 Andrew Dunsire & Graham McDonald with the puppets
The
annual Hope4Penicuik Christmas Carol Concert in the town Hall attracted
friends and families from across Penicuik and beyond. Penicuik
Silver Band, Andrew Dunsire and Graham McDonald provided the
musical accompaniment. Joan Cape led the event with readings and
stories of Christmas, all supported by our very own Penicuik Puppets.
To open the evening the Silver Band led us in that favourite Christmas carol, 'Hark the herald angels sing'.
Joan
Cape welcomed the visitors and noticed a little fox had arrived,
swiftly followed by its owner Mrs Grumpy. As usual she had
her disparaging thoughts about Christmas, complaining that we were
doing
‘all that old stuff again!’ After some discussion Mrs
Grumpy agreed , with some grumbling, to listen to our story.
Joan
Cape began with a John Betjeman poem 'Advent 1955' This tells of
all the hustle and bustle that seems to go with Christmas, cards,
presents, some to people we scarcely know or remember! The poem
then reminds us suddenly that Christmas is;
A
present that cannot be priced, Given two thousand years ago,Yet if God
had not given so, He still would be a distant stranger, And not the
Baby in the manger.
Silver Band play for our praise
We
then sang together, with the help of the puppets the Fischy music
'In the darkness, sharing God’s Christmas light', followed by Ann
Dunsire with our first reading from Luke chapter 2.
 After
a short video Andrew Dunsire on guitar and Graham Mcdonald on piano led
us in the popular carol, 'Away in a Manger', which was quickly followed
by the Silver Band and 'Still the night'. The video story continued
after which Rev Nick Bowry continued the reading of Luke chapter 2.
The
Silver Band once more took to the floor to lead us in 'O little town of
Bethlehem'. followed by Andrew and Graham leading us in 'Angels from
the realms of glory'.
Joan has another discussion with the
puppets, with Mrs Grumpy feeling a bit more cheery now! Joan said that
it got even better, asking 'what did the shepherds do next?'
After
our final reading from Luke chapter 2 read by David McGavin, we decided
to have a bit of a party too. Graham led us into an alternative version
of the 12 days of Christmas, by Michael Perry. The Silver Band
then took over with 'Ding dong merrily on high'.
We then watched
a video of the Sehpherd's story, before Andrew and Graham played for us
to accompany 'Love came down at Christmas', by Bryn Haworth. We then
joined to sing 'Sing for the baby at Bethlehem' one of Andrew Dunsire's
own compositions.
 Peter
Wood told us the story of Christmas introducing a range of modern
characters and objects, some chosen by children in the audience.
Starting with the time travelling Tardis from Doctor Who, Batman for
rescuing from criminals, as was Indiana Jones, Scooby Doo, Captain Jack
Sparrow, Iron Man, Gandalf, Captain America, Spiderman, and Harry
Potter! All our super hero's were lined up on the table.Two late
arrivals, stormtroopers arrived from a galaxy far, far, away were
added. A full house of super hero's to the rescue. But God didn't do
that, send a team of super hero's to save us!
Instead he sent
a young girl, called Mary. She was the heroine of our story. What about
Joseph, is he a super hero? No, he is a carpenter. Did God announce the
coming of Jesus in the local press, or the Town Crier? No, the first
people to know were shepherds, a pretty dodgy group at that time. Then
we saw the wise men. How did they know? So this was the real
'dream team' One more character to complete the story, the baby
Jesus, who came to rescue mankind. To show us how to have hope not
despair. This was God's rescue plan, the Christmas story. Peter
closed the story with a prayer.
The Alternative Nativity scene
Joan closed the evening by thanking all those involved, and wished everyone a Happy Christmas.
The
Silver band then led us in our closing praise 'Joy to the world',
followed by 'O come all you faithful'.
The
team wish everyone a very merry Christmas and look forward to welcoming
you to Messy Church new year season starting January 2020.
For all the Christmas events click HERE
Published 10 December 2019
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Rev Nick Bowry
David McGavin 
