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By RON LIEBACK [email protected]
Monday, December 19, 2005 Page: 3A
Welcoming about 1,500 spectators “braving the cold” Sunday night, the Rev.
Daniel Miller began his prologue to the outdoor nativity play “The Gift” by
advising people to forget about the “hustle and bustle” of the holiday season.
“It is not shopping or partying. This, the birth of Christ, is really what
Christmas is all about. We wouldn’t have much without the birth of Jesus.”
As Miller ceased talking, the stadiumlike lights went out and wind and
stringed instruments were heard through a loud PA system.
Soon everyone’s eyes were focused on the beginning of the 12th annual
presentation of “The Gift” by the Back Mountain Harvest Assembly on Carverton
Road
The musical drama tells the story of the birth of Jesus in about 45 minutes
with the dancing and singing from 120 actors and about 120 others producing
the pyrotechnics and lighting.
“It is such a huge production from a small church,” Joe Olszyk said. “Every
year we have been coming here from Mountain Top and plan to return next year.”
Olszyk was attending the play with his family. They were bundled up for the
temperatures.
“We wouldn’t want to miss this production, so we just dressed up warm.”
Traveling from Mountain Top to the Back Mountain is quite a distance, but
Miller said people drove from as far as five hours away to witness the drama.
“We have people coming her from Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C., and New
Jersey. And they weren’t here visiting family; they just came to see `The
Gift.’ We even had a man here once from Honduras, but he was visiting with
family.”
Miller said one of the biggest attractions of the event is the nativity
animals, especially the camels. The camels were delivered by Records and
Burpee Children’s Zoo, which is a company run by a couple from Dudley, Mass.
“This is our second year here,” Alexandria Burpee said as she was loading
the camels named Kublai and Hudgi into a trailer. “Then we have a 5-1/2-hour
ride home.”
Miller said the performance brings different people together, old and
young, with the help of God, and he hopes to keep people meeting each other
for as “long as God will allow us to.”
“There are no strangers in the world, only the strangers we didn’t meet
yet.”
“It is such a huge production from a small church. … Every year we have
been coming here from Mountain Top and plan to return next year.”
Joe Olszyk