Students help with live Nativity scene.

Live Nativity participants - including two goats and a dog - try to stay warm Saturday night at Bethany Lutheran Church in Northport.Huddled within a manger and wearing their warmest coats, scarves, hats and gloves, Betsy Shiner and Emily Stowe sat on a bail of hay Saturday night.

Shiner and Stowe were part of Bethany Lutheran Church’s inaugural live Nativity. Stowe, a junior at Northport Public School, and Shiner, a senior, said they took part in the church’s activity in part to help out.

“Because we wanted to make some of the older people in our community happy,” said Stowe, trying to keep warm on the cold and blustery night in her role as a shepherd.

“I thought it would be a nice thing to do for Christmas,” added Shiner, who was Mary for one of three showings during the evening.

Bethany’s pastor, the Rev. Ruth Overdier, said the history of the Nativity can be traced back to St. Francis of Assisi. “He put together the first Nativity scene, to help remind people about the birth of Jesus,” she said. The live Nativity does not involve acting; instead, the people playing the roles of Joseph, Mary, the shepherds and Three Kings stay in poses showing the baby Jesus as he appeared in a manger in Bethlehem.

The Bethaney Lutheran Choir sang Christmas
carols at the live Nativity.

While churches around Traverse City have performed live Nativity scenes for years, including Bayview Wesleyan on Wayne Street, the Bethany Lutheran display is the first held in Leelanau County in at least 10 years.

Scot and Jennifer Wack, who are members of the congregation, said the wanted to do something to draw some attention to Northport.

“In the summer, Northport is bustling place. But, this time of year there is not a lot going on and we wanted to help bring people into the village,” Scot Wack said.

Wack, a member of Bethany’s church council, brought the idea forward for consideration last spring. Overdier said the council was excited about the idea and told Wack to go forward the his planning. The Wacks worked on it ever since, getting volunteers lined up for what was scheduled as a three-hour display.

Participating in the reenactment were Basil, Bill and Emily Stowe; Betsy and Eli Shiner; Sitarek; Dylan Burguard; Chelsie Wack; and Samantha Mork. Steve Craker offered the use of two goats, Baby and Lady, and Wack’s dog, Collie, helped shore up the animal.

A stiff northwesterly wind, snow and temperatures hovering in the teens were not conducive to standing in a make-shift manager to reenact the Nativity, but the role-players managed to do their parts well, Wack said.

“These kids are really brave to be out here,” he said.

The Bethany Lutheran Choir sang Christmas carols to keep the holiday spirit in mind. Performing were choir members Bette Pushels, Margie Tropf, Bonnie Shiner, Barber Hoeneise, Jennifer Wack, Margot Thomas, Frederick Overdier, Carine Hagen, Barbara Overdier and Barbara Stowe. Fred Overdier also read the Nativity story from the Book of Luke, Chapter 2.

The children and young adults sitting on hay bales talked amongst themselves during slow periods. Some got out cell phones and sent text messages to friends.

As 7 p.m. turned to 7:30, the participants waited patiently for more people to show up. Wack said when the event began at 6 p.m., he was a little worried.

“There was no one here. Then, as evening services let out, we got a flood of people,” he said. Wack estimated the crowd size at 80 to 100 people by the end of the evening.

The snow piled up, the wind blew and the trees swayed. But, inside the manger in Northport the young people taking part in the Nativity kept watch. When asked if they would rather go home at 8 p.m., Basil Stowe spoke for everyone.

“No way, we’re here until the end,” he said.