Christmas Angels

July 15  …  I am still in America, hoping to go back to Uganda the second week of August. I know that almost as soon as I return, we should begin preparations for our second Christmas cantata. Last year, we put on Noah’s Ark’s first ever cantata, a show called Mary Remembers presenting the Christmas story through song, dance, and drama. Though we had no idea how it would go and what to expect from the community, more than 5,000 people ended up coming and it was a greater success than we could have imagined. Last time, we started planning sometime in October, and things felt rushed toward the end. To avoid that, I expect a meeting shortly after I return. 

August 11  …  I return to Uganda. 

September 4  …  Someone mentions something about a cantata. It is decided that a second cantata will in fact happen this year. Someone else mentions that we should have a meeting as soon as possible. 

October 3  …  We hold a large meeting to discuss what went well from last year and what should be changed. The most persistent request from all children: Actors should be fed special food and should also get a gift. We take a moment to remind them that the reason we do the cantata is to share the Christmas message with community members. A few of them may have even heard what we said. Maybe. 

October 5  …  Four of us from last year’s leadership team meet to discuss the ideas expressed at the last meeting and see where to go from there. It is decided that the performance will be shorter this year, fully in Luganda (the local language), and have more singing and dancing and less talking to cater more to the high population of children we are expecting. I land the role of director again. I can’t recall if I volunteered for it. We are given three scripts to read to see if any might be appropriate for this show. This year there will be eight shows (last year we planned three and did four) over the course of four days to try and accommodate the 5,000 people we are expecting. 

October 12  …  The four of us meet again and choose a script. (I had not read any. I’m off to a good start.) The only roles that need filled are Mary and Joseph, so an audition date is set. A second director is chosen, which is good because as a director who doesn’t speak the language of the performance, I turned out to be rather useless in some areas. We choose our four angels, the only speaking parts, and they all accept. Things seem to be going rather well. 

October 23  …  Not a single person shows up to Mary and Joseph auditions. It is raining—barely—so we can pretend that is why. We hand pick the people we want. 

October 24  …  Auntie Tina tells me about an idea she has for an interpretive-ish-style dance involving the shepherds and wise men. It sounds like a neat idea to include them in a unique way. When she mentions that she’ll need someone to help her choreograph and train dancers because she doesn’t know very much, I list a few names who might be helpful. By the end of the meeting, somehow I have agreed to help her. Oops. 

October 31  …  After having ten children and teenagers in the ballet last year and many more who said they wanted to be involved, I have high hopes for my ballet auditions… until two eleven-year-old boys show up. That in itself is not the problem—the problem is that they are the only two who show up. The modern/freestyle/interpretive/hip-hop/something-or-other audition is a bit better (this dance will hereafter be called the modern dance). However, instead of lots of teenagers, we get eight pre-teen boys who are enthusiastic about learning hip-hop and nothing else. It is not exactly what we were hoping for, but at least they are interested. Meanwhile, I go on a search for last year’s ballerinas to try and talk them into performing again. Twelve people say yes! 

November 4  …  We hold our first rehearsal with the angels, and they are fantastic! We had provided them with English scripts, and they had translated it into Luganda in their own time. They spend most of the rehearsal reading through portions of scenes again and again, trying out different words and phrases to see which translation best encapsulates the original meaning behind the text. For the next month, we hold weekly lunch rehearsals. Even this is a sacrifice for them because three of them are teachers who have few resting moments throughout the day. I decide then and there to purchase a cow for each of them as a thank you when the cantata is finished. 

November 7  …  Three boys show up to the first modern dance rehearsal. 

November 8  …  Five ballerinas show up to the first ballet rehearsal. 

November 9  …  Tina informs me she has taken another job in Mbarara and will be moving to eastern Uganda in a couple of weeks. She claims she can still come back for rehearsals on the weekends to lead her dance. The claim turns out to be forty-six percent true. 

November 14  …  Six boys come to modern dance rehearsal. It turns out pre-teen boys can be kind of fun to teach. Awkward in motion, but fun. Seven girls (half of them different from last time) come late for ballet. I teach them as many basic moves as I can, and we have a good time. Things are looking up! 

November 15  …  All of my ballerinas show up late, so I ask them to devise a plan for coming on time next week. Jefta comes up with the winner: “At 2:30, before rehearsal, we will move around and find all the dancers and come as one big group on time.” It sounds good to me. “And for Sunday?” I ask. “We will meet at church,” says Leah. “No one will leave church and then we can come to the hut together to practice.” It seems as if next week will go better. 

November 21  …  Not a single ballerina shows up for rehearsal. 

November 22  …  Not a single ballerina waits for me after church. By the time I finish clearing chairs, they are all gone. The first one shows up to rehearsal at the hut twenty minutes later, slowly followed by five others. I give them a short lecture about keeping commitments and then fire them all and cancel the ballet. There is simply not enough time left for people to be so flippant about their responsibilities. 

