Holiday Worship 2016

+ Scatter Joy Acres provides animals for area living Nativities + The magic of the season means different things to people around the world + Michael Montag wants his art to draw viewers closer to God

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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2016

OMAHA WORLD-HERALD

Joy to the Nativities

Stable tableau is complete, thanks to love for the Christmas story

By Mike Whye WORLD-HERALD CORRESPONDENT

“Prepare to be slimed. It’s part of the gig,” handler Anthony Moore warns about Balthazar, the camel most notably known for lending authenticity to living Nativity scenes throughout greater Omaha.

Balthazar’s “agent” and owner, Joy Bartling, has some 35 other stable animals that share the spotlight, courtesy of her Scatter Joy Acres in north-central Omaha.

Each Christmas season, Bartling taps her menagerie to bring the story of Christ’s birth to life through living Nativities requested by churches and other groups.

“I supply everything from the chickens to the camel,” Bartling said.

In business for six seasons now, she is motivated by a deep love of the Advent season.

“I believe we need to tell the true meaning of Christmas, and there’s nothing better than taking live Nativities out into the community,” Bartling said. “Christmas, to me, is

PHOTO BY MIKE WHYE

Joy Bartling relaxes with some of her animals at Scatter Joy Acres. The name comes from the fact that people affected by her animals scatter joy across the world.

You are invited to share The Gifts of Christmas

THE

Feel the joy of the season!

Presents

Love will be addressed.

C elebrating

216 South 34 Street Omaha, NE 68131-3496 (402) 345-5383 fpcomaha@fpcomaha.org www.fpcomaha.org

Nursery Provided

Traditional Worship Dec. 4, 11, 18 9 & 11:10 am Dec. 4 Advent Dinner & Pageant 5 pm Dec. 11 This Little Babe

of Joy, Hope, Peace and

December 11: 10:30 a.m.—Children’s Christmas Worship Service 12:00 p.m.—Advent Workshop December 17: 11:30 a.m.—Blue Christmas Worship Service December 18: 10:30 a.m.—Chancel Choir Cantata, “Journey of Promises” 7:00 p.m.—Annual Wassail and Carol Sing December 24: 4:30 p.m.—Music Prelude 5:00 p.m.—Christmas Eve Candlelight Service December 25: 10:30 a.m.—Christmas Day—“The Gift of Life”

S eason

with Choirs & Orchestra 9 & 11:10 am

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Dec. 25 Worship at 11:10 am only Jan 1 Worship at 11:10 am only Evensong Worship 5:30 pm Nov 27, Dec 18 & Jan 1

Visit us at: www.churchofthecrossomaha.org

Join Us Every Sunday at

1517 S. 114th Street

Presbyterian Church of the Cross (402) 333 - 7466

OMAHA WORLD-HERALD

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2016

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HOLIDAY WORSHIP A special section produced by the news division of the Omaha World-Herald Special sections editor Chris Christen 402-444-1094 chris.christen@owh.com Deputy special sections editor Howard K. Marcus 402-444-1397 howard.marcus@owh.com Content coordinator and designer Kiley Cruse

S C AT T E R J O Y A C R E S

Scatter Joy Acres animals are busy during December at many living Nativities. about Baby Jesus and what he did for us. It’s not about Santa Claus and gifts.”

She and her team of handlers volunteer their services. “Giving, to me, is always better than receiving,” she said.

In its first year, Scatter Joy Acres staged a living Nativity from Dec. 1 to Christmas Eve, with only one day off. Today, Bartling and her volunteers work mostly weekends in greater Omaha, with an occasional trip to Lincoln. Christmas Eve, they’ll be in Council Bluffs and Elkhorn.

The menagerie typically includes sheep, kid goats, a calf, a donkey, a few chickens and Balthazar, the camel.

“We don’t know exactly what there was in the stable, so we’ll take everything but the cats,” quips Bartling, who also has dogs, pot-bellied pigs, a duck,

S C AT T E R J O Y A C R E S

Balthazar the camel is part of the Scatter Joy Acres menagerie. a peacock, bunnies, Shetland ponies, miniature horses and alpacas.

