Nativity Pageant Reprise in Pandemic, hosted by Dean Thomason

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SUNDAY, DECEMBER 20, 7 P.M., via YouTube live premiere; Community Zoom afterparty to follow.

Missing the Christmas Pageant this year? The delight of little angels, the sweet sounds of children’s voices, Magi processions, and three choirs gathered? Want to sing your carols as part of the experience? Pageants are an ancient way of telling the sacred story—a way that nourishes us deeply.

Join Dean Thomason and others in the cathedral community as we experience a prayerful telling of the Nativity through the familiar cycle of readings from scripture, with musical reflections and congregational carols selected from the cathedral's pageants of 2015, '16, '17, '18, and '19.

Then, let's gather together in a Zoom "afterparty" to share our thoughts as we turn into the week that leads to Christmas. All are welcome.

Download the service leaflet here.

Watch the video premiere on YouTube at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGXCSGb1xY8 or in the player above.


About The Pageant of the Nativity

Over 5 years ago, the leadership of Saint Mark's Cathedral formulated a vision of a new kind of Christmas Pageant, bringing together the choirs and children of the community with costumes of cathedral finery, visual art displayed within cathedral architecture, and special instrumental accompaniment to reflect upon the Nativity of Christ as told in Holy Scripture.

Saint Mark's Pageant of the Nativity is not a re-enactment of a single event in history, but rather a reflection and meditation on a sacred story which has spoken to people around the world and across the ages. The hymns and carols sung by the assembly, and the anthems offered by the choirs, have ranged from medieval chant to 21st-century world premieres. The visual images of the pageant reference art spanning the centuries, from Byzantine icons through Renaissance masters to the Victorian age and beyond. So while the stable in Bethlehem certainly did not contain fine velvet and brocade, we clothe our pageant in the most beautiful finery the cathedral has to offer, in order that we might offer of our best to the Christ Child today. It is the hope that, each year, the readings from Holy Scripture, imagery, and music bring new insight into the coming of the Prince of Peace, the incarnation of God among us.

Video and leaflets from previous years' pageants may be seen here.

Click the photos below to enlarge:

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