Advent Three

Rehearsing for tonight's program

Weeks of preparation come together tonight in the annual Christmas cantata at our church. Our music director put together a wonderful program including children, youth and adults in the performance. I have the small part of getting microphones to the actors and cueing them for their entry to the sanctuary which is much, much easier than memorizing lines and songs.

I have memories of many Christmas pageants;- repeating lines in acrostic poems, playing a piano duet with my brother, dressing up for a nativity scene, singing in a Christmas tree. And I remember well the years our children participated in school and church concerts.

Our little shepherd and her sister the sheep took part in the church program in the mid-1980s. What fun it was for little ones to dress up and then get a bag of treats. As the choir practiced this week, I held up a 25 year old photo of our girls and their classmates crawling up the same aisle after visiting the manger and baby Jesus.

A family favourite Christmas book and movie is The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson. The story captures all the charm and unpredictability of a traditional Christmas play and communicates a valuable lesson as well.

Do you have a special Christmas concert memory?

I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my whole being shall exult in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 

For as the earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations. 

 Isaiah 61:10-11 

From today's Lectionary reading for the third Sunday of Advent