PontifiKate

As Promised: Fête de Noël Photos

A big thanks to Kerstin (a German assistant) who was kind enough to photograph the occasion for me. The following are some photos that I believe are representative of the afternoon.

We did several carols with all who were assembled. (I found out the morning of that I was on keyboards. I’m pretty sure they had asked me last month, but it seems I forgot or didn’t wholly understand the proposition or something! It went fine anyway.)


“The Prison” mime was well done and its soundtrack was very good. The first picture is Satan mocking all the people he’s locked up during the sketch, and the second is Christ earning the right to the keys of death.



The “Wisdom and Folly” sketch was probably my favorite. I wish I could’ve watched it more carefully, but I was busy corralling 2-year-old Baptiste.


The skit I was in was called “The Temptation” which was about the Fall as though it took place in a restaurant. I was Adam & Eve’s conscience in the form of a pesky old lady who is on the same doctor-prescribed, apple-free regime as Adam & Eve. The maitre d’ is, of course, Satan, who is encouraging his customers to order apple this or that. The fun part was my costume, though there isn’t a good picture of it. My wig was actually a Santa beard, but it worked perfectly as a frizzy, white, eccentric hairdo. (Beforehand, my host dad told me that if I acted well in the sketch he’d let me eat with the family that night -- he likes to tease, you see. I told him that when he saw my costume I’d earn the right to eat with them all month. Afterwards, he grinningly conceded that it was worth two months, at the very least.)



I also read the entire book of Jonah aloud in French, which took about seven minutes. I had happened to bring with me to France copies of the Jonah children’s storybook I grew up with, in which Jonah is a mouse, the “great fish” is a goldfish, the Ninevites are cats, etc. We made transparencies of those images and projected them throughout the reading. I think it “worked” very well. *whew*


The finale was a procession of the kids & youth to a Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring recording. Each had a candle and recited scripture. (You can see little Baptiste -- on the right, with the “T” t-shirt -- trying to blow his candle out. Fuh-nny.) It took me until seeing my pictures to figure out that the t-shirts spell out “L’Étoile du Matin/Star of the Morning”. Ohhh.


A big THANKS to all of you who prayed for the Fête de Noël. As with all such events, there were many who were invited who didn’t come, which is disappointing. However, our location was pretty well maxed out as it was, so it’s hard to complain! People lingered afterwards for food and talk, and I think a good time was had by all. Pray for God’s continued work in the hearts of all who attended. And praise because I feel like I got to know the church better and they got to know me better through this effort.

posted by Kate @ 1:59 AM