A crowd gathers at the manger.
Photos and text by Paul Goldfinger, editor @Blogfinger
It was about 40 degrees in the Great Auditorium tonight (Saturday, December 10) for the “live Nativity,” which occurs each year in Ocean Grove. It made you wish that Jesus had been born in July.
The large cast was made up mostly of kids dressed either as angels, shepherds or bedouins direct from the hills of Judea. They did a fine job of depicting the New Testament story of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem. It was reminiscent of those old movies with a cast of thousands which portrayed Bible stories for the big screen. Charlton Heston would have fit right in.
Some of the actors were sharing costumes of animals like the two-humped camel with two kids inside. The Jesus from Firemen’s Park didn’t reappear, but tonight, in the manger with Mary and Joseph, was a young actor who played the roll of a live Jesus (I guess it might have been an actress) who stole the show and overacted a bit as he played with Joseph’s face, sucked on a pacifier and looked around at the lights.
The three wise men were actually three wise kids who got to hold the gold, frankincense and myrrh. Their job was to present the gifts to Jesus and wish him a Myrrhy Christmas.
A small combo led by J. Cortese provided some nice harmonies for familiar and not-so familiar carols. Rev. Scott Hoffman opened and closed the festivities with a prayer. A frigid good time was had by all. Fa la la la la, la la la la.
Getting ready for the show—-angels and members of the angelic string section
Animals and wise men show up
Angels, a bedouin, and a monk start a biblical rock band.
That’s all folks! Angels file out, sweetly singing o’er the plains.
They were busy tonight, but, in honor of all the angels in the Great Auditorium, here is a recording of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir with “Angels We Have Heard on High.”:
Pam – Yes, it matters because Jesus was born in the lambing season according the Gospel of Mark. The late December date was a pagan holiday (Feast of Mithras/Saturnalia) that was chosen by the early Church to make it an “acceptable” holiday to the masses whom they had just forced to convert by law.
J. Thank you for the details about those creative people behind the scenes at the Live Nativity. They certainly deserve the recognition. We really appreciate citizen reporters like you who provide us with needed information. By the way, for a guy who says that he only knows a few chords, you did very well on the keyboards (and the vocals). Paul
Nice article, Paul! I wanted to bring to your attention that Mike and Carol Boniello are the creative force behind the Live Nativity. Mike is the person responsible for all of the music and Carol is in charge of the rest. She is a human dynamo- being the producer,writer, director, set designer and builder. She also designs and sews all of those incredible costumes!
Cecil B. Demille’s got nothing on her! He may have had a cast of thousands but they weren’t kids!
And- I’m not sure if you were aware of the miracle of answered prayers that took place that night- Matt Gannon, who suffered a debilitating stroke last year, was part of the cast- in costume and walking up onto the stage.
That was a great Christmas gift to all of us!
J Cortese
No, it doesn’t matter when Jesus was born exactly. What does matter is that everyone open their hearts and minds, as I believe Jesus would have, and be receptive to the good feelings and thoughts of others, no matter what they are celebrating.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!
Does it really matter what time of year Jesus was born? Thank the Lord He was born so he could become Savior to all who invite Him into their hearts and lives. Thank the Lord that there is a town of Ocean Grove where the children can reenact this defining point in history and do so without controversy. I wish everyone a Merry and Blessed Christmas!
Yeah, Nancy is right. Nobody knows when Jesus was born. And originally there was no injunction that Christians observe the nativity of Jesus as a holiday, even if we knew. No such holiday is mentioned in the New Testament. It was imposed later, and the date was chosen based on the winter solstice celebrations of various pagan societies, such as the yule celebration. Christmas was part of the Roman church’s effort to supplant those pagan religions. It was just invented as a holiday. In fact, not only do we not know the day or month, we don’t even know the year of Jesus’ birth.
My father used to speculate about Jesus’ birth. He thought it couldn’t have been in winter, because, he thought, shepherds wouldn’t have been out in the pasture lands “watching over their sheep by night” in the cold of winter. I’ve since heard other Christians make that same point.
“It made you wish that Jesus had been born in July.”
Funny thing is, there is a better chance that He was born in July than in December. Go figure …