For the first time, my family saw a full gospel Christmas pageant.
This was not just a nativity scene-focused presentation, although there was a nativity scene.
This was a quick step through the Bible from creation to the return of Christ.
The beginning had a somewhat subtle, yet obvious illustration of the impermanence of things temporal.
Marshall Field’s was featured in the secularized scene, which featured shopping and gifts.
Two screens beside the huge stage at the Quentin Road Bible Baptist Church in Lake Zurich were used effectively to show celestial light at the creation of the world, narrators, prophecies and even comic relief.
This was a complete telling of the Bible’s message. Even if it was in a Reader’s Digest condensed form, it seemed to me to touch on the Bible’s major points right up to the Second Coming.
Pastor James Scudder’s wife Linda wrote the script.
The animals were real and the camel mature.
We stayed late talking to friends and were shown where the camel and other animals were kept between shows. We were warned not to get too close to the camel. It was skittish. (I would be, too, if I had to enter a darkened room with spotlights.)
Most spectacular was Christ’s Ascension. I could see the wires from our balcony seats, but it was quite impressive.
Interspersed were songs aplenty by children as young as three and a full chorus of older youth and adults.
After the extravaganza, Steven saw Jesus walking toward from the stage. We had already met one of the Wise Men. When I suggested it must be hot inside his costume, he readily agreed.
“Let’s go see Jesus,” Steven said.
A couple of steps away, “Jesus” asked my son, “What’s your name?”
“Steven,” he replied.
“My name’s Mark,” the church member said.
Steven looked at the big black dots in the center of his palms and asked how they put the nails in.
Mark replied that they had bent them and he had grasped them so they looked like they were piercing his hands.
The show will rebroadcast on TLN (Total Living Network) at 9 PM on Christmas Eve. That’s December 24th.