Terry's Picks December 2020
This is the column in which West Michigan Christian News writer Terry DeBoer surveys the landscape for the area's faith-inspired arts/entertainment/enrichment events over the coming month.In the spirit of 2020, let's go virtual for December! Here are a few online possibilities:
*Christmas Vespers at Hope College: For the first time in its 80-year history, the annual vespers service has been pre-recorded and will be streamed via the Internet beginning at 7:30pm Sat. Dec. 5. Besides the various musical ensembles, a "virtual choir" of alumni and community members linked together will take the place of an in-person congregation. Art, dance and theatre students will also participate. Recording took place on campus in both Dimnent Memorial Chapel and the Jack H. Miller Center for Musical Arts. View the hour-long completed program at the college Youtube channel. It will remain available online into the new year.
*The Calvin University Gospel Choir, in connection with the Calvin Institute of Worship, presents a worship experience at 8pm Dec. 11, streamed from the Institute's Youtube channel.
Music and testimonies from students are featured. The choir is under the direction of Prof. Nate Glasper Jr.
*Master Arts Theatre (MAT) presents a virtual "Vintage Christmas" from Dec. 17-31. The actors present a radio theatre adaptation of the O. Henry story "The Gift of the Magi." It includes the 1953 Christmas episode from "Father Knows Best."
The production is via streaming video from the MAT website. Tickets are $5 and provide access to the show for the entire run. Tickets online: . Box office phone (616)-455-1001.
As you might anticipate, the pandemic has prevented several Living Nativity displays this Christmas season. Brookside Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Ballad Church of Christ in Sparta and Jenison Bible Church in Hudsonville have all canceled their programs in 2020.
But here's something new – instead of having its normal indoor "Nativity Walk" this year, Trinity Lutheran Church in Muskegon has partnered with three other area churches for a "Drive-Thru Nativity."
It's scheduled for 6 to 8pm on Fri. Dec. 18 (Dec. 20 is the back-up date). Patrons will begin by driving to St. Gregory's Episcopal Church, 1150 Seminole Rd. in Norton Shores. There they will get a pamphlet with scripture and a map. And the adventure begins! Also participating are nearby Breakwater Church of the Nazarene (also on Seminole Rd.), Calvin Christian Reformed Church on West Norton Ave. in Muskegon and Trinity Lutheran on Roosevelt Road. For more info text 231-670-1049.
