Mark Bishop
Singing News Article
December 2007
December has typically been the month
when many of the traveling Gospel Music groups and artists take
some time off the road to enjoy some time at home. After a year of
traveling to and fro, across the country and back again, this
time is much needed and well deserved.
Like many of my friends and "co-workers" in Gospel music, I tend
to travel and sing the first couple of weekends in December, then
take the holidays off. As much as I enjoy singing to folks, it's
very fun for me to sit in an audience and watch someone else sing
too. I enjoy the children's Christmas programs at church. How can
you not like shepherd's dressed up in bath robes?
Little angels dressed in white sheets and tinsel halos are just
the medicine that any soul needs to get in the holiday spirit.
"Silent Night" is a song that never gets old, and if it is being
sung by children, it's all the better.
So the practices are all done and the stage mothers make
last-minute adjustments to wardrobes. They find their seats with
their families just as the lights in the sanctuary go dim. The
Pastor thanks all for coming and for the hard work that these
beautiful children have done to prepare for this Christmas play.
Before long we are treated to the sight of a pre-teen version of
Mary and Joseph, making their way across the lonely desert, in
search of a place to rest. We meet the Inn-keepers who have no
room. We meet the three wise men who have followed a star. The
star is made of tin foil and it twirls from the breeze of a
ceiling fan but we are all able to suspend our cynicism. This is
Christmas.
Somewhere in the middle of the play. I look around the room at all
of the smiling faces with eyes transfixed on the stage. Parents
and grandparents, people with their families and some who have no
one, all watch the low budget drama before them. There are moments
when everyone giggles because a child is just too cute. There are
a few times when everyone can't help but sing along. "Away In a
Manger" and 'Oh Little Town of Bethlehem". The singing is soft and
sweet. The children are adorable even though there is always that
one child, you know the one, who isn't able to stand still for too
long.
He's usually the shepherd in the back pulling his robe up over his
head. After that he begins to pull on the angel's wings.
The grand finale has everyone gathered on stage. The manger sits
in the middle and all of our children and grand children stand or
kneel around it. One child begins it and the others join in as they
sing that song that never gets old. And oddly enough, except for
the singing, the place does go silent. The giggles and the
fidgeting have stopped. The parents move their lips along with
those timeless words, their eyes transfixed on their little ones.
Mary and Joseph look adoringly at their own new child. The
shepherds and wise men are bowed down.
The star that is made of tin foil still twirls slowly in the
breeze but no one really notices that. Because after all, this is
Christmas.
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