Christmas Gala
Bethany's Fourth Annual Christmas Gala Recap
Friday, December 13
Sauder Concert Hall, Goshen College Campus
Thousands of years ago, a tiny Prince of Peace was born into a hurting world. For thirty-three years, Jesus walked the earth, embodying peace and calling people into his way. But those thirty-three years were not the beginning of God’s peace, nor would they be the end. Ancient prophets and ordinary people had always sown seeds of shalom. After Jesus’s time on earth, people would continue to answer the call to plant peace, cultivate peace, and embody peace. In our hurting, chaotic, and polarized world we are called to live out this whole-life way of peace.
In preparation for the Christmas Gala students and staff engaged the theme, “Peace is Born.” During the first semester art and poetry emerged with the theme and became a part of the gala display in the Sauder lobby.
During the program, the gala explored peacemaker stories, from 16th century Anabaptist Dirk Willems to 21st century Anabaptist MJ Sharp, from US peacemaker Ruby Bridges to Guatemalan activist Rigoberta Menchú Tum. And as we learned about how they embodied the blessing to be peacemakers, we heard the call God gives to each of us to be peacemakers in our own time and place. At the conclusion of the gala, everyone sang together, “God’s peace will make us one.”
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If you’d like to get into the spirit, this is a playlist of the songs that will be in the gala (although our arrangements will be different!).