Sunday School children perform a dance routine.
Photo by Nelson A. King
Joycelyn King, the Antiguan-born coordinator of the Children’s Christmas Pageant at Fenimore Street United Methodist Church (FSUMC), says the third annual event on Sunday, Dec. 21, was joyous.
“In St. Luke, chapter 2, the angels told the shepherds that the birth of Jesus was ‘good news’. That ‘good news’ brought ‘Joy to the World’,” King, the church’s lay leader and deputy superintendent of the Sunday School, told Caribbean Life.
“Christmas is a time for joy,” she added. “In our world today, there is much to distract us from that joy. Our message this year at our annual Christmas Pageant is to remind everyone that joy shows up when we help others, share a smile, offer a kind word, or fellowship together as a church family.”
On Sunday, King said the children “once again, shared their talents through singing, reciting Christmas poems, playing piano pieces, and role-playing the shepherds and angels scenes.
“We celebrated our inter-generational annual event, with the whole church participating in the singing,” she said, stating that the offertory collected will be donated to Trinity Methodist Church in Anchovy, St. James, Jamaica, which lost its roof during the recent passage of Hurricane Melissa.
“We are praying for the children in Haiti, Cuba, and Jamaica impacted by the hurricane,” she added. “The message of joy rang out loud and clear, as we closed the evening with singing, ‘Joy to the World.’”
Jamaican-born Sunday School Superintendent Gail Murray also told Caribbean Life: “In the words of one parishioner who watched our Christmas Pageant program on YouTube while recovering from the flu, ‘Kudos, kudos, kudos.’
“Our Sunday School students, along with several of our Bible Study adults, took to the stage to present their poems, piano solos, songs, and this year’s Christmas Pageant, titled ‘Joy to the World’.
“The theme centered on remembering the victims of Hurricane Melissa—especially children across Cuba, Haiti, and Jamaica—and reflecting on the true joy of Christmas: Jesus Christ,” Murray added. “This year’s offering was dedicated to Trinity Methodist Church in Anchovy, St. James, Jamaica, which lost the roofs of its sanctuary and Fellowship Hall but continues to worship faithfully under a canopy of tarps serving as a temporary covering.”
At the program’s close, Murray gave heartfelt acknowledgement to everyone who contributed to its success, with special recognition for King.
“Sis. King’s faithfulness, organizational gifts, and commitment to keeping our children at the heart of the program truly brought this year’s celebration to life,” she said.
The three-part program also included a litany for children, prayers in English, Haitian Creole, and Spanish, and the play “Joy to the World,” in which members of the church participated.
The pageant was preceded by the Sunday Worship Service, with the pastor, the Rev. Roger Jackson, delivering the sermon, “An Uninvited, But Welcomed Visitor.”
Pastor Jackson played Caesar Augustus during the Children’s Christmas Pageant.
On the fourth Sunday of Advent, he said the lectionary draws attention to the means by which Jesus Christ came to be God “with us in human form,” basing the text on Matthew 1, 18-25.
“Advent is not only a time to remind ourselves to expect the second coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; Advent is also a season to expect God to do in us and with us the unexpected for His glory, while we wait for the second coming of the world’s Messiah,” he preached. “And we shouldn’t mind it at all when God chooses to use us because our faith informs us that all things are working for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose.
“The miracle of faith was on display not only in the act of the immaculate conception and Mary’s faith to believe that it was possible, but it also was a miracle that, after having a dream where Joseph was visited by an angel, that he, too, consented and went along with God’s divinely designed the program of redemption,” Pastor Jackson added.
“I don’t know of any man, myself included, who would have had the level of faith that Joseph had,” he continued. “This just shows you and me that God knows who to use and when to use each of us for His glory.”
“Both Mary and Joseph experienced angelic visitations, and what they heard from the Lord brought them peace of heart and peace of mind,” Pastor Jackson said.