By Eric Martin
The Road to Bethlehem was celebrated in the lead up to Christmas 2019 (Thursday 5 December) by the faithful of St Thomas the Apostle Church, Claremont Parish.
The annual parish event was an opportunity to share the history behind the annual holiday, with those who may not know the story of Jesus invited to come, see, and hear the true Gospel meaning of Christmas.
Claremont Parish Priest Father Wayne Davis said the evening was “a great success”, with people coming from far-and-wide to participate.
“It’s more like a meditation evening really, with the whole performance taking place in the parish church: the choir sings a variety of carols from all over the world and interspersed with the music, the scriptural story of the birth of Jesus is told,” Fr Wayne told The Record.
The production of the Road to Bethlehem was organised by the laypeople of the parish.
John Kinder, spokesperson for the Road to Bethlehem organising committee, said their aim in offering this event was to make a contribution to the Church’s work of evangelisation.
“During Advent 2019, Pope Francis told us that ‘the first and most important task of the Church is evangelisation’,” Mr Kinder retold.
“In today’s world, evangelising cannot be just spreading a message or promoting Christian values.
“We need more than a message or values to change our lives. We need a presence, the living presence of a person – this is the gift of Christmas,” he shared.
Though it seems difficult for someone raised in the Church to imagine, there are an increasing number of Australians who have no knowledge of the Christmas story and the rich imagery of the Nativity: the latest Census results (2016) showed those ticking “no religion” rose from 22.6 per cent in the previous Census to 29.6 per cent.
This is the first time in Australian history that the number of people who claim “no religion” has overtaken Catholics as the predominant faith, and though the number of Christians still made up 51 per cent of the population, this is much less than the 74 per cent recorded in 1991.
As such, some 49 per cent of the Australian population has no direct exposure to the “true meaning of Christmas” and the annual productions of the Road to Bethlehem has taken on an important evangelising role in sharing the message of the Good News, and educating others about God’s love for the world.
“A lot of people came along because they heard about it through friends and family from the Parish and the comment that I kept hearing, from both Catholics and non-Catholics was, ‘Father, that was a such a wonderful way to begin the Christmas season’,” Fr Davis said.
The evening was based on the English tradition of nine lessons and carols. Nine readings tell the Old Testament stories of the fall and the prophecy of the Messiah, then the Gospel stories of the Annunciation and the events of the Christmas, finishing with the mystery of the Incarnation from the Prologue of John’s Gospel.
“In between the readings are carols – some to listen to and pray with, others to sing along with,” Mr Kinder explained.
“For each reading and each carol a picture is projected on a large screen. The carols and the pictures are taken from many different times and countries [and different languages]. They show how the birth of Jesus became a reality for people everywhere and can become a reality for us too.”