Bartling and her volunteers bring lights, props and the stable, handle the animals and

Contributors Kim Carpenter Josephina Eva Loza Mike Watkins Mike Whye

sometimes even fill in as key figures in the tableau.

Everything is live except for the infant lying in the manger.

“Baby Jesus is usually a doll,” said Bartling, who noted that a few times a family’s infant has served as the Nativity’s main feature on mild nights.

St. Andrew United Methodist Church in Omaha hosted one of the Nativities last year. “We got sheep. We got goats,” said Jerrold Warren, director of youth ministries. “She asked if we also wanted to have a petting zoo.

It worked out very well. We’re having her back this year.”

Other times of the year, the menagerie is enlisted in animal-assisted therapy programs offered through Scatter Joy Acres.

And, yes, even Balthazar gets in the act.

For special section advertising information, contact dan.matuella@owh.com On the cover: Mary and Joseph (portrayed by Jen and Tim Umphreys) with Shadow the donkey during the living Nativity at First Christian Church Council Bluffs last year. A handful of local farms supplies animals to area churches for Christmas programs and displays, Page 2.

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Sunday, november 27, 2016

Faith, family, food: Traditions that bind

By Josefina eva Loza // World-Herald correspondent

Nothing brings people together quite like Christmas. • Decorated holiday trees and wreaths, colored lights, candy canes and carols certainly perk people’s spirits, but it’s also a time of goodwill, generosity and peace among nations. The magic of the season means different things to different people around the globe. • Here, we introduce you to four cultures in our community and the values that tie them all together.

GuaTemaLa In many Latino communities, Christmas is celebrated from mid-December through Jan. 6.

Two major celebrations are observed during that period: La Posada and Epiphany.

Las Posadas dramatizes Joseph and Mary’s search for a place to stay in Bethlehem.

Epiphany, or “el Dia de los Reyes,” is the feast day marking the Wise Men’s visit to the Baby Jesus.

Catarina Catarina Diego, a 21-year-old Diego University of Nebraska at Omaha student who is originally from Guatemala, has celebrated Las Posadas since childhood. It begins Dec. 16 and ends Dec. 24 with two people either dressed up as Mary and Joseph, or carrying fig-

ures of the holy couple, going from house to house or “inn to inn.” At each stop, residents respond by singing a song. After a number of stops, Mary and Joseph are finally welcomed inside.

In Omaha, Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church, 2310 O St., and El Museo Latino, 4701 S. 25th St., will observe this celebration.

“We do it a bit different from others because we have extended it to not only the Hispanics in our community but those who are interested in hosting one,” Diego said. “My family observes it by normally hosting one for themselves each year.”

Another tradition important to the Diego family is a midnight prayer at home on Christmas Eve to “thank God for all he’s done for us, as well as for the presents that we will be receiving that night…

Then we eat tamales.”

Kenya Caroline and Tyree Smith of Bellevue grew up worlds apart. She in Kenya, he in America.

Although their native cultures focused on different aspects of the Nativity story, their family celebrations held common themes: faith and unity.

“It is important to celebrate both cultures and develop a sense of family unity,” Caroline said.

Their own blended family of seven will have a traditional American holiday filled with a turkey dinner, Christmas tree and cookie decorating, gift giving and a holy day of reflection at church.

The Smiths will also weave African culture — singing Christmas hymns and carols, preparing special holiday dishes and visiting multiple

E l m u s E o l aT i N o

Celebration of La Posada at El Museo Latino last year.

ZambIa

Caroline and Tyree Smith families — into their celebrations.

Faith comes first, Caroline said. The family will spend much of Christmas morning at Bible Truth Ministry in Bellevue.

“We go to church,” Tyree

said, “then gather as a family.”

The preparation of heaping amounts of food to share with visitors, Christmas caroling and family togetherness are the focus — not so much lavish presents or “gimme-gimme attitudes,” said Caroline, who moved to Omaha years ago to attend college.

She met Tyree, 35, and so began their family.

“Christmastime is about family and spending time with loved ones and friends,” she said.

