Living nativity for Ballyjamesduff
Kildrumferton Group Parishes present a unique event to help set the atmosphere and tone for Christmas with a family day that brings the nativity to life. Rev Mark Smith says the parishioners of the three churches - Ballymachugh, Ballyjamesduff and Kildrumferton- will host the family friendly event in the week before Christmas: “We are running the event the Saturday before Christmas, Saturday December 18,” he told the Celt.
Held in the ground of the church in Ballyjamesduff, the idea is to present a “living nativity”.
“It’s aimed a families, and particularly children,” Reverend Smith tells the Celt, “They will be able to attend a number of little nativity scenes where the visitors can meet characters from the nativity story. They will be able to interact with them to get their view on the Christmas story. They can have a chat about Jesus and his birth, what is really the heart of Christmas.”
Rev Mark is eager to include as many people in the day as possible: “There will be tea, coffee, biscuits and hopefully some mince pies as well. It will be all outside, and Covid safe. We are praying for good weather, but it will go head even if people have to bring a brolly with them.”
The Kildrumferton Group Parish cleric emphasised the ecumenical nature of the day: “It’s all free, we would be grateful for donations, but we know the financial pressures people feel at Christmas time. We love given something free to the community where they don’t have to worry where the next Euro is coming from.”
Rev Mark explained where the intriguing idea came from: “I’ve only been in Ballyjamesduff the last six months. Last Christmas I was in England. The church I was working in ran a similar event. In the normal course of events, we would do a nativity play but, because of the restrictions last year, we had to do a play that was socially distanced. The idea we came up with was these individual pods where families could go around and have nativity experiences.”
Restrictions in the UK were that people could only gather in groups of six: “Our groups were of six people, they would go from pod to pod and build up the nativity story. We realised we had to do something different. We wanted to show that Christmas was not cancelled, so we adapted to the circumstances. We created something that was a blessing to our community, and welcomed people in and shared what we think is great news at Christmas. It’s about shining a light in the darkness.”
The following Sunday (December 19) at 5pm they plan to have a carol service by candlelight, but obviously this is dependant on government regulations for gatherings. If there are indoor restrictions Rev Mark says the carol service may move outdoors: “We will follow whatever regulations are in place, but we are keen to press on with celebrating Christmas.”