We're Famous {sortof!}

Woodridge LIVE Nativity Pageant newspaper article from the Trib Local.

Eighteenth Annual Live Nativity Pageant

A Gift to the Village of Woodridge from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Bishop Ben Kosiek of the Woodridge congregation remembers well the meeting eighteen years ago when members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints decided to share their love of Jesus Christ by performing a live nativity for the Village of Woodridge. Since then Bishop Kosiek and his family have participated every year in one-way or another. With the help of his nephew he built the stable