- Bethlehem Revisited, Life on the Farm, The Gift of Community, The Gift of People, The Gift of Vision, The Presence of God
Bethlehem Revisited
Ah, life feels more typical these days! Last Sunday, a menagerie of people from young to elderly filled our living /dining area. All of them with vital roles in the planning and execution of Bethlehem Revisited. Shut down for a year; once again, we are planning our annual Christmas event. Bethlehem Revisited is central to much that goes on here at the farm. Our grandchildren have grown up living through all of the stages: planning meetings, workdays, the days of the event, which usually begin early in the day with preparation for that day and into the late hours of closing down for each day, and the final clean-up afterward.…
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Anticipation Abounds!
Christmas comes early on the farm! Everyone here is knee-deep and prayer-deep in preparing for the thirty-first year of what has become Bethlehem Revisited. Anticipation fills our hearts as we grandparents along with our children and grandchildren are joined by our large community to worship and work together in bringing this narrative to life once again. Costumes hang in the barn separated into categories: Angels, market-place, shepherds, guides, children, Marys, Josephs. We have covered the paths with wood chips ready for hundreds of people to trudge up and down the hills. The tickets that sat in Judd’s office have been distributed to various outlets. Stock pens for all the animals…
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Third Phase: “Swihart Annual Christmas Pageant”
A terrible commotion was coming from behind the cabin. Our guide, Dr. Paddock, the Old Testament prof at Manhattan Christian College, had led our group down the small knoll, the journey lit only by the guide’s lantern. We had approached a small cabin, the staged home of Mary and Joseph. Through the window, we could discern a couple sitting at the table, apparently enjoying their evening meal. Immediately the source of the commotion became clear, as out of the darkness a white horse appeared, running full speed toward the onlookers. Wide-eyed the group gasped in unison. Before charging the onlookers head-on, the wild steed took a sharp left and disappeared…
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The Barn Doors Open (continued from last post)
The audience quieted as the knock came on the large, rolling barn door. Joseph was standing in the darkness. The innkeeper appeared in the large doorway, and Joseph, motioning to a pregnant Mary sitting on a donkey close behind him, began to explain their plight: “Please, sir, can you give us a room for the night? My wife is about to deliver, and we have nowhere to stay.” “Can’t you see,” shouted the surly innkeeper as he turned and waved with a sweeping arm across the audience, “we are full tonight.” Ah, we were finally on track. What was to be an experience of remembrance and worship was beginning to take…
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The First Nativity
We led the animals down the road, Judd holding the lead ropes to the horse and pony, and I with my bucket of grain for the sheep. The beam from the flashlight Judd held in his free hand lit the way through the darkness. At the bottom of the hill, we turned in to the pole shed area which had become the designated spot for our first nativity program. The pole shed area boasted of nice round bales that were stored in the shed. Those bales and the old shed would be the perfect area for our endeavor. With a concrete slab near the fence and feeding troughs along…
