 spectators. 240 cast and performers (many of whom were children. Baby "Jesus", no crying he made!) 7500 hours of practice. Did I mention the sheep and chickens? It was also a highly technical performance, with complex lighting and video production. There were three large screen monitors in the sanctuary, so we wouldn't miss an angle. We are very much a media generation, and people expect that kind of technical wizardry.
What touched me though wasn't the sophisticated performance. It was the timeless story; part of my faith and upbringing. I sang in a few Sunday School Christmas concerts myself; and like thousands of others, I've been the shepherd (and probably even the sheep though I can't remember.) Years ago I spent a Christmas in Kenya. I was visiting a small church near Kisumu on Lake Victoria. I didn't speak Luo, I was hot, and I didn't feel Christmasy. Then the children came in and processed to the front. They wore bathrobes, with towels on their heads. A young lady with a baby doll. A boy watching over her. Shepherds and kings. I didn't understand one word; yet I knew them all: "In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus...." This is the power of storytelling at its finest.
I appreciated the polish and professionalism of Stoneridge's "This Very Night." But the power remains in the storytelling: “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
