Photo and story from ABC News:
First Baptist Church of Fort Lauderdale Spent More Than $1 Million on Its Pageant
"We're having to compete against many theatrical things around the country, whether it's MTV or the Rockettes or any show you might see on Broadway," said the Rev. Mike Jefferies of the First Baptist Church of Fort Lauderdale. "We have made a conscious decision to pull out all the stops."
....
"I really believe it is such a great story. I'm sure we couldn't actually compete with what really happened 2,000 years ago," he said on "Good Morning America Weekend Edition" today.
The Rev. Mike's humility is astounding. What makes him think he can't compete with the story of the God Incarnate? What would Jesus say about the spectacle? The Rev. Mike thinks he has the answer.
Thanks to the Weird Rabbit for the link.
Oh, yecchhh.
ReplyDeleteI regret that I cannot include in comments the look of distaste/disgust on my face at reading this.
ReplyDeleteWhat's next, tarting up the Virgin Mary so she looks like the Whore of Babylon? That should draw them in!
[Rolls eyes. Sighs. Makes another disgusted face. Thanks Jesus he's not longer a Baptist. Remembers he's an Episcopalian now and that should be stigma enough these days. Sighs again.]
Now, we don't want to get "holier than thou," however...
ReplyDeleteI have had to attend such productions. I call them "spectacular spectaculars." Oy! I put on a frozen pleasant face.
I guess to each their own, but I much prefer the simplicity of Advent in a liturgical setting and the celebration of the Eucharist on Christmas Eve, where at my parish, we quite literally pull out all the stops (organ, that is).
This leaves me nearly wordless, except for the brief sarcasm in the post. Am I ever glad that I never had to endure one of these!
ReplyDeleteThe story of no room in the inn, the stable, the manger, the animals, the lowly shepherds and God Incarnate come to birth in these humble surroundings seems the very antithesis of the productions.
oh, it reminds me of the lovely story from Philip Gulley's Christmas in Harmony book. The church decides to put on a kind of a "round robin" Christmas pageant, with different people putting up different "stations" on the way to Bethlehem. Trouble was, one person got so carried away with the glitz that no one stopped by the manger.
ReplyDeleteDiane, LOL. They skipped the manger!
ReplyDeleteAh, Mimi, you mean you've never had the "pleasure" of going with relatives to a church that looks like a school auditorium to witness a "living Christmas tree"?
ReplyDeleteThis phenomenon is a church choir arranged in a tree formation singing Christmas carols during Advent. Somehow this is supposed to inspire. What, I don't know.
Right up there with being dragged by friends to a holiday production of the local gay chorus doing seasonal (by non-liturgical standards) music with lots of camp, kitsch, and innuendo. "Wasn't that fun?" Well, actually I wanted to poke my eyes out and pierce my eardrums, but if you say so.
A walk by winter starlight would suit me much better. And I enjoy carolers. But no productions, please.
Grandmère, Have these good Christians stopped to think that they could have taken that million dollars and actually fed, clothed, and sheltered Christ this Christmas--by feeding, dressing and housing the Christ they encounter daily in the neediest populations of their community? How many people would have been touched by God's overpowering grace and goodness if they had done that? It makes me sad to think about such a lack of understanding and such waste.
ReplyDeleteI remember playing for pay in smaller events of this type, back in my youth. I don't know what effect they have on the audience (not congregation), but they tended to cause incredulity followed by atheism in the pit orchestra.
ReplyDeleteFran.
ReplyDeleteRendered.
Speechless.
I hang my head and weep.
Paul, I will answer your comment at length. It reminded me that I have a a story, and the Lord knows that I need stories to feed the blog.
ReplyDeleteBoocat, maybe there are no poor in Ft. Lauderdale. But then they could look farther afield, couldn't they?
Nina, Fran, cheer up. There are still 14 mad shopping days before Christmas.
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ReplyDeleteI feel vaguely like I might throw up.
ReplyDeleteBleh.
I would say to all of you that -- unless you go see the Fort Lauderdale Christmas Pageant for yourselves you shouldn't be posting negative comments. And to Boocat maybe they are feeding the spiritually hungry. Also, check out the church it gives to so many great projects.
ReplyDeleteMerry CHRISTMAS!
Eileen, I hope you made it to the toilet, chère. You've had enought of cleaning up that sort of mess.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, Merry CHRISTMAS to you! - although it's still Advent, the season of waiting. See. I didn't slip in a "Happy Holidays" on you.
ReplyDeleteChacun à son goût. I'm pleased to hear that the congregation is generous with its worldly goods. May God's blessing be upon First Baptist for its giving.
So, I remember the Christmas Story we told at the little Methodist church in the country community we attended. I always felt like it was a favorites contest since I was never picked to be anyone. All the shepherds and wise men had to be played by boys. Jesus was a doll baby, I was taller than any boy who could play Joseph and besides, Mary was the daughter of some important person in the congregation and usually blonde. But I will say that the costumes were lovely, wonderfully thrown together from available bath robes and I don't know where the angel's white robe came from as we didn't wear vestments in the choir.
ReplyDeleteBut I must say, that by the time I was 14, I could sing a perfectly lovely rendition of O, Holy Night with my mother playing the piano! So even there,
I was appreciated for my special talent!
Chalk up another one for News Of The Weird!
ReplyDeletePaul, I rather know what you mean by the overly gay gay men's chorus Christmas concert. However, if friends sing in it, I feel obliged to support my fellow GALA choristers (I am a member of the local women's chorus).
I prefer a "Lessons and Carols" service myself, or a Bach cantata, or Gospel, or even the tacky arrangements of traditional carols published for generic low-church American Protestant use (eg. S. Baptist, etc) delivered by kids or amateur friends.
NancyP
Oh, our choral budget is the (part-time) music director's salary and 2,000.00 a year for sheet music x 30 singers, some blank CDs for practice, some office supplies. How on earth could you spend a million bucks on any single concert? It isn't a new opera production at the Met.
ReplyDeleteNancyP
NaancyP, I'd say that's close to our budget. I can't imagine what you'd do with a million plus.
ReplyDeleteSusan, our church has a closet full of costumes sewed by parishioners over the years that the performers in the pageant can choose from. They're not elaborate, and they're washable, too.
Anonymous, I don't live anywhere near Ft. Lauderdale, so I can't go to see that production. However, I've spent my life in the Bible Belt, so I've been to, and heard of, many similar events.
ReplyDeleteThese overblown affairs do feed some, but it's the spiritual equivalent of those really big candy canes you see in the dime stores this time of year. They make you feel happy, warm and self-satisfied. But they contribute nothing to your understanding of Christ or why he came to earth. If anything, it distorts it.
I'll never forget what a local Assembly of God church did one year. The costumes looked like The Nativity by way of Star Wars. The next year they went back to very, very traditional.
I can't say that I miss never having had the experince of an extravaganza Christmas pageant.
ReplyDelete