UPDATE: Laurel Hill Living Nativity canceled due to potential weather

Brian Hughes/Special to the News Bulletin/USA TODAY NETWORK
·3 min read
At the end of their "journey to Bethlehem," visitors to the Laurel Hill Presbyterian Church's 2020 Living Nativity reach the manger, where Mary and Joseph, portrayed by Tammie Becker and Rémy Kublick, shared their miraculous story.
At the end of their "journey to Bethlehem," visitors to the Laurel Hill Presbyterian Church's 2020 Living Nativity reach the manger, where Mary and Joseph, portrayed by Tammie Becker and Rémy Kublick, shared their miraculous story.

NOTE: The News Bulletin received an email from Laurel Hill Presbyterian Dec. 10 that this event has been canceled due to expected inclement weather.

LAUREL HILL — By car, Bethlehem is just a half hour drive from Nazareth, a short 27 km jaunt on Israel Route 75.

But let’s say you wanted to try the trip 2,000 years ago — by donkey. And to complicate matters, you’re pregnant, ready to give birth at any minute, and you’re jostling up and down on the donkey while your husband walks beside you.

Suffice to say, you ain’t doin’ that trip in no 30 minutes.

And to make matters worse, you can’t ring ahead and book a room, so when you finally traverse the rough track over the hills and through the scrub and arrive in Bethlehem, it’s only to find there’s apparently only one inn in the whole town, and because of a Roman Empire-wide census, the town is packed with your husband’s kinfolk and the inn is filled to capacity.

Visitors visit the campfire of Joseph, a lowly carpenter from Nazareth, played by Kyle Lusk, during Laurel Hill Presbyterian Church's Living Nativity Dec. 12.
Visitors visit the campfire of Joseph, a lowly carpenter from Nazareth, played by Kyle Lusk, during Laurel Hill Presbyterian Church's Living Nativity Dec. 12.

To fulfill the prophecies foretold in the Bible, that blessed Nazarene couple, Mary and Joseph, really had to work hard to find a place in Bethlehem where she could give birth to the Son of God.

In the end, as everyone knows so well, the Christ child was born in the inn’s stable, was laid in a manger filled with sweet-smelling fresh hay, and after being tenderly wrapped in swaddling clothes was lulled to sleep by the cattle softly lowing.

The story is as sweet to today’s ears as it has been over the past two millennia. Every year, members of the Presbyterian churches of Laurel Hill and Crestview love sharing it with their North Okaloosa County neighbors during their Living Nativity at Laurel Hill Presbyterian.

The Living Nativity they present isn’t a static Victorian tableau.

“Just like Mary and Joseph took a spiritual journey, so do our guests,” noted elder and organist Leon Curenton Jr., whose family has attended the church for at least four generations.

The historic 1902 Laurel Hill Presbyterian Church, one of the region's few examples of carpenter Gothic wooden church architecture, will be dressed in its Advent finery for its annual Living Nativity Dec. 11 in Laurel Hill.
The historic 1902 Laurel Hill Presbyterian Church, one of the region's few examples of carpenter Gothic wooden church architecture, will be dressed in its Advent finery for its annual Living Nativity Dec. 11 in Laurel Hill.

“We lay a candle-lit trail around our large churchyard, and our guests embark in small groups on their own ‘journey to Bethlehem’ on the path,” he continued. “Along the way, they meet many of the people from ‘The Greatest Story Ever Told.’”

“When our guests leave, we hope it’s with a greater understanding and appreciation of this miraculous event,” added the churches’ pastor, the Rev. Mark Broadhead. “It’s really a celebration of what Christmas is all about: That precious gift from God of his only son.”

This year’s 11th annual Living Nativity is 5:30-8 p.m. Dec. 11, at Laurel Hill Presbyterian Church, 8115 Fourth Ave.

As the churches enter their second decade of sharing “that wondrous song of old,” they’ve refreshed the scripts, shuffled some characters and added some new ones.

“We have so many neighbors and friends tell us they look forward to our event year after year,” Broadhead said. “We’d like to give them the same joyous experience, but with some new stories to contemplate.”

During the 2020 Living Nativity event in Laurel Hill, Ron Medlock and his late wife, Pauline, portrayed Dr. and Mrs. Luke, who welcomed visitors with mints and an introduction to their journey to Bethlehem.
During the 2020 Living Nativity event in Laurel Hill, Ron Medlock and his late wife, Pauline, portrayed Dr. and Mrs. Luke, who welcomed visitors with mints and an introduction to their journey to Bethlehem.

Last year, some of the interaction visitors usually experience was curtailed due COVID-19. This year, the churches will bring back the snacks, beverages and fellowship that traditionally follow the Journey to Bethlehem.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: UPDATE: Laurel Hill Living Nativity canceled due to potential weather