November 23  …  I begin to regret canceling the ballet. Also that day, the music director, choir director and I have a meeting because we just realized the cantata is three weeks away and we have no choir. Better late than never, right? Especially considering the choir has four songs in the script. We post flyers with rehearsal times for the next two weeks and wait to see what happens. 

November 24  …  One item I am particularly excited about is the song Mary Did You Know?, sung by one of our teenagers as Gabriel and acted out by Mary and Joseph. Unfortunately, Gabriel is unable to come to our first rehearsal tonight. 

November 27  …  After approaching Brenda, one of last year’s ballerinas, about doing a dance with just the two of us, she agrees and we begin practicing the following day. She is a pleasure to work with—she listens, she practices on her own when I have to step aside for a minute, and she is willing to rehearse even more often than I think necessary. What a change! 

November 28  …  Gabriel misses another rehearsal. We are beginning to doubt his commitment. 

December 7  …  After Gabriel misses his fourth rehearsal (and the dress rehearsal is days away), the other director offers to play the part. He has a singing voice that surprises us all! He is a bit hesitant to volunteer, but also seems pleased in such a way that it seems he wanted to but was waiting for someone else to suggest it first. Hooray for multitalented uncles!

December 8  …  Tomorrow is the first rehearsal with the whole cast. 

“I’m scared for tomorrow,” I tell Zadock, the other director. He laughs. 

“Yeah, it will be interesting,” he says.

“They’re not ready. No one is ready.” 

He laughs again. 

“Well,” I say, “I guess something will happen tomorrow.” 

December 9  …  The rehearsal goes surprisingly well, meaning all the main characters show up only marginally late, thirty percent of the set and props are in place, and by the end of the day my voice is not shot from yelling. 

December 11  …  The dress rehearsal goes even better! Shoot, they say that’s a bad thing…

December 15  …  Performance number one! And two! It is remarkable to see the difference in children between practicing in jeans in front of an empty church and performing in costume in front of hundreds of people. They don't understand the eternal magnitude of what we are trying to do, but they know this is special, and for now that is enough. 

The show this year is entitled Christmas Angels because the story is told from the perspective of two angels in heaven discussing God’s perplexing choice to go to earth as a human to be with the people he loves. Our main characters sit atop a platform three meters in the air in the back of the church, while the singing and dancing takes place onstage in the front. 

After the opening song by a group of primary school children, Gabriel enters singing Mary Did You Know? while he, Mary, and Joseph act out the divine message and how the parents-to-be handle the news. By the end of the song, Mary is very pregnant with a cute little balloon baby stuffed under her costume. 

The choir moves the story along with several songs scattered throughout the performance, half in English and half in Luganda. During the ballet, Mary and Joseph travel to Bethlehem and settle down in the stable. 

It is during the traditional Maganda dance that the balloon baby is scooped out (as one Mary described her method of discretely giving birth onstage) and replaced by baby Jesus in the manger. The spirited dance is the perfect celebration of such an event.

In a lovely rendition of Silent Night, the choir brings the good news to the shepherds, after which the shepherds, wise men, and a widow honor Jesus through the modern dance. (Those boys and girl do such a great job!) 

The angels wrap up their lively dialogue, the choir sings their final song, and the gospel message is given in brief by the preacher of the day. After the performance, the audience is ushered out of the church and back to the compound gate, where every child receives an Operation Christmas Child shoebox before returning home. 

And then we do it all again…

December 16  …  Two more performances. 

December 17  …  Breathe…

December 18  …  Two more performances. 

December 19  …  Two more performances. As I prepare for the last one, our baby Jesus doll is nowhere to be found. There are a few dozen performers and workers in the church already, so I call out, “Has anyone seen Jesus?” My question is met with confused looks and blank stares until I realize the lack of context. “Sorry, I mean Jesus the doll… the baby who is supposed to be onstage… have you seen him?” We find a new doll just in time. The other has yet to be found. Who has two thumbs and manages to lose Jesus at Christmastime? This director.

There is talk of adding more performances the following week because somehow we forgot to invite our closest neighbors, the people living in the village of Nsambwe just outside the walls of the compound. (I cry a bit at the suggestion.) Instead, we pack the church today. After the last performance, I count 1,278 people walking out, but that does not include those who left early or managed to sneak out a side door. 

And. We. Are. Finished.

In the course of four days and eight shows, more than 8,000 people from the surrounding communities came to hear and see the Christmas message as told by our children, aunties and uncles. Well, that may be a bit misleading. I am sure many of them came to receive a shoebox. In the process, however, they were exposed to the greatest story ever told and our prayer is that seeds have been planted. In all likelihood we will probably never see the fruit of what God does through the cantata, but if we have a Father who loves us enough to send His only Son to dirty, messed-up earth—not just to live, but to die—then I think we can trust that we have a Father who loves these communities and these people enough to make sure His Word does not go unheard.

p.s. If any of you would like the chance to be a part of what God is doing here, feel free to come plan next year’s cantata! To avoid last-minute-ness, we will begin rehearsals in January… :)

p.p.s. If you want to watch a short video overview of the show, click right… here.

p.p.p.s. Like the photos? Credit goes to Christian Berkman.