Re-Creation of Bethlehem Marketplace Brings Christmas to Life

Some congregations will have live Nativity tableaux on church lawns for Christmas, but one church is providing a walk-through, sights, sounds and smells experience of the Bethlehem story drawn from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.

Few churchgoing volunteers have done it better than Jeff and Joan Holder, who expect thousands of visitors during the five nights of the display on the hillside grounds of the Church at Rocky Peak in Chatsworth.

This will be the fourth year at Rocky Peak that the Holders have run the Bethlehem marketplace, which includes the inn that had no room, the manger and the figures of Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, Roman centurions, shepherds, Wise Men and assorted animals.

For seven previous years, the couple directed a Bethlehem marketplace for Valley Community Church in Van Nuys, a congregation that has since closed. “We were thrilled when 200 people came to one of the first ones at Valley Community,” said Jeff Holder, a vice president of Sony Wonder, the children’s program division of Sony.

Last year at the Church at Rocky Peak, about 7,000 people viewed the scenes.

“We always try to add a new feature each year,” said Jeff Holder. This year it will be Jewish folk dancing.

“Joan had the idea a few years ago to let the visitors ‘buy’ bread-dough decorations and other objects with fake shekels they receive when they arrive,” he said.

“We have a cast of about 80 people who are either talking to each other or to visitors and acting as if the time was two [millenniums] ago.”

The Church at Rocky Peak, whose senior pastor is David Miller, is a nondenominational evangelical congregation at 22601 Santa Susana Pass Road. The Bethlehem event, which began Friday, will continue through Tuesday, from 7 to 9 each night. Free. (818) 709-0113.

For those who want to stay in their cars, Westminster Presbyterian Church in Pasadena will offer its eighth annual “Roads to Bethlehem” tableaux tonight and Sunday night.

“What started as a small project with just a few members of our congregation has grown into a production involving hundreds of volunteers from all over the area,” said Tineke Switzer, program coordinator.

Eight scenes tell the Nativity story, from “The Annunciation” to “The Stable.” The free event will be open from 6 to 10 both nights. The church is at 1757 N. Lake Ave., but cars enter the parking lot off Atchison Street. (818) 794-7141.

*

GRANTS

A Jewish anti-hunger agency based in Los Angeles reported giving $2 million in grants during 1997, including $251,500 to 32 nonprofit organizations in California. MAZON (“food” in Hebrew) is one of the largest privately supported philanthropic organizations seeking to combat hunger and poverty, said Mark C. Levy, who heads the agency’s board of directors.

The recipients included: Public Counsel in Los Angeles, which got $15,000 for its Homeless Assistance Project that provides free legal services to the needy; St. Joseph Center in Venice, which received $14,000 to assist low-income families; and the Los Angeles Coalition to End Hunger and Homelessness, which was given $12,000 toward the salary of a legislative liaison trying to lessen the impact of food stamp cuts on the poor. Groups receiving $10,000 each included the Orange County Community Development Council in Garden Grove, El Rescate in Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank.

*

CHRISTMAS MUSIC

The Christmas opera “Amahl and the Night Visitors” by Gian Carlo Menotti will be performed at 3 p.m. Sunday at Westwood United Methodist Church, 10497 Wilshire Blvd., under the direction of Richard Rintoul. Donations $10 and $5 at the door.

* Vivaldi’s “Gloria” will be presented in at least two churches this weekend. The concert choir of Vallejo Drive Seventh-day Adventist Church will sing the classical work at 4 p.m. today at the church, 300 Vallejo Drive, Glendale. (818) 246-2476. The Norwalk United Methodist and Community Congregational Church choirs will jointly present the piece at the Congregational church, 4111 Katella Ave., Los Alamitos, at 10 a.m. Sunday. (562) 598-4266.

* Hollywood’s Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, 6657 Sunset Blvd., will offer a Christmas concert at 7:30 p.m. today. The program, including works by Schubert, Bach and Handel, will be directed by Christoph Bull. $5 donation. (213) 462-6311.

* The 37th Festival of Lights at First Baptist Church of Los Angeles, 760 S. Westmoreland Ave., at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, will tell the story of Christmas through music, word, tableau and candle lighting. Music Director Sandra Rogers will lead the Cathedral Choir. (213) 384-2151.

