I love Christmas pageants; children dressed as Mary & Joseph, adults reading the lessons and the congregation singing the carols. I know I am not alone in this Christmas pleasure, but have you ever asked how they came to be. Let me tell you a story…
The Middle Ages are roughly considered to be from the 11th to 15th centuries. A turbulent time in history marked by war, this medieval era saw the rise of many great European castles and cathedrals. It was a feudal time with Lords and Ladies ruling over peasants who far outnumbered them. Some believe the literacy rate in what we would now call Great Britain was about 2 percent of the population, primarily the Lords and limited Clergy. Catholicism was the state religion, but how to teach the faith to an illiterate population with most priests also unable to read? The Middle Ages saw the rise and development of Mystery Plays which told stories of the Bible and the saints who shared the faith. These plays were performed publicly and were very popular until about the time of Henry VIII as he thought them too Catholic.
The absence of the then outlawed, but popular, plays provided an opening for renaissance plays which no longer told the story of the faith, but of people and often politics. The English Renaissance began not long after the renaissance of Italy birthed by the masters; Leonardo de Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael. Roughly considered to be from the 15th to the 17th century this was the time of William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe. “All the world” was a stage and each an actor upon it. Plays once again became commonly available but with much broader topics as can be seen in the great playwrights of the era; yet The English Church did not embrace the new theatre. In a Bavarian village, however, the medieval mystery play ascended to an unprecedented level as the village of Oberammergau performed for the first time their Passion Play. In 1633 nearly every family in the village had experienced a death due to the plague and they “vowed to perform every ten years at the town’s cemetery, a Passion play depicting the suffering and dying of Christ if there would be no more deaths by the pestilence. ” They have missed only one of these since that time 4 centuries ago, it was 1940 and they were caught up in WWII.
As plays became more secular the church focused more on music, laying the groundwork for the 18th century. Handel’s Messiah written in 1741 was commissioned as a fundraiser by a group of Christian charities from Dublin, Ireland, who asked him to compose a new work for a benefit performance that would help free men from debtors’ prison. A friend, Charles Jennens had given him a libretto he had written telling the life story of Jesus, which inspired the content for the “fundraiser.” He wrote it in 24 days. In 1749 a London hospital held a fundraiser, according to one history, “a mix of new music as well as older pieces including the “Hallelujah” chorus.”
In 1878 a local pastor in Cornwall tried to come up with a Christmas Service interesting enough to keep the men out of the pubs and draw them back to the church. It seemed to work and the Dean of King’s College, who had been a Chaplain in WWI was convinced “that the Church of England needed to make its worship more accessible, and he saw the Festival of Lessons and Carols as a step in that direction.” The choir of King’s College has performed it every year since.
I believe all of these things taken together are what have led to the creation of the modern day Cantata performed in churches around the world each Christmas season, but also the humble and beloved Children’s Christmas Pageant.
Why I am writing this article in the midst of summer’s heat and not December? Because now is the time when we begin rehearsing! The Middletown Community United Methodist Church invites any member of the community to join us for a traditional, unique and contemporary choir. The music will range from the Middle Ages to Modern Day (Renaissance costumes will be provided). Rehearsals will be Thursdays at 5:30 each week in September, October and November with the performance on Sunday, December 3 at 3 p.m. Our Youth Choir will begin rehearsal for this year’s pageant “That Starry Night” on September 7 for their December 10 performance. All are welcome, but you are requested to pre-register to be in either choir so that we may order enough copies of the music.
Pastor Shannon is the Director of the Methodist Youth Choir and serves as the Mentor Pastor for Middletown and Kelseyville United Methodist Churches.
