Neighborhood Nativity

 One of the most innovative things we have done during the pandemic is re-imagining our Christmas live nativity. In years past one event or another on a Sunday evening in Advent has concluded with an an outdoor live nativity scene. We cast it this year as a stand-alone event off campus. We adapted our perennial children's Christmas Eve service to provide a script, recording children we might normally use in a live setting. We recorded the same sequence of songs in that service with a solo child singer, in lieu of congregational songs. Instead of a single locale, we created 5 locations among our in-town church families. We recruited those same families, or in a couple of cases some non-family members to portray characters from the nativity story. We created a CD of the narration, songs, and some other brief liturgical elements. We created scenes at the five homes, including costumes and props. Folks picked up a CD from the church facility and then drove around town on a prescribed route to view the scenes while listening to the narration and songs in their cars. We had about 100 cars over the 2-hour course of the event. The response was quite favorable. Below are some shots.

The first stop was "the innkeeper and Mary and Joseph."

 Next up was the angels...

Next up were the shepherds in afield. We hired live animals for this stop.

The magi were next. We purchased inflatable camel costumes for this trio of boys and simply told them to have a good time.

The last stop was a complete scene. We asked a large family in our congregation to take this on, figuring they would have the personnel to cast a fairly complete scene. They did! We had planned to let them borrow our scale-model creche scene, but the kids wanted to create their own, including animals, fake and living!

There are years I seek to provide a certain level of authenticity to the live nativity scene, and ask persons to remain in character. Since our congregation had been apart for 9 months at this point, we let those strictures fall, and encouraged everyone to wave and smile and chat with one another from a distance, the better to enjoy the experience. It was a wonderful event. We liked being in the community, and even when we are able to be back together, we may re-cast this yet again and make it bigger and better.

Dinner Theater 2010

Black Mountain Presbyterian Church announces the menu for In Bethlehem Inn. The dinner theater will be held on Sunday evening December 12. There will be two seatings, 5PM and 7PM. Reservations are required. There is no set admission; donations will be accepted at the table. Many of the players are returning for this second year of the production, including Scott Roy and Annie Hall as the innkeeper and his wife.

Chef de Cuisine is Carol Tyson and Executive Chef is Margie Tyas.
The menu:
Greens of Gailee Tossed Salad
Shepherds Pie (beef, green beans, cheesy-potatoes)
Manna-from-Heaven Rolls
Fruits of the Oasis Trifle
Coffee, Tea, Water, Assorted Crackers

See a current issue of the Window for more information. Contact the church office to make reservations.

No more troubbable

Our performance of The Troubabble of Zerubbabel went really, really well. The kids nailed their songs and their lines; the band was awesome. The crew did great with set changes and props. Our costumes were stunning; our "Adversaries" brought the house down! Here's one picture, but you can view a slideshow of the dress rehearsal and reception following the performance in the sidebar. Thanks to all the kids, all the parents and everyone who helped make it happen.

Zerub-a-who?

That would be Zerubbabel, a governor of the Hebrew people during the Babylonian exile. Zerubbabel led the exiles on their return from exile, and directed the building of the second temple. He's also the subject of a nifty children's musical which you can see in performance this coming Sunday afternoon at 5PM at BMPCNC. Please join us!

The Aerie Singers (kids in grades 3-4-5-6 who participate in Logos) having been learning about Zerubbabel and the music and dialog for this musical since last September. Winter weather wrought havoc with our schedule, leading to extra rehearsals. But the time has come to the musical to come to life.

Written by Will Anderson The Troubbable of Zerubbabel was written specifically for children's singing voices. Through drama and music children tell the story of the Persian king's proclamation that the Hebrew people should return home to Jerusalem under the leadership of their governor, and further instruction that they should commence a project to rebuild the temple for the worship of Yahweh. The plot thickens as adversaries seek to thwart the progress, but through prayer and faith in God, the building (the Second Temple) is completed.

A hearty band of Aerie Singers cover the majority of dramatic roles and sing the songs. The Adversaries will be portrayed in this production by two tough guys from our congregation. Musical accompaniment in the original musical score is for piano; we will hear our house band the Prophets of Praise (with a couple of extra musicians and playing from a score crafted by Mike Barker) in this production.

