Radio hosts and political pundits like to talk about the secularization of Christmas. But area residents will not have to go far this season to find events that keep Christ in Christmas.
Chet Susslin / The Citizen
Brien Bianchi rehearses his role as Smitty in “Thanks for Christmas,” to be performed this weekend at Grace Chapel in Skaneateles.
Brien Bianchi rehearses his role as Smitty in “Thanks for Christmas,” to be performed this weekend at Grace Chapel in Skaneateles.
This weekend, a handful of holiday performances will focus on what many call the reason for the season. And while everyone can get caught up in gifts, parties, traffic and trees, these local religious organizations will try to remind people about the baby who started the whole thing.
“A lot of the Christmas message has been lost in commercialism,” said Kathy Osborne, who directs the annual Christmas play at Grace Chapel in Skaneatles. “But I also think that people are more willing to listen to that message with their hearts during Christmas.”
This year, Grace Chapel is producing “Thanks for Christmas,” a play in which a toy shop owner learns the true meaning of the season after he is locked out of his shop. The production features a 40-person cast and incorporates both drama and music in a one-hour show.
Osborne said the main reason she picked the play is that it conveys the right message. She is very picky about the plays at Grace Chapel. The piece must clearly convey the Christmas story - that God became man so he could die for the sins of mankind - and relate it to modern times, she said.
“The same message we are giving in the play is at the core of what Grace Chapel is all about,” Osborne said. “We have a specific goal at our church. That is to give out the message of Christ.”
A meeting house in Poplar Ridge will host a more traditional look at the nativity. An acting group called the Poplar Ridge Players will perform “The Shepherd's Christmas Play,” which is based on a medieval Austrian story handed down over generations.
The play focuses on the birth of Jesus through the eyes of four shepherds, said Andreas Richter, who plays Joseph. The group has performed the piece on and off for almost 30 years, though Richter said he remembers seeing it in New York City when he was a kid.
Despite the fact that the play's origins go back hundreds of years, Richter said modern audiences can still relate to the characters.
“The characters in the play represent all different cross-sections of humanity,” he said. “There are shepherds, innkeepers, all the different people complaining about taxation.”
For those people who want to go all the way back to the first Christmas, Union Springs Academy is also allowing people to experience a tour through Bethlehem without leaving the area. The private school will transform its campus and put up a palace, marketplace, some inns and, of course, a manger.
Visitors will be given a free tour of Rome-era Bethlehem by academy students. They will be able to see and talk with soldiers, townspeople and even the infamous King Herod, said Londa Bishop, a school chaplain and Bible teacher. The idea is to retell the Christmas story in an interesting and interactive way.
“I think it is very powerful for people to experience what it might have been like, and what the sights and sounds would have been,” Bishop said. “It makes things real, instead of just reading about it or seeing it in a movie.”
The students involved have incentive to keep those experiences as real as possible. For the seniors, this is a history project for which they had to research customs, costumes and everyday life. Some of them even researched what kind of food would be sold at the marketplace, which they will cook for the visitors, Bishop said.
“Everyone pitches in and pulls together,” Bishop said. “It becomes kind of a school-wide project.”
Staff writer Christopher Caskey can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or christopher.caskey@lee.net
If you go:
What: Walk Through Bethlehem
When: 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Friday
Where: Union Springs Academy, 40 Springs St., Union Springs
Cost: Free
What: The Shepherd's Christmas Play
When: 7 p.m. Saturday
Where: Poplar Ridge Friends Meeting House, 100 yards east of State Route 34B on Poplar Ridge Road
Cost: Free
What: Thanks for Christmas
When: 7 p.m. Sunday; 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday
Where: Grace Chapel, 1674 US Route 20, Skaneateles
Cost: Free
“A lot of the Christmas message has been lost in commercialism,” said Kathy Osborne, who directs the annual Christmas play at Grace Chapel in Skaneatles. “But I also think that people are more willing to listen to that message with their hearts during Christmas.”
This year, Grace Chapel is producing “Thanks for Christmas,” a play in which a toy shop owner learns the true meaning of the season after he is locked out of his shop. The production features a 40-person cast and incorporates both drama and music in a one-hour show.
Osborne said the main reason she picked the play is that it conveys the right message. She is very picky about the plays at Grace Chapel. The piece must clearly convey the Christmas story - that God became man so he could die for the sins of mankind - and relate it to modern times, she said.
“The same message we are giving in the play is at the core of what Grace Chapel is all about,” Osborne said. “We have a specific goal at our church. That is to give out the message of Christ.”
A meeting house in Poplar Ridge will host a more traditional look at the nativity. An acting group called the Poplar Ridge Players will perform “The Shepherd's Christmas Play,” which is based on a medieval Austrian story handed down over generations.
The play focuses on the birth of Jesus through the eyes of four shepherds, said Andreas Richter, who plays Joseph. The group has performed the piece on and off for almost 30 years, though Richter said he remembers seeing it in New York City when he was a kid.
Despite the fact that the play's origins go back hundreds of years, Richter said modern audiences can still relate to the characters.
“The characters in the play represent all different cross-sections of humanity,” he said. “There are shepherds, innkeepers, all the different people complaining about taxation.”
For those people who want to go all the way back to the first Christmas, Union Springs Academy is also allowing people to experience a tour through Bethlehem without leaving the area. The private school will transform its campus and put up a palace, marketplace, some inns and, of course, a manger.
Visitors will be given a free tour of Rome-era Bethlehem by academy students. They will be able to see and talk with soldiers, townspeople and even the infamous King Herod, said Londa Bishop, a school chaplain and Bible teacher. The idea is to retell the Christmas story in an interesting and interactive way.
“I think it is very powerful for people to experience what it might have been like, and what the sights and sounds would have been,” Bishop said. “It makes things real, instead of just reading about it or seeing it in a movie.”
The students involved have incentive to keep those experiences as real as possible. For the seniors, this is a history project for which they had to research customs, costumes and everyday life. Some of them even researched what kind of food would be sold at the marketplace, which they will cook for the visitors, Bishop said.
“Everyone pitches in and pulls together,” Bishop said. “It becomes kind of a school-wide project.”
Staff writer Christopher Caskey can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or christopher.caskey@lee.net
If you go:
What: Walk Through Bethlehem
When: 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Friday
Where: Union Springs Academy, 40 Springs St., Union Springs
Cost: Free
What: The Shepherd's Christmas Play
When: 7 p.m. Saturday
Where: Poplar Ridge Friends Meeting House, 100 yards east of State Route 34B on Poplar Ridge Road
Cost: Free
What: Thanks for Christmas
When: 7 p.m. Sunday; 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday
Where: Grace Chapel, 1674 US Route 20, Skaneateles
Cost: Free
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