Barbara writes about the Christmas Cantata, which was presented at her church the past several weekends, in honor of Christmas.
I am so glad it is overwith..the rehearsals, the practicing, and having to wear costumes on stage, and being under the hot stage lights, and then performing the Cantata, with the ever-present fear of messing up on stage in front of God and everybody....
But I AM glad that several people DID get the Message we were trying to get across, the TRUE reason behind WHY we REALLY celebrate Christmas..the Birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. In fact, they were so moved by the Cantata they came up to the altar, where they confessed their sins; and they became saved; and are now Christians. One of those who went up was a kid in my class, Torey Alvarez.
During the Cantata, the actors and actresses on stage performed the Book of Luke, Chapter 2, which tells about Jesus' Birth to save mankind from sin; and the actors and actresses did a very convincing job of portraying the wisemen, Mary, Joseph, the angels and shepherds, and the others. They even had a little baby, Kibarake Sormiento, who portrayed the Baby Jesus; and most of the time he slept through the entire Cantata! Sometimes he cried or squeaked; but most of the time he slept through all the music and pageantry of the Cantata! It was really cute!
They also had singing; and during the Cantata, my sister, Ronee' (and others) sang songs appropriate for the Message we were trying to get across and songs appropriate for the Christmas season. Ronee' sang "O Holy Night" and "Silent Night", and she did a very good job; all of the singers did. During the songs, my brother, Johnny, who is hard of hearing, did sign language, so the hearing-impaired people in the audience could follow along with the play; and he did a very good job, too. (Johnny was the only one who remained on the stage the entire time, as did the angels, shepherds, Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus.) Other people sang besides Johnny and Ronee': the Adult Praise and Worship Team and the "King's Kids" Children's Choir, as well as some of our talented church members like Antoinette Bilkey, the pastor's wife, Frieda Gorton, K'Shon-Jerome Deville, Tagert McIlhenny, and Penelope Obrynsenn. They did a terrific job, too.
I was in the Cantata, too: I was in the children's choir, but I didn't sing any solos; my voice isn't good enough to sing solo, and besides, I don't think I could handle singing a song all by myself; I'd be too nervous, for one thing! LOL It was hard enough being on stage, in front of a church full of strange people who wre in the audience, along with the congregation who didn't participate in the Cantata; but at least I didn't have to stay up there and sing a SOLO! Knowing me, I probably would have messed up, and Pastor Bilkey may have gotten mad....Noooo, I don't think I could handle him getting mad at me--
For the Cantata, the kids in our choir had to wear our choir robes, and we also had to have our hair styled and looking neat; and we also had to wear some make-up, so we wouldn't look all "washed out" while we were under the hot stage lights; and we had to look nice at all possible times. That was hard for me because I am a tomboy at heart, and being neat is not much my style! LOL And nothing disasterous happened aside from M'buti Sormiento passing out in the audience, causing a bit of excitement from those nearest to her; but once the paramedics came and took care of her, all was fine. (M'buti refused to go to the hospital when they offered to take her to the Emergency Room to get checked; but she promised that she would go to her doctor's the next day. That happened last week, and her doctor gave her some new medicine to help her low blood pressure.)
We will do the Cantata one more time, for Christmas Eve services at our church, and then we will have our annual church Christmas party afterwards. Then the Cantata will be over for another year. But I thought I would write and tell you about it and why I haven't written for the past few weeks; but with all the practicing and rehearsing we had to do, plus with going to school, doing homework, and attending regular church services twice a week, I didn't have much time to write! But now that we are off on Christmas break, I can write a lot more!
