A walk-through nativity play in Randpark Ridge

Honeyridge Baptist Church in Randpark Ridge heralds the festive season with a Walk-through Living Nativity, each evening from 30 November to 2 December.

“The Christmas story is well-known, but it’s one thing to read or hear a story, and quite another to actually experience the sights, sounds and smells as well.

So imagine, if you will, the entire church campus transformed into the town of Bethlehem and its surrounds at the time of Jesus’ birth; and join this journey into the past,” said Pastor David Birkholz.

The story begins hundreds of years before the time of Jesus with the prophecy about His birth.

The angel Gabriel appears to Mary and tells her that she will be with child. In keeping with events of the time, everyone is commanded to go to Bethlehem to be counted in the census.

On the way, audiences will pass shepherds, who are warming their hands at a fire as they keep watch over their sheep.

An angel appears to them and tells them of the baby born that night in Bethlehem who is Christ the Lord.

Audiences will travel further to Bethlehem and are drawn into the hustle and bustle of the marketplace, experiencing the authentic sounds and smells as the locals peddle their wares, before finding the manger and Mary and Joseph with their baby boy surrounded by the stable animals, the shepherds coming to worship the child and the wise men offering their gifts.

The story will be told by narrators and the characters themselves, as groups of people move through the scenes every few minutes.

This is a free event for the whole family, with guided tours leaving at regular intervals between 6.30pm and 8.30pm. Food, coffee and soft drinks will be on sale this year.

Details: Honeyridge Baptist Church, livingnativity@honeyridge.co.za or 083 501 3522.