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10th December
The pandemic has taken over our lives - from lockdowns to Christmas restrictions, it has defined 2020 and will certainly make this Christmas one to remember for all the wrong reasons. But if Jesus had been born during this pandemic, would anyone have noticed? That's the question posed in a very special nativity play that is being launched today in Poole.
And as we read behind our 10th Advent Window of Comfort and Joy, from fishermen to local shopkeepers, everyone is taking about a certain couple that have just arrived in the town.
'Away in a Manger'
Canon Lucy Holt Rector and Rural Dean, Poole and North Bournemouth
If Jesus came to Poole, would anyone notice? How would social media tell the story? Would it make it onto the local television news? These questions are behind the script for a special 2020 Poole Quay Nativity.
For the past 2 years, our outdoor nativity has attracted large crowds and featured local people as our cast, but Covid restrictions meant such a large-scale performance was not going to be possible this year. So instead I started to think about how we could embrace the restrictions and tell the nativity story in today's socially-distanced world.
The result is our Poole Quay Nativity 2020, which is told in the form of a news report that is gathering information from social media and interviews with local eyewitnesses.
We actually have people joining in from all over the locality, in fact most aren't church people at all.
So we have the owners of the local sweet shop and the pub landlord from the Rope and Anchor - we have for the last 2 years used this pub for our live nativity, with the innkeeper shouting out of the upstairs window at Mary and Joseph.
We have a couple from the Poole Lifeboat crew - for the last 2 years, they have acted as stewards dressed in their yellows with wings - but now they are being interviewed because they are called out when a flare appears in the sky. That flare turns out to be a star travelling towards Poole.
Then we have our local fishermen Graham and Jon, who give a lift to 3 strange men who were looking for a new leader born in Poole. The men then post an Instagram shot of themselves on 'the search'.
I am delighted to say our cast also include people we have helped through our regular fundraising over the years.
The angels are seen by a mum with some of her kids. Mum works for SMILE (Faithworks Wessex), who we have previously supported through our Big Lunch and also our Children's Choir.
We also have the manager of the local food bank who answers a tweet from a young couple who have just given birth in a local garage and need nappies fast.
The acting is certainly worthy of Oscar nominations - but then they are all playing themselves.
Except Mary and Joseph - they are actually a new mum and Dad who have travelled a long way as they are staying with her parents locally for the duration. Mum, Hazel, is a curate in Manchester Diocese on maternity leave.
And thanks to a sermon by Bishop Nicholas, we also have a media company on board to produce the film.
Richard McLester, who runs Conical Sphere Media, is also the Music Director at St Peter's Parkstone. When he heard Bishop Nicholas say in a sermon that we needed to do things in a different way for the future to show the good news he took it to heart and this project is one way he is doing that.
Everyone involved has done a simply wonderful job, but I'm not going to give away the ending, you will need to watch the video here.
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