NIPAWIN 鈥� Bethlehem Live returned to the Nipawin Alliance Church this year, after taking a two year break.
鈥淚t鈥檚 back by popular demand, if you were,鈥� said Joel Diamond, senior pastor with the Nipawin Alliance Church.鈥淲hy it鈥檚 kept going all these years is because they call up and they say 鈥榓re you doing Bethlehem Live this year?鈥� So a couple of years we didn鈥檛, we took a break, and it was like people were disappointed. So people keep it going.鈥�
Feedback didn鈥檛 just bring it back but also influenced the production.
鈥淭his one has been reduced a little bit because we鈥檝e had a lot of people coming through and the performance was about 30 minutes long and so now it鈥檚 just over 20 minutes long with some of the changes we鈥檝e made,鈥� Diamond said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just to try to get more people through because at times you could have an hour wait.鈥�
One of the reasons the Alliance Church puts on the play is to tell people about Jesus鈥� birth.
鈥淣ot everybody knows the real reason for the season and so you鈥檒l have people who understand Christmas to be about Santa Claus or giving gifts or Christmas trees. But it鈥檚 a time where we celebrate the birth of Christ, himself. So maybe not everybody understands that or maybe not the details to it, the importance to his birth. So that鈥檚 what we want to do here.鈥�
Telling the story of the birth of Jesus isn鈥檛 the only reason.
鈥淎lso it鈥檚 about getting people into the festivity of the season. So we want to encourage people by it.鈥�
The medium of visual arts is used so people remember.
鈥淧eople tend to remember things when they鈥檙e impacted not only verbally but emotionally, sights sounds, all the senses,鈥� Diamond said. 鈥淎nd so it can be a very good impact to a person in remembering what the point is. But also we live in a society that is very visual with entertainment with television and movies and everything, so acting is a way of communicating that message, I believe in a more powerful way.鈥�
The Alliance Church rotates between two different plays.
鈥淭he other one we do is with the wise men and it鈥檚 recorded they went on a long journey to find the Messiah,鈥� Diamond said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 sort of the two stories we like to tell that give the importance of Jesus鈥� birth, not only his actual birth but also how it was recognized by leaders that came and went on this long journey to see the king that was born.鈥�
This year the birth was chosen as the focus of the play for variety.
鈥淚f you tell the same story over and over it can be sort of done, so we want to encourage people to come back every year so we want to mix it up a little bit so we can tell the story a different way each year. Then also for our actors as well because once you鈥檝e gone through the script two or three nights it鈥檚 nice to change it after a couple of years.鈥�
The play was on Nov. 16 and 17.
For people that missed it this year Diamond suggested, 鈥渓ook for it next year鈥�.
