Congregants at Fenimore Street United Methodist Church (FSUMC), friends and family, and other Christians took comfort from the fact that the weather was not as bitterly cold as last year in participating in the annual Christmas Candlelight Service on Dec. 24, Christmas Eve.
However, this year’s celebration was different in that parishioners serenaded the community, for an hour, before the service, from the steps of the church at the corner of Fenimore Street and Rogers Avenue in Brooklyn.
A pageant – dubbed “Missing Christmas”, organized by the Sunday School and participated in by the Sunday School children and members of the congregation – was also incorporated in the 1 ½ hour-long service that featured, among other things, the singing of Christmas carols and hymns, liturgical dances, prayers, and the lighting of the Advent and Christ candles.
In lighting the Advent candles, a line each was read as “a symbol of Christ” for hope, peace, joy and love.
“Let us hear from the loving Scripture,” urged the Rev. Roger Jackson, the church’s African-American pastor, in the Pastoral Prayer that preceded the lighting of Advent candles. “Let us pray to Him for the needs of the whole world.
“Let us remember the poor, the hungry, the sick, the loved and the unloved,” he added.
During the community serenade, parishioners sang over a dozen popular carols, starting with “Deck The Halls” and ending with “Angels We Have Heard on High”.
The Combined Choir sang “Jesus is Born” and “Glory to The Lord”; and Vessels of Praise from John Hus Moravian Church, on Ocean Avenue in Brooklyn, and Fenimore Liturgical Dance Ministry danced in keeping with the Advent season.
“Missing Christmas” depicted three scenes and incorporated FSUMC liturgical dancers – Angelica, Noelani, Ashley, Amelia, Kaiden and Nicholas; flag waivers – Daen, Chase and Allyon; The Men’s Choir; The Combined Choir; and the congregation.
Shadae Gooding and Zuria Thorpe served as narrators; Linda Brown read the Scriptures; Valcia Williams and Rebecca Anwana served as innkeepers; Dianne Brown and Joshua Hull portrayed Mary and Joseph, respectively; David Anwana and Daen, Alex, Chase and Alleyon were shepherds; Angels included Angelica, Noelani, Akiera and Debra Hull; Veronica Corbette represented the Star; and Nicholas Charles, Kaiden Goodman and Daen Blemur served as magi, bringing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
“I want to tell you a story that happened long, long ago, but the message of the story is very important for us today,” said Shadae Gooding in introducing Scene I. “Many people in the old days in Israel were busy with work and the activities of daily life. They were much like us today.
“However, when a special person arrived, many people were so busy that they missed his birth,” added Gooding before Mary and Joseph entered with Baby Jesus. “They missed Christmas.”
Thorpe said in Scene 3 that “today, there are some who still miss the importance of our yearly Christmas celebration of Jesus’ birth.
“People today get caught up in the everyday activities of life and miss the most important message to us today,” she said. “They do not recognize that Jesus is the promised Messiah, who came to bring salvation to mankind if they would just believe in Jesus’ finished work on the cross.
“Please, do not be someone who misses Christmas,” urged Thorpe, as all actors gathered around the manger scene.
Sunday School teacher Joycelyn King, an Antiguan-born retired public school teacher in Brooklyn, told Caribbean Life afterwards that the Christmas Pageant was “a lasting experience on the hearts and minds of the Sunday School children, teachers and parents.”
She further described the pageant as “inter-generational.”
“We all shared in the singing of the carols; the children costumed to retell the story; the men’s choral singing ‘We Three Kings’ brought light and peace to our world that sometimes seem so dark,” said King, who coordinated the pageant with Sunday School Superintendent Gail Murray, a Jamaican-born public school assistant principal in Brooklyn.
“We give God all the praise for this blessing and for the opportunity to showcase all our children and youth,” she added. “To God be all the glory.”
Murray lauded the Sunday School children for doing “well,” noting that their parents “chipped in.”
“They did a good job,” she said about the children. “It’s the first time we’ve done this in years.”
With the lighting of the Christ candles, the congregation sang “Silent Night, Holy Night”, and Pastor Jackson prayed: “God, we thank you for Jesus Christ being the light of the world.”
He then asked the congregation to stand and sing “O, Come Let Us Adore Him”, followed by “Joy to the World” and “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”.
“We thank you Lord, because Christ came, so we have life, and we have it more abundantly,” Rev. Jackson prayed.