* A 100-voice choir and a 28-piece orchestra will be featured in “Voices of the Season,” a Christmas concert at 8 p.m. today at Sts. Simon and Jude Catholic Church, 20444 Magnolia St., Huntington Beach. $5 and $3 at door. (714) 962-3333.

* A sing-along presentation of the Christmas portions of Handel’s “Messiah” will be held at 6 p.m. Sunday at Lake Avenue Church, 393 N. Lake Ave., Pasadena. Duane Funderburk will direct the church’s chamber orchestra and soloists. Participants without a musical score may purchase one in the church lobby. (626) 795-7221.

*

HOLIDAYS

A bilingual neighborhood posada--a walk following two children dressed as Mary and Joseph as they “search for a room”--will be staged at 4 p.m. today by Immanuel Presbyterian Church, 3300 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. Participants will sing until they reach their final stop at the church, where they will share food, a Mexican Christmas punch, pinatas and more singing. (213) 389-3191.

* Two Religious Science congregations will combine Hanukkah and Christmas observances in upcoming services. The Hollywood Church of Religious Science will celebrate the two holidays in its 11 a.m. service Sunday at 7677 Sunset Blvd. (213) 876-2260. The Burbank Church of Religious Science will have a candle-lighting service at 11 p.m. Wednesday, which is Christmas Eve as well as the second night of Hanukkah. The church is at 260 N. Pass Ave. (818) 848-4158.

* For those who are more sad than glad at Christmastime, Garden Grove United Methodist Church, 12741 Main St., is offering a “Blue Christmas Service” at 7 p.m. Sunday. “Come as you are in dress, emotion and spirit,” said a spokesman. (714) 534-1070.

*

FINALLY

About 400 young Jews in Los Angeles will spend their day off on Christmas at one of 30 sites to help or comfort those who might otherwise be alone.

They are part of the Jewish Federation Council’s “Tikkun L.A.,” named after the Hebrew word for “repair.” Fifty volunteers will be assigned to the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Medical Center, said project co-chair Phyliss Steinberg.

“With more than 300 patients, male and female, in the hospital for long-term care, they can really use some holiday cheer,” said Steinberg, adding that the offerings range from manicures to magic tricks.

The volunteer day will conclude at 3:30 p.m. with the premiere performance at the Westside Pavilion of “Rabin,” an orchestral work by pop music producer-composer Aaron Zigman. Dedicated to the memory of the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated two years ago, the five-movement piece will be performed by the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony in a free concert. The event will end with a Hanukkah candle-lighting ceremony led by Rabbi Harvey Fields of the Wilshire Boulevard Temple. (213) 761-8241.

*

HANUKKAH

Jewish families will light the first candle of Hanukkah Tuesday night at the start of the eight-night ritual recalling the rededication of the Jerusalem temple 21 centuries ago. The home celebrations, while focused on the Hanukkah lamps called menorahs, also include gifts and games for children and holiday foods such as potato pancakes.

Some public lighting ceremonies on Tuesday will take place at malls--from a 4 p.m. ceremony at Fashion Island in Newport Beach to a 7 p.m. event at the Oaks Mall in Thousand Oaks.

In a musical prelude to the holiday, the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony, conducted by Noreen Green, will perform the “Hanukkah Festival Overture” by Lucas Richman, among other works, at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at Valley Beth Shalom, 15739 Ventura Blvd., Encino. General admission is $22. (818) 753-6681. Also Sunday, rabbi and comic Robert A. Alper and entertainer Craig Taubman will be featured in a Hanukkah concert at 2 p.m. at the Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa. Prices vary. (714) 755-0340.

On Thursday, the Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd. in the Sepulveda Pass, will host “Hanukkah Pajamika,” a concert featuring Taubman and children’s activities from 4 to 6 p.m. Tickets $10 and $5. Registration required. (213) 660-8587.

In another nod to youth, “rock ‘n’ roll Hanukkah music” under the direction of Cantor Alan Weiner, will be a part of Temple Beth Hillel’s Shabbat service at 7:30 p.m. Friday at 12326 Riverside Drive, North Hollywood. Free. (818) 763-9148.