Capitol Christmas Choir and Live Nativity
Our teammate Terrell and I took a group of East Asian students and visiting scholars to a wonderful event held every year for almost 100 years at Wisconsin's state capitol building. Volunteer choirs sang traditional Christmas carols around the rotunda, telling the Christmas account from Scripture through music and colorful live nativity scenes. When I asked attendees what they thought of the production, one scholar asked me if the adjective 'holy' was an appropriate way to describe the experience. I responded that, yes, it was a holy moment indeed...
Afterwards, we went back to our teammate Sarah's apartment for refreshments, singing carols together, and learning more about the story of Immanuel, God with us, coming to be with people like us on the very first Christmas. Seeing the Christmas account from the Bible through their fresh eyes, as they learned the depths of God's wonderful saving acts in the incarnation for the first time, brought me to tears. No cultural consumerism Christmas can match the beauty and simplicity of the Christmas presented in the Gospels.
