FSUMC celebrates nostalgic Children’s Christmas Pageant

With the theme “God Keeps His Promise,” Sunday School children at Fenimore St. United Methodist Church (FSUMC) in Brooklyn brought much nostalgia to congregants and invitees as they celebrated their Second Annual Christmas Pageant to rave reviews.

Christmas celebrants braved the bitterly cold weather — with a high of about 28 degrees — to see the children, guided by their teachers, assistants, parents, and grandparents, perform spectacularly during the two-hour-long pageant that focused on the birth of Jesus Christ.

“Why is celebrating Christmas so important for Christians today?” asked Linda Brown in co-narrating the third and final part of the pageant. “We may celebrate in different ways, but this Christmas, let us travel back in time, through Hebrew Scripture, to recall the birth of Jesus as a fulfillment of a promise God made long ago.

“Our God is a faithful God, and God keeps his promises,” she stressed.

The Sunday School children portrayed angels, shepherds, and wise men, among other roles, in the pageant coordinated by Assistant Sunday School teacher Joycelyn King, who was born in Antigua. Superintendent Gail Murray, who was born in Jamaica, assisted King and teachers Veronica Corbett and Debra Hull. Jamaican-born Chaplain Selena Lubell served as Mistress of Ceremonies.

The church’s pastor, the Rev. Roger Jackson, portrayed “Herod the King.“

Earlier in the pageant, the Praise and Worship Team warmed up the congregation with Christmas Carols; Sis. Joycelyn King meditated on Mark 9: 36: “He took a little child whom he placed among them…”; Shanae Als spoke, via video, about celebrating children around the world; the children and the congregation read a litany for children (Mark 9: 30-37); Fafane Bein-Aime and Densa Belony prayed in Spanish and Haitian Creole, respectively; and Belony and her son, Daen Blemur, blew the roof off with a song, “The Prayer,“ prompting a standing ovation and sustained applause.

“I don’t know why I’m mist up when I see a child perform,“ said Lubell instantly. “That’s our future.”

In Part II, the children read poems and literature and performed with musical instruments:  What Christmas Means To Me by Akiera Goodman; Candy Cane by Daen Blemur; Bethlehem by Chase King; Piano Selection by Noelani Charles; Christmas Giving by Nicholas and Noelani Charles; Once Upon a Christmastime by Kaiden Goodman; Piano Selection by Anelia Gordon; Drum Selection by Nicholas Williams; A Song Was Heard At Christmas by Angelica Nedd; and Christmas Star by Anelia Gordon.

The cast concluded the pageant by singing lustily “Joy to the World,“ and the congregation joined.