When cars turn off of Gustafson Drive into the driveway of Discovery Baptist Church this weekend they will be entering a time capsule into another era in another land.
Enter the City of David on Christ's birthday.
The Elders will meet people at the gate and welcome them to the city. The city will be crowded, as the Roman census ordered by Caesar has brought many Jews into Bethlehem, including Mary and Joseph.
The “city” will include open-air markets, people dressed in period costume and angels that pop out of the darkness amidst a sea of fog.
“It’s kind of like you’re driving through Bethlehem,” said Pastor Mark Suko. “There will be people shopping and buying barley and bread, just like they did in the time of Christ. We’ll have sheep, goats, donkeys and geese to depict the life in Bethlehem. We try to create realism based on the scripture.”
For people who want to get a more personal glimpse of the activities, they may walk through the town instead of drive. The event is free.
Discovery Baptist has been hosting the nativity since 1998.
“We started out with about 26 teenagers and it’s grown from that,” Suko said.
“Each year it has grown a bit bigger. Now we have about 220 people.”
Suko said the costumes are all hand made by volunteers. “We have a couple of ladies that just love doing that kind of stuff. They buy the fabric at wholesale or at the Goodwill.
We have a huge costume area in the basement of the church.”
The animals are brought in by people who own them and kept on the church grounds. They even have a real-life shepherd that cares for them.
For further weekend activities, see "What's Going on this Weekend" on the Gateway's Facebook.
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