Christmas at Northridge

This Christmas our family attended “The Glory of Christmas: Night at the Nativity” performance at Northridge church! We had never heard of this event before, but my Dad’s boss at work—who attends Northridge—told us about it.

For those of you who may not be familiar with Northridge, it is one of the largest churches in the country, and the largest in Michigan, with an average weekly attendance of 12,000. They also have started 2 satellite churches in other parts of southeastern Michigan. We have visited Northridge’s Sunday morning service on two occasions, but not the Christmas program. We were in for quite a treat!

My siblings and I in the Northridge lobby.

Here we are in front of a Christmas display at Northridge.

  

A side view of the Christmas display.

Thankfully we made it to the church on time, as we were having a huge blizzard that day! We all settled in with warm chocolate chip cookies (which Ben so kindly bought for all of us) and were ready for the show. The first song was one of the most stunning, visually and audibly. There was a full orchestra during the whole event that blew us away! They opened with “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo, 12/24” that is played by the Trans Siberian Orchestra. Two men played timpani drums at the front of the stage. The drums had reflective glitter on them, so every time the drummers struck them, there was a poof of glitter that changed colors when different colored lights shone on them. This song was everybody’s favorite!

The first half of the show reminded one almost of a Broadway show. There were singers, choirs, candles, dancers, and more! They performed the songs “Jingle Bells;” “Winter Wonderland;” “White Christmas;” “Let it Snow;” “Baby, It’s Cold Outside;” “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree;” “Santa Claus is Coming to Town;” “Christmastime;” “Happy Birthday, Jesus;” and “The Little Drummer Boy.” I wish I had pictures or could describe each song in detail, but I’ll just say that you have to see it!

We had a 15-minute intermission before they began the second half of the performance. It opened with a video montage of skiing and snowboarding accidents (think “America’s Funniest Home Videos”) while the orchestra played another Trans Siberian Orchestra song called “Nutrocker.”

Next came the drama. The story line centered on a lawyer named David, who is fighting in court to have a public Nativity scene removed. He is about to win his case, when he visits the Nativity for the first time. The Nativity comes alive and he experiences the whole story of who Jesus is, why he came, and why it matters to us. One amazing song was “Gloria! Hallelujah!” In this song, angels came flying—literally—into the room. They had harnesses and were attached to the ceiling. It was just breathtaking!

One of my favorite songs was “Healing is in Your Hands.” In this song, Jesus is walking the earth and healing the lame, blind, and dead. I started crying at the part where a couple walks in with their dead daughter. Jesus picks the girl up, and holds her up to the heavens. She awakens and goes running to her parents. We serve an amazing Savior who truly cares about us, and has the power to heal even the deepest of wounds!

In the climax, we saw the crucifixion and resurrection. We were just in awe of God’s power over death. Because of His death, we now have hope, for He has risen from the dead!

The crucifixion scene.

After seeing all of this, David accepts Christ’s gift of salvation and decides to immediately drop his case. He is a changed man! The performance then ended with the songs “Ready for a Miracle” and “Sleigh Ride.”

We will definitely be returning to this show in the future. It was very special, and focuses on the true meaning of Christmas and why we celebrate. Jesus came to die for us. Most people think we only celebrate His death at Easter. But Christmas is truly the beginning. At Christmas we celebrate the fact that He was willing to be born into the humblest of circumstances and to live a very poor life. He did all of this for us! He was truly born to die.

After the performance, it took us hours to drive home! We spent half an hour just getting out of the parking lot, and the rest of the delay was due to the previously mentioned blizzard. Look for an upcoming post on our first winter storm!