Lustre News
We have had some spectacular starlight nights, and a challenging blizzard on Sunday night, Dec 8. Those who braved the storm to get to the Mennonite Brethren-Church were in for a very good program. Sarah Brown played “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” in prelude, and superintendent of the Sunday School, Tom Brown, welcomed people. An offering was taken for the benefit of Beacon Bible Camp.
The 2-4 year olds (Blakely Garner, Jace Garner, Lake Neufeld, Marcus Nell, Alistair Olfert, Annabelle Olfert, Chloe Pancratz, Kash Pankratz, Calvin Ortmann, Zach Steele, Abram Unrau and Noah Zerbe) sang the introductory song to the musical drama called “Dr. Newheart’s Christmas Cure”. These children were also in the nativity scene later and Piper Neufeld sang “A Holy Night” with the junior choir during that.
The musical was both funny and full of meaning, as Nurse Philpott (Harlo Reddig) responds to patients calling in on Christmas day with “the CDDs”. She sang “These Christmas Bells” (exasperatedly). Cory, (Marlee Reddig), T.J., (Micah Zerbe) and Wendy (Piper Neufeld) were the patients brought in by their friend Erin (Grace Byers). “The Christmas Day Dumps”, sung by Marlee Reddig and Micah Zerbe helped explain the problem. Nurse Philpott calls Dr. Newheart in, introducing her in a delightful song. Dr. Newheart was played by Mindy Olfert and young patients were treated so carefully. She has the help of her interns (Liam Matthyser and Gunner Damboise) who sang “The Bone Song” with the junior choir.
“The Christmas Day Dumps is really only a symptom of the real problem, a hole in the heart”, explains Dr. Newheart. “Heart problems are the Lord’s favorite part. He says you need a new heart.” She calls in her “Disorderlies” (played by Drew Reddig, Josef Olfert, Jake Neufeld and Samuel Byers) who sing a neat rap, called “The Holy Hole Rap”. The Pink Ladies (played by Hannah Pankratz, Aubrey Klatt, Ava Holzrichter, Samantha Neufeld and Tessa Olfert) portrayed the part of ladies in their 80’s. It was a super performance, and I’d love to see it again.
The cast was Dr. Newheart (Mindy Olfert), Nurse Philpott (Harlo Reddig), Dr. Fric (Liam Matthyser), Dr. Frac (Gunner Damboise), Erin (Grace Byers), Cory (Marlee Reddig), T.J. (Micah Zerbe, substituting Gavin Pankratz), Wendy (Piper Neufeld) as main characters. Supporting cast were the “Disorderlies” (Drew Reddig, Josef Olfert, Jake Neufeld, Samuel Byers) and “Pink Ladies”, (Hannah Pankratz, Aubrey Klatt, Ava Holzrichter, Samantha Neufeld, Tessa Olfert).
Pastor Frank spoke partway through reinforcing the message of the musical. He said, “The Bible is God’s love letter to mankind. In the beginning God created man and woman on the sixth day because He wanted a relationship with the people He made, and He kindly put them in a garden. They were free to eat anything but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Why the tree? Because without choice there is no love. God found Adam and Eve hiding from Him after they took of the tree, and they were opened to the knowledge of good and evil. Now sin separated them, as a fatal cancer. Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin, so God shed the blood of an animal to cover them ‘until I send My Son’. He will be in a way, the Great Physician.” Pastor Lenihan said his grandmother did not believe that people were born in original sin. He asked his Grandma, “when did you teach my Dad and his siblings to lie and hit when they fought?” “They did not have to be taught that,” she said. Pastor Frank said, “There are three types of people. Perhaps you are one who, like me 35 years ago, recognized I had a desperately wicked heart, and asked God for a heart transplant to restore and make my heart beat for the things of God. The second type of person is one who knows they need that heart transplant, but are postponing it. You are delaying getting right with God. For many years, I had not heard the Gospel found in John 3:16, but once I knew, there was a choice to make. Dr. Newheart explained the hole in one’s heart well. Call out to The Lord and ask Him to show you the way home.”
The musical was directed by Julie Reddig and Lisa Neufeld, with sound by Ken Zerbe, background music by Zach Brown, and a backstage crew of Debbie Lenihan, Joy Young and LaVonne Toews.