Caroline has not returned to Kenya since her college days. A trip early next year will allow her to introduce her blended American family to her mother and extended family. It’s the ultimate Christmas present, she said: “Family unity.”

For some, Christmas is a time when families try to be with one another, no matter the time.

Although Omahan Peter Masknih has lived in the United States for 14 years, he celebrates the jolly holiday much the same way he would in his homeland of Zambia.

Days before Christmas, it’s customary to go Christmas caroling through the local streets for charity and fun. Masknih, 49, does the same.

The holiday is a special day for remembering faith, friends and family, he said.

“Zambia is a Christian nation,” Masknih said. “Before we start celebrating, we go to church.”

Many people, especially Christians, attend a midnight service to observe Christmas through songs, hymns, carols, and often Nativity plays, poems and dances.

Afterward, people go from house to house all night to celebrate and eat.

“Anyone could go to anyone’s house,” Masknih said. “You don’t have to make an appointment, you just go ... From house to house, you go from midnight until noon Christmas Day. “Every house, you find someone preparing food — chicken, a live chicken you slaughter and prepare,” Masknih said. Other staples are white rice and Nshima, a dish made from maize flour (or white cornmeal) and water.

“The corn is cooked then muddled much like mashed potatoes,” Masknih said.

Only small gifts are typically exchanged.

“On Christmas Day, if you say ‘Merry Christmas,’ you have to give that person money,” Masknih said. “If you don’t have money, you don’t leave your house. Also, you don’t say ‘Merry Christmas’ back.

Instead, we share. We don’t choose who we give to. We just give.”

omaHa WorLd-HeraLd

5

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On Christmas Eve, Gerog Link’s family will gather in the living room, turn off all the electric lights on the Christmas tree and light real candles.

Germany German families prepare for Christmas throughout December. A highlight for many is counting the days until Christmas with a handmade Advent calendar, said Georg Link, a German transplant and University of Nebraska at Omaha graduate student.

The Adventskalender has Türchen, or doors, for each of the 24 December days leading up to Christmas. “We typically do not use the calenders you buy with chocolate but instead have a custom-made one with actually useful items, such as a pencil or an eraser or a toothbrush and only sometimes chocolate.”

Each of the four Sundays of Advent, his family has a big dinner and lights a candle in the Adventskranz or advent wreath.

Christmas Eve morning, the Link family puts up the Christmas tree and decorates it. That afterGeorg noon, someone prepares Link dinner. “Traditionally it is sausage with potato salad, but in recent years we have alternated among the siblings, and each team can choose a dish of their liking.”

In the evening, the family attends church together then returns home for the meal.

“Dinner might take two hours, with all the talking and laughter,” Link said. “After cleaning the table and the kitchen, we gather in the living room by the Christmas tree. We turn off the electric lights on the tree and light real candles. We sing Christmas songs and read Christmas stories, not just from the Bible but also modern ones.

Then the youngest picks a present from under the tree that is not for him and gives it to the intended recipient. We all wait until the present is unwrapped and admired

before that person picks the next present” and gives it to its recipient.

“I have a very large extended family, and my immediate family lives many car hours away from my grandparents. On rare occasions, we travel to be with our grandparents on the 24th,” he said. “More often, we would use the two holidays to visit each of the grandparents, one set on the 25th and the others on the 26th. When visiting the grandparents, we would repeat the tradition of eating dinner, reading stories and singing songs before unwrapping presents one by one.”

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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2016

OMAHA WORLD-HERALD

SERVING THE MULTITUDES

If you make room, they will come

By Mike Watkins

OUR PANELISTS

WORLD-HERALD CORRESPONDENT

At Christmas, millions of infrequent churchgoers flock to services in a phenomenon as old as time. While many cite tradition, guilt, obligation, invitations from family or friends, or a longing to get into the spirit of the season, a majority actually come to honor Jesus and acknowledge Him. That’s according to a 2015 study from LifeWay Research in which 61 percent of 1,000 adults surveyed said they typically attend church during the Advent season because it’s an important part of their Christmas observance.

