An Easter tradition: Youth lead performance at Baptist church on Columbus' South Side
As Jesus was dying on a cross on stage, angels flowed between the pews, their gossamer wings shimmering in the glow of stained glass windows.
Moving with a delicate yet powerful grace, the angels arched their backs, contorted their figures and twirled their wings like whirligigs as “Vía Dolorosa,” a liturgical song by the band Veritas, played from a stereo system.
The angels were among more than two dozen dancers, musicians and actors — ranging in age from 5 to 17 — who performed at a special Easter service held Palm Sunday at Family Missionary Baptist Church in Columbus. The youth-led performance has become a joyful annual tradition for the predominantly Black congregation in the city's Southern Orchards neighborhood. This year, it took place the week before Easter to accommodate students’ busy spring break schedules.
One of the angels, Sion Rone, 15, is a sophomore at Columbus Africentric High School who loves to dance.
“Music always gets me going, ever since I was a kid,” said Rone, who has participated in the dance program for seven years and mentors her peers before the annual performance. “I teach them how to dance … and we have conversations about school, about we how we feel, about mentally, where we’re at.”
For the Rev. Frederick LaMarr, the church's pastor, the performing arts are just one way to bring young people into Family Missionary and the church into the community. Other programs include a summer camp focused on chess and career paths, a summertime community festival and a Halloween “trunk or treat” program run out of congregants’ cars.
“I try to take the church outside the four walls,” LaMarr told The Dispatch. “Our main focus is … nurturing these young people.”
‘The Word speaks through songs’
Sunday’s youth dance performances complemented a play about the Last Supper and the crucifixion of Jesus that was written and directed by Brenda Booker, a church organist with a soulful voice.
Between scenes performed by both youth and adult actors, the Butterflies, a troupe of elementary-age dancers, took to the stage for the gospel song “The Blood, The Blood.”
Dance instructor Alicia Alston clapped with encouragement from a front pew. She said she learned to dance in clubs before she began teaching youth decades ago.
“God knew my heart was with dance. So he kind of converted that club dance into church ministry. … The word speaks through songs,” she told The Dispatch before the performance.
A ministry for youth, families and people in recovery
While many of LaMarr’s congregants are youths, the church also caters to adults who are recovering from addiction or who have been incarcerated.
For years, the pastor has led community members on a monthly “march against the violence” through the neighborhood, where gun violence is all too common. Many congregants, both youth and adult, face challenges securing good housing and a host of other daily struggles, he said.
Micahya LaMarr, the pastor’s daughter and a church volunteer, said youth performance ministries — which also include a drumming group — provide a creative outlet for kids in tough times.
“The performative and cultural arts is something to keep (our students) off the streets. A lot of kids like to express theirselves through dancing, drumming, poetry, singing — it’s about giving them another outlet when they get angry or even when they’re bored,” she said.
For Rone, it’s sometimes been a challenge to balance her responsibilities as youth dance leader with life outside the church, but she’s stuck it out.
“I feel like sometimes God will (create) situations just to get your attention,” she said. “One of the lessons I learned is to stay through the hard times because there's going to be something greater on the other side.”
‘Be encouraged’
Church leaders spoke during the celebration on themes related to hope and renewal.
“Be encouraged,” said Youth Director Cecilia "Cece" Carroll, “because while everybody else has got something negative to say about you, there's one that loves you enough, that lays down his life, y’all. Be encouraged because the sun will come up after dark. … Be encouraged because God has the final say.”
LaMarr gave a sermon on how God looks beyond humans’ faults.
“If you want to give back to Christ, or you want to rededicate your life, this is your time,” he said.
“Sometimes God breaks us. And he breaks us because he's trying to make us.”
Peter Gill covers immigration, New American communities and religion for the Dispatch in partnership with Report for America. You can support work like his with a tax-deductible donation to Report for America at:bit.ly/3fNsGaZ.
pgill@dispatch.com
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Youth lead special Easter performance at Baptist church in Columbus