Vance S. (Zerubbabel) and Lillie C. (Narrator) have the two lead roles. Dave Bell and Dan Stitt will dig deep into their dramatic wells to play the "tough guys."

The performance on Sunday May 23 begins at 5PM and is free. Come enjoy the show, learn a little Bible and support a fine group of young musicians as they share the culmination of months of work and fun.

Worship for Palm-Passion Sunday 032810

For Palm-Passion Sunday we will devote much of our worship to a dramatic portrayal of the events of Palm Sunday and Holy Week. A team of folks under the leadership of Donna Marie Todd will tell the story of Holy Week throughout the service, interspersed with prayers and singing. FirstLight and our 11AM service will be very similar; the biggest difference will be the music (though there will be plenty of cross-over there also). To see what's coming you can see a copy of the liturgy for FirstLight here. And here's a copy of the liturgy for 11AM. In both documents you can see the music we'll be using. See you Sunday!

Dinner Theater

Here are just a few more pictures from our dinner theater.

Our three magi...

Conversation during the meal between scenes...

The cast leading the way (ever-so-reverently) to the live nativity...

One of our choir servers....


See you in about 12 months for our 2010 production!

Dinner Theater

We had a great time. After all the fretting over the weather, the clouds broke around noon and we had clear skies and 50 degrees for the first show. The first seating was packed, including my "spare" table; seven o'clock wasn't very roomy either. The actors did a tremendous job; the food service staff, including choir singers as waiters were phenomenal.

Highlights:

"Jonathon's" spew at the first show

"Jess" bonking "Nathan" and "Rachel" on the head with an inflatable hammer when they got a little too off-the-hook

"Eli's" prayer at the manger scene

"Sarah's" "How-can-I-refuse-such-a-face" expression

Briggs and the baby donkey

Being together for a wonderful evening of food and fellowship

Dinner Theater Update

All the actors have been working very hard. I am especially proud of Scott R and Annie H, the leads who have the bulk of the lines. I have two very clever and committed assistant directors who have managed to catch a vision for the production and are doing tremendous things to make this a meaningful and entertaining evening. The kitchen crew goes into hyper-drive this morning putting together a wonderful menu.

The only downer is worry about the weather. Early predictions had shown rain for Saturday. Throughout the week, that has been pushed further and further out. This morning the word is "rain, sleet and/or freezing rain on Sunday." We have a Plan B, but it's not nearly as neat as the original. The original location for the outdoor scene is thoroughly saturated with rain from the soakings we've had last month and this. So we were actually already on Plan B with an alternate place to have the crowd stand for the final scene. Looks like we won't have to worry about being outside at all. I think the last time I did this show I was worried about it being too warm for the actors in all their costume layers (that was in Richmond)!

Notes to know: we have a "real baby" to be the infant Jesus, Larkin A, granddaughter of our own Ruby W. Plus we have a miniature donkey, and it's yearling offspring.

Dinner Theater

BMPCNC will present a Christmas dinner theater on Sunday evening December 13 at 5PM or 7PM in the fellowship hall of the church. A cast including youth and adults will present John Carter's "In Bethlehem Inn," a you-are-there telling of the Christmas story. Persons attending the show are guests at the inn in Bethlehem on the night of Jesus birth. During a shared meal we learn of a young couple looking for shelter, here from local shepherds who have heard amazing things, and finally venture outside to a living nativity scene, to see for ourselves the wonderful thing that has come to pass.

The dinner-theater is free, but donations for the cost of the meal are much-needed. Reservations are required. Be prepared to specify which seating you prefer, 5PM or 7PM, and how many persons will be in your party (we will be seated at table groupings of 8). While we are taking reservations, seating is by general admission.

Thanks to everyone who is taking part in presenting this production, especially the actors and food preparation crew. Please have a good thought for them all as we venture into a new and exciting ministry event.

Contact the church office by phone or email to make reservations.

Colleagues of mine and members of a couple of my former employers will recognize this event. I became enchanted with this drama and the whole production while at Bon Air UMC in Richmond and mounted the production three years there, and three more times at Crestwood PC(USA). Everyone here is very excited and full of ideas. I've told them that this is a show that grows over the years. This time fairly low-key. Camels and palanquins next year!