“People return because they recognize the solemnity or significance of the holiday worship or liturgical service,” said Deacon Tim McNeil of the Archdiocese of Omaha. “For many, it is a cultural response. They can recall the fond family traditions from their childhood, attending these beautiful worship events with their parents, grandparents and siblings.”

While the influx of visitors at St. Paul United Methodist Church in Omaha varies from year to year, the Rev. Dr. Nancy Tomlinson said she anticipates a 30 percent increase in attendance. “Some years it is probably closer to 50 percent over Sunday morning attendance,” she said, adding that Christmas Eve is a bigger draw than Easter morning.

Here, Tomlinson and a trio of other religious leaders discuss the logistical challenges and opportunities of serving the multitudes during one of Christianity’s highest holy days.

Please join us this

Christmas

Blue Christmas

» Rev. Dr. Nancy Tomlinson of St. Paul United Methodist Church » Rev. Dr. R. Geoffrey Brown of Dundee Presbyterian Church » Deacon Tim McNeil of the Archdiocese of Omaha » Rev. Ernesto Medina of St. Martha Episcopal Church

Q: How do you accommodate the crowds?

Tomlinson: We add services for Christmas Eve. We have a fairly large sanctuary, so we have room for extra attendees. We also make our services available on home computers and smartphones via live streaming.

Brown: Our sanctuary is large enough and beautiful enough to hold them all and thrill them all.

McNeil: Services are added, extra chairs are placed in side aisles and the choir loft, auxiliary rooms are equipped with video monitors and sound. Some of the larger churches offer simultaneous Masses (concurrent services at 10 a.m. in separate locations of the church).

Medina: We put more people in each pew.

Q: What specific challenges do you have and how do you address them?

He was pierced for our transgressions . . . He was led like a lamb to the slaughter . . . Isaiah 53

Adat HaTikvat Tzion

The Hope of Zion Congregation

Christmas Eve

Where Jews & Gentiles have broken down the middle wall of partition & worship together.

Christmas Day 10:50 a.m.

Every Saturday, 10 a.m.

December 13, 6:00 p.m.

5:30 p.m. & 9:00 p.m.

First United Methodist Church

7020 Cass Street • Omaha, NE 68132 402.556.6262 • www.fumcomaha.org

R. Geoffrey Brown

Join us at the Southwest Church of the Nazarene 14808 Q Street

592-2404 www.Adat.Org

To the Jew first and also to the Gentile . . . Romans 1:16

Tim McNeil

Ernesto Medina

Nancy Tomlinson

Tomlinson: The biggest challenge for us is parking.

On Christmas Eve, we space our services far enough apart so that one crowd can leave before another arrives.

Brown: More ushers and bigger smiles! People come a little earlier and walk a little further. We increase our cookie count. More coffee, too!

McNeil: Parking is a challenge, along with the scheduling of lectors, Eucharistic ministers, ushers and musicians to cover all services. Pastors and their staff exert great effort in rallying volunteers and lay ministers through phone calls, online sign-up, email blasts, parish bulletin announcements and social media.

Medina: We concentrate on being present to all who come to the church, and being ready to listen to the newcomers and accept them as they are.

December 11th 10:30AM - Service of Lessons & Carols 12:00PM & 2:30PM Swedish Smorgasbord & Cra Sale December 24th 5:30PM Candlelight Service December 25th 10:30 AM - Christmas Worship

Come Let Us Adore Him! Christmas Day Service 10:30 am Second Church of Christ, Scientist 9124 Bedford Ave www.2ndchurchomaha.com 402-391-8380 Sunday Services 10:30 am Sunday School 10:30 am Wednesday Testimonial Service 7:30 p.m.

OMAHA WORLD-HERALD

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2016

Additional services and parking are just two of the ways Omahaarea spiritual leaders cope with larger-thannormal crowds during the holidays.

Come, Let Us Adore Him!

