Capitol Christmas Pageant
At the very heart of downtown Madison, Wisconsin, is the state capitol building. Each year a group of local volunteers puts on a Christmas pageant with live orchestra, youth choirs singing traditional Christmas carols, and school kids and teens doing still-life scenes from the biblical Nativity. They tell the story of Jesus' birth through the music and images. It's a wonderful tradition, especially considering how secular this city is in many ways. This year, the 99th year of the pageant, we again took a group of international students and researchers as is our International Fellowship custom (not everyone who went is pictured in this photo). Terrell, our teammate in the red coat (far right) has a tradition of sharing and explaining the Christmas account from the Bible to the students who are not familiar with this true story while walking down State Street from the UW Memorial Union to the capitol building. When the lights are dimmed and the choirs are singing praise to the newborn King in the heart of Madison, it's a holy moment in a place and age so tinged with darkness. I hope and pray our students and friends could all sense the Spirit of God moving and speaking to all who would listen.
