McCandless church imagines a night in Bethlehem

A local church makes visiting Bethlehem a whole lot easier.

St. John’s Lutheran Church of Highland on Cumberland Road in McCandless is hosting a realistic re-imagining of the first Christmas in “Take a Visit to Bethlehem,” on Dec. 3-4 and Dec. 10-11.

The event is free.

Folks can drop in anytime between 1 and 4 p.m. St. John’s entire lower level will be transformed into a reenactment of what life was like during the night when Mary and Joseph stopped at Bethlehem on their way to a required census count ordered by Caesar Augustus. As the story has been told, Mary gives birth to Jesus in a stable as there was no room at any inn for her and her husband Joseph.

“They can experience what things were like that first Christmas and get a sense of what life was like at that time,” said Kari Smail, pastor at St. John’s.

The event occurs every two years at the church, with the exception of 2020 due to the pandemic.

Visitors will interact with beggars, Roman soldiers, merchants, and prisoners. They’ll also watch villagers stomp on real grapes at a vineyard. And there may be some prophets talking about a “ruler coming out of Bethlehem,” Smail said.

They’ll meet busy innkeepers with absolutely no extra room and a real Baby Jesus, said Smalls, who used her own baby as the holy infant in 2006.

As one enters, they’ll be given a Roman coin from event greeter Michael Sheleheda, of McCandless, “to pay their tax.” Sheleheda provides a short introduction to visitors. Then guests make their way through the makeshift village of Bethlehem.

Actors are usually members of the congregation, like Sheleheda, who started participating in the reenactment in 2012 with his family.

“At that time (my) boys were little, and they liked stomping the grapes and being ‘prisoners’ in the jail from spreading the word about the baby being born. As the boys got older, they both enjoyed being beggars,” he said.

Sometimes Sheleheda played the innkeeper, where he made sure his “beard was a little more scruffy in the weeks leading up to the event.”

John Miller, of McCandless, a church member, is reprising his role as the vineyard owner.

“I oversee the operations of the vineyard and, more importantly, the children that stomp the grapes,” Miller said.

The reenactors are provided a script to follow, according to Miler.

“I follow it loosely and tend to improvise my conversations with the visitors. We focus on life in the vineyard, the roles of the workers and family members, and the excitement of the birth of the baby,” Miller said.

“Interacting with the visitors is key. You have to make sure you do not come out of character and answer as the role you play, not a member of the church. Sometimes that makes people mad. It is comical, sometimes. I try to always bring a sense of humor to the roles I play,” he said.

With all of the hustling of the holidays, this brings it all back to the beginning.

“It’s a reminder that the event we’re celebrating is the gift of Emmanuel,” Smail said. “One of the greater blessings of the visit to Bethlehem is that it brings people together.”