Just Do It!

The angel choir singing to the shepherds and their sheep.

Kalsagri Church is having a Christmas Pageant this year. They have never heard of one before. When I asked some of the youth if they were interested, there was a resounding, "YES!" There are challenges, though. At our first practice, plenty of children came, many filthy dirty, a few with only a t-shirt and underwear. So, we had to explain that, even though this isn't school, they still had to wear appropriate clothing.

Sabina taking care of baby Jesus.

On to the practice part...there was no Joseph, there was no narrator. Hmmm...what would we do? "Just do it!" So, we had practice and improvised. We scheduled another practice for Sunday after church. When the time came, Mary wasn't in attendance, we had to recruit a Joseph and a narrator, the head angels were not in attendance and half of the sheep were sacked because they were rolling on the ground fighting. (Am I too old for this?) The rest of the practice went amazingly well, praise God. Our next practice was scheduled for Friday afternoon at 3:00. (Today)

Practicing being a pregnant Mary.

Well, I drove my motorcycle out to the church. I arrived at 2:58. There was NO ONE there, although the boy drafted to play Joseph was quite close. I went to find Nicodemus to ask him what we should do. As we waited for people to come, Nico worked with Joseph, giving him pointers. Sabina and Ernestina came to help with the children.

The sheep adding color to their ears.

 The first thing we did when we had enough people, was to separate the sheep from the goats, oh, sorry....from the angels. The sheep were given their ears and colored them. (Ernestina helped with them.) They look so cute! Since Joseph left early, Sabina stepped in. I stepped in as Mary.

Angel choir practice.

The angel choir practiced, having way too much fun! Even though they may be small in number, they have beautiful voices.

Godwin, our narrator.

Once everyone was ready, we "ran through" the pageant. Godwin did an excellent job, reading the Scriptures from Matthew and Luke in Dagaare. Hopefully, we fine tuned some of the actions.

A couple of sheep just hanging around.

Our next practice is Sunday after church. I have no idea who will show up. We have had three practices and three different Marys! And, will Joseph be there? Who knows, maybe Sabina will step in again, No matter what happens, we will have fun. And, these dear people, most who are illiterate will see the Christmas Scriptures acted out. It will be culturally appropriate,in their own language. nd, hopefully we will all learn something in the process,..

O come, O come, Emmanuel!