ST. MICHAEL

Lutheran Church (ELCA)

13232 Blondo Street

Christmas Eve Eve December 18th 7pm

Holy Communion served at all services

Christmas Eve December 24th - 3:00, 4:30 6:00 & 7:30pm Candlelight Services

NORMAL WORSHIP TIMES Saturday: 5:30 0 PM, Sunday: 8:15 5 AM & 10:45 5 AM

Christmas Day December 25th 10:00am

Q: Where do you turn for answers on how to deal with the additional church-goers?

Tomlinson: Experience is a great teacher. Clergy colleagues and Minister’s Associations, too.

This year will be a little different for all of us.

Both Christmas Day and New Year’s Day are on Sundays. We will adapt by offering one service at 10 a.m. on both days. We expect attendance to be fairly low since most families will choose Christmas Eve and may not have time for both Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and often, more than one family celebration. But we are seeking to be creative on Christmas Day by doing pajamas for the children, and blessing a gift and a birthday cake for Jesus. It will be a shorter service than usual. New Year’s Day we will get a new start and spiritually kick off the New Year.

Brown: The Bible, prayer, and naturally or perhaps supernaturally, the Lord God Almighty, and appeals to His grace for a great Awakening that will stir our hearts and lives to impact Omaha for His glory, honor and praise. Our Dundee church staff also talks and plans together to offer genuine, authentic compassion and welcome to all.

McNeil: We deal with visitors the same way we would deal with the regulars — welcome them with a spirit of hospitality, graciousness and love.

Medina: Thirty years of ordained experience.

Christmas Worship

Immanuel Lutheran Church “In the heart of Benson”

Christmas Season Advent Events at Immanuel SUNDAY, DECEMBER 11 Gloria Deo Handbell Choir and Joyful Noise Handbell Choir will perform during both services* SUNDAY, DECEMBER 18 Senior Choir Concert accompanied by our instrumental ensemble band will perform at both services* Children’s Sunday School Christmas program, 3:00 p.m., Refreshments served after program in Fellowship Hall.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 24 Christmas Eve Candlelight worship services at 5:00 p.m. & 10:00 p.m.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 25 Christmas Day worship service, 9:30 a.m.

* Sunday Worship services at 8:15 a.m. & 10:40 a.m., Fellowship hour after 8:15 a.m. service, Sunday School 9:30 a.m.

Immanuel Lutheran Church, ELCA | 2725 No. 60 Ave. • Omaha, NE 68104 402-553-5061 • www.Immanuel-lutheran.com

402-493-2871

HOLIDAY WORSHIP TIMES:

THE WORLDHERALD

Q: How do you use these special services to encourage them to return?

Tomlinson: We try to share hope and compassion and the good news that God is always present and desires to be a part of their lives ...

We let people know we are here for them and attempt to share information about how to access our services and ministries.

Brown: We tell them how glad we are that they have come; that they are most welcome; that our hearts rejoice to worship the Blessed Trinity — Father, Son and Holy Spirit — with them; and would they please come back and make Dundee Presbyterian Church their home. We ask them to sign our friendship pad, and we offer individual prayer for them after our worship services.

McNeil: Parishes use a variety of outreach and generalization efforts, such as personal contact by phone or home visits, mail, invitations to parish events, contact through school events or sporting events.

Medina: Again, no set way. We won’t treat people as a commodity. We really try to listen to their sacred story and what brings them to church at this moment. We always have a great party on Christmas Eve, and all are welcomed.

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www.saintmichaellutheran.org www.facebook.com/saintmichaellutheran

Advent Worship 6:30 pm, Nov 30, Dec 7, 14, 21 Dinner 5:15-6:15 (free-will offering)

Sunday, Dec. 18

Worship with Holy Communion 8:00 am Christmas Cantata 9:30 & 11:00 am featuring Rejoice! Singers & Handbell Choirs

Christmas Eve

Worship with Holy Communion 3:00, 5:00, 7:00 & 11:00 pm Children’s Message at 3:00 & 5:00 pm

Christmas Day

Worship 9:30 am ONLY Additional parking available Christmas Eve at Millard North Millard School

138th & West Center Road 402-334-1999 | www.rejoiceomaha.org

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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2016

OMAHA WORLD-HERALD

DIVINE CONTRADICTIONS

Catholic artist blends styles as the spirit moves him

By Kim Carpenter WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

Michael Montag’s sculptures don’t fit easily into pre-existing categories.

His depictions of Christ are highly traditional and call to mind figurative representations of the Savior dating back centuries.

His abstract renderings of the Virgin Mary, on the other hand, are reflective of more contemporary interpretations.

This approach is completely in keeping with Montag’s Catholic faith, which, like his work, is constantly evolving.

“It’s a journey of self-discovery,” he said, reflecting on his practice. “My focus, attention and efforts are about my faith. It’s figuring out what God wants.”

That has led to a prolific career.

Montag’s work is featured in Catholic schools, churches, retirement communities and cemeteries throughout the region.

Among his most prominent sculptures are a 45-foot-tall crucifix at Holy Family Shrine in Gretna, a life-size sculpture of St. Ignatius of Loyola at Creighton Prep and a 13-foot grotto entryway for New Cassel Retirement Center.

Most recently, Montag installed a 30-foot-tall crucifix commissioned by a rural landholder near Vesta in Redwood County, Minnesota.

“It was inspired by the work I did for the Holy Family Shrine and St. Albert’s School,” Montag said of the steel crucifix and its 7-foot-tall cast bronze Christ Corpus along TH19.

“I want people to see this and think about what is important to them and the hereafter,” Michael Dolan, the farmer who commissioned Montag, told the Redwood Falls Gazette.

Montag originally considered studying architecture and was even awarded a scholarship to the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn,

The crucifix at the Holy Family Shrine, above, is one of Michael Montag’s most prominent sculptures. The shrine is off Interstate 80, Exit 432.

“Papal Madonna,” left, is an abstract rendering of the Virgin Mary.

New York. He preferred, though, to begin his studies at Creighton University and almost immediately identified his true calling.

“I went to the sculpture lab, and it was wonderful. I was always into art as a child, and once I got to Creighton, I fell in love with sculpture. It was a wonderland

a conduit and a helping aid. I don’t believe anything I make is something to be worshipped. It’s just to remind people of what they want to take into their hearts.”

Montag does this through his distinctive blending of artistic styles. His interpretation of Jacob’s Ladder, for example, is a combination of Baroque figures paired with austere lines.

“It shouldn’t work, but it does,” he said. “I find a lot of hope in combining styles. I like to make my work a combination of forward-looking technology and respect for tradition at the same time. I believe that work can integrate both schools of art.

“There are a lot of people who think that modern abstraction is

that I discovered.”

No matter what he creates from his home studio in the Florence neighborhood, the sculptor wants his work to draw viewers closer to God. “People need something physical to approach something spiritual,” he said. “Art can act as

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the only way to go, and there’s another camp that’s very much into traditionalism. I think a work of sculpture that has great character can integrate both. It’s not an ‘either/or.’ It’s a ‘both/and.’ My best work is when I hybridize.”

That stylistic fusion allows Montag’s art to be simultaneously introspective and forward-looking and also serve as a conduit for viewers to contemplate their faith.

For example, he invites young women attending Duchesne Academy to reflect on their faith through a life-size cast bronze sculpture of the saint and students which is installed at the school entrance. “I wanted to show her inner beauty as she welcomed a student to the school. This is an encounter with a woman of great beauty,” the sculptor said.

His abstract works similarly draw people toward a kind of dynamic reflection. His water fountain at the Holy Family Shrine’s visitor center depicts the burial shroud of Christ represented as a water fountain. “It’s very Zen-like.

It’s very quiet and contemplative and yet explosive at the same time.”

The notion that art can have so many contradictions while simultaneously serving as a tool for getting closer to one’s faith is what drives Montag. “That’s the power and true genius of what art can do. It’s a hidden basement window into the spiritual castle,” he said. “Art is a place where people can go beyond the usual pugilistic arguments — whether political or religious. It appeals to a sense of need and belonging and what it means to be human. It’s a crazy, topsy-turvy world, but people can get along as brothers and sisters.

We can make things work when everything says we can’t. These are eternal truths, but reinterpreted into modern language.”