Living Nativity opens today at Holiday in the Park

An event highlighting the Reason for the Season will open tonight at Holiday in the Park.

Central Baptist Church will present its Living Nativity today, Saturday and Sunday at the main entrance to Holiday in the Park. Now in its 11th year, the production — taking place this year with help from partners — is definitely a labor of love and an effort to share the reason for Christmas, said Kristie Weber, music and children’s ministries director for Central Baptist Church.

Weber said Living Nativity participants feel that the greatest gift of Christmas is the birth of Jesus, and as Christians, God calls them to go out and spread the word with others.

“This is one way we can do it,” she said, adding the beauty of the Living Nativity is that many people aren’t comfortable with speaking parts, “but they don’t mind standing there and acting it out” as they spread the true meaning of Christmas.

The production takes a lot of time and planning, Weber said. The Living Nativity takes two crews of actors, along with those who handle sound and lighting, music, food for the crew, and set up. All told, between 50 and 100 help produce the three-day event, she said.

This year, those people are coming from beyond Central Baptist Church. Participants in the 2024 Living Nativity include Central High’s Central Baptist Church, First Baptist West Church and students from Trinity Christian Academy.

Weber said she starts her work in October, explaining the coordination necessary on details such as signing people up for parts and ensuring costumes are ready to go. Details are important; Weber said while she tries to make the costumes for shepherds colorful, they can’t be too colorful.

“There wasn’t a lot of color in their lives. They were lowly people,” she said.

Setting up the site comes the weekend before production begins, meaning Living Nativity’s location already is evident at Holiday in the Park. And the cast is in place, to include those playing angels, wisemen, shepherds, and Mary and Joseph (the infant Jesus isn’t real because of uncertainties in the weather, Weber noted). There is a new cast member this year: Gabriel. Weber said Gabriel is mentioned multiple times in the Bible in association with the events of Christmas, and it was time he appeared in person. It’s not the first time a new cast member has been added. King Harod joined the cast two years ago because he, too, plays a prominent role in the story.

Then there’s the animal cast, who are just as important as the human one.

Living Nativity still has a Jacob’s sheep, although not one of the original ones from that first production in 2014, Weber said. She said it’s a bloodline that stretches back centuries, and of the three original sheep, only Frankincense is living (although he isn’t appearing in this year’s production; his role will be played by a female). Along with donkeys, the production’s camel (Magi) also is returning.

“She’s a character in herself,” Weber said, with a laugh, agreeing the animals definitely have their own personality.

Weber said the animals are provided by her sister and brother-in-law, who started Nativity Farms specifically to provide the animals needed for the Living Nativity, but have since expanded to other events. Each animal takes its name from Hebrew or the Bible, she said, adding some are multi-generational members of the production. For example, the first two parental donkeys in the production — Beth and her mate Laham — came with a baby named Star.

“She was pregnant,” Weber said of Beth, adding the unexpected but welcome news added baby Shepherd to the cast.

Human and animal cast members will combine to provide a 20-minute rotating production, with six rotations of scenes that will be narrated by former Central Baptist Church Pastor Dr. Keith Miles. Live music will be provided after each narration.