NORTH JAVA — Madelyn King
delivers her lines during Saturday morning’s dress rehearsal for Holy Family
Parish’s nativity play.
As with multiple other
churches throughout the area, it’s a Christmas tradition and Madelyn, 11, is
among 15 young people participating. The message is a bit heavy at first, with
Madelyn playing a daughter talking with her mother about modern holiday
expectations and unrealistic goals
Then it segues into the
familiar story of Mary and Joseph, and Jesus Christ’s arrival in a Bethlehem
manger.
“We’ve been practicing for a
couple weeks,” Madelyn said. “It’s fun.”
The church’s Nativity play
was written by its religious education students, who range from 4 to 16 years
old. It was set to be performed Sunday, as part of the run-up to the Christmas
holiday.
Titled “A Christmas
Reminder,” it offered a younger person’s perspective in some ways — frazzled
parents and frantic smartphone calls, amid the holiday rush, while forgetting
the holiday’s religious reality and simple truth.
The young people had been
writing and rehearsing the play for several weeks, and it ended with “Silent
Night” and “Joy to the World.”
“I think they’re unique
kids,” said Molly Haungs, who helps teach religious education at the parish.
“They wanted to tell the Nativity story, but they wanted to tell in a way other
people would be able to relate to, and would be more meaningful. I think that
sometimes traditions allow things to get lost, and you can put a different
twist on it, and then it becomes something that’s more heartfelt ... That’s
what I think they were looking for.”
Likewise most of the
churches in the region as they celebrate Christmas.
Rev. Matt Kawiak, the
church’s pastor, said he thanked the kids, their parents and teachers for their
sacrifices and work throughout the process, including getting up early on a
Saturday morning for the dress rehearsal.
And the play indeed has
meaning for the wider congregation and community, he said.
“The adults who are going to
witness this tomorrow, I know they’re coming, even though they’re busy with
holiday shopping, Christmas cookies and parties,” Kawiak said. “I know they’re
coming with a lot of hurt and pain from their daily lives, and the purpose of
the Nativity scene is to bring hope to people’s lives. It isn’t about the parties
and buying the gifts. It’s about needing Jesus in our lives.
That can include anybody
from frazzled parents, to older people living alone, to people in broken
relationships, or who lost loved ones over the past year.
Kawiak said the church is
inviting anybody, of any faith or background, to attend the church’s Christmas
Mass at 4:30 p.m. today. Holy Family Parish is part of the Polish National
Catholic Church.
“The bottom line is the
nativity is a sign there is a God who cares about us and loves us, despite all
the brokenness and hurt in our lives,” Kawiak said.
