Christmas 2021 was really different from previous years. Due to the resurgence of COVID-19, Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi Province, imposed a citywide lockdown due to a pandemic prevention and control measure on December 22. Baoji City, which is 170 kilometers away from the provincial capital Xi'an, also took synchronized actions in adopting the same pandemic-containing measures so that once again all onsite events were suspended.
In the past years, my church held many celebrations at Christmas. Usually, there were candlelight evening services on Christmas Eve and sacred music performances on Christmas Day. During the Spring Festival in 2020 and before and after Easter in 2021, I conducted phone interviews with several believers there.
This year, I planned to write report series on " How These Christians Spent This Christmas". Therefore, I tried to send out a dozen interview invitations on my WeChat moments. Unfortunately, even three or four days after Christmas no one responded by calling me about their experiences as expected.
Losing patience with this interview ministry, I was about to give up and go to sleep, but the phone rang all of a sudden. It was a male believer surnamed Chen who lived far away in the countryside. He was one of the interviewees to whom I reached out. He told me the following story about how he spent Christmas...
Christmas 2021 was destined to be extraordinary. If the pandemic eased, our church would resume in-person gatherings. But if the pandemic rebounded, our church would be closed immediately.
In the days leading up to Christmas, we transferred worship activities to an online platform because we couldn't go to church to gather or worship. Meanwhile because we couldn't go to church to rehearse the Nativity play and dance programs, we watched related performance videos online to learn and rehearse in our own homes.
In the village where I lived, several church members assumed the roles assigned by the church in rehearsing the holy drama "The Nativity Story". In this Nativity play, my wife and I played Mary and Joseph respectively.
Due to the special situation of pandemic containment this year, our church hosted the Christmas celebrations ahead of schedule on December 19th.
Along with the music of "Good Christians, All Rejoice", the angel appeared on the stage to give a speech. Then Mary's appearance kicked off our performance of the holy drama "Nativity". Joseph, the righteous man I played, obeyed God and married pregnant Mary.
Believers of our village performed the second holy drama starting at 13:30. There were other wonderful performances from other villages. A total of 14 theatrical performance were presented in sequence, in forms of a hymn, dance, and program played in an allegro tempo ...
This was how he spent Christmas. Although the Christmas event was held in advance due to the pandemic, the efforts and hard work by him and his wife didn’t go in vain.
- Translated by Shuya Wang
2021年的圣诞节，说起真是与往年不一般。因着疫情在陕西省会西安市的反弹，在12月22日采取了封城防控措施。距离省会西安170公里以外的宝鸡市也采取了同步的防控措施，再次暂停了一切实体活动。
记得往年的平安夜、圣诞节，教会举办多场庆祝活动。平安夜有烛光晚会活动，圣诞节有圣乐崇拜演出。笔者想到在2020年的春节及2021年的复活节前后，都以电话预约的方式采访了几位姊妹弟兄，把他们讲的自己如何过圣诞节、复活节的小故事，写成文字报道，发到《福音时报上》。
那么在今年也想搞个“今年圣诞节，这几位弟兄姊妹如此过”的系列报道。就在在微信群朋友圈里发了十多个预约采访信息。但直到过了圣诞节后的三、四天了，期待的微信电话就是没有响起一个。
就在自己对这件采访事工失去耐心，打算放弃准备去睡觉时，手机铃声突然响了起来。是远在农村的陈弟兄打来的。这位陈弟兄也是受约采访的对象之一，下面这段文字，就是陈弟兄告诉了笔者他是如何过圣诞节的故事……
今年的圣诞节，注定是一个不平凡的“圣诞节”。如若疫情缓解，教堂恢复聚会大门开启；疫情反弹情况紧张，教堂会立即大门关闭。
圣诞节佳期临近的那些日子里，我们因不能到教会去聚集敬拜，就利用空中网络平台崇拜赞美。也因不能去教会排练圣剧，舞蹈节目。我们就在各自家中，边看网络视频，一招一式的边学习边排练。
我所在的村子片区，几位弟兄姊妹担任了教会排练圣剧《耶稣降生》的任务。在这部圣剧里，我和我家姊妹分别扮演了圣剧中的约瑟和马利亚。
因着今年疫情防控的特殊情况，我们教会把庆祝圣诞节的活动提前放在12月19日举行。
随着《普天同庆》乐曲的播放，天使出场道白后马利亚的出场，使我们表演的《基督降生》圣剧拉开了序幕。我装扮的义人约瑟顺服神，将身孕已重的马利亚娶了过来。
我们村子片区，是第二个出场演的圣剧。从13：30开始，接着是其它各村片区精彩的文艺节目演出。一共有14个节目依次演出，有诗歌赞美的，舞蹈赞美的，还有快板赞美的……。
他是这样过圣诞节的。虽然因着疫情提前举行了圣诞节活动，总算让他和妻子的努力和辛劳没有白费。
Christmas 2021 was really different from previous years. Due to the resurgence of COVID-19, Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi Province, imposed a citywide lockdown due to a pandemic prevention and control measure on December 22. Baoji City, which is 170 kilometers away from the provincial capital Xi'an, also took synchronized actions in adopting the same pandemic-containing measures so that once again all onsite events were suspended.
In the past years, my church held many celebrations at Christmas. Usually, there were candlelight evening services on Christmas Eve and sacred music performances on Christmas Day. During the Spring Festival in 2020 and before and after Easter in 2021, I conducted phone interviews with several believers there.
This year, I planned to write report series on " How These Christians Spent This Christmas". Therefore, I tried to send out a dozen interview invitations on my WeChat moments. Unfortunately, even three or four days after Christmas no one responded by calling me about their experiences as expected.
Losing patience with this interview ministry, I was about to give up and go to sleep, but the phone rang all of a sudden. It was a male believer surnamed Chen who lived far away in the countryside. He was one of the interviewees to whom I reached out. He told me the following story about how he spent Christmas...
Christmas 2021 was destined to be extraordinary. If the pandemic eased, our church would resume in-person gatherings. But if the pandemic rebounded, our church would be closed immediately.
In the days leading up to Christmas, we transferred worship activities to an online platform because we couldn't go to church to gather or worship. Meanwhile because we couldn't go to church to rehearse the Nativity play and dance programs, we watched related performance videos online to learn and rehearse in our own homes.
In the village where I lived, several church members assumed the roles assigned by the church in rehearsing the holy drama "The Nativity Story". In this Nativity play, my wife and I played Mary and Joseph respectively.
Due to the special situation of pandemic containment this year, our church hosted the Christmas celebrations ahead of schedule on December 19th.
Along with the music of "Good Christians, All Rejoice", the angel appeared on the stage to give a speech. Then Mary's appearance kicked off our performance of the holy drama "Nativity". Joseph, the righteous man I played, obeyed God and married pregnant Mary.
Believers of our village performed the second holy drama starting at 13:30. There were other wonderful performances from other villages. A total of 14 theatrical performance were presented in sequence, in forms of a hymn, dance, and program played in an allegro tempo ...
This was how he spent Christmas. Although the Christmas event was held in advance due to the pandemic, the efforts and hard work by him and his wife didn’t go in vain.
- Translated by Shuya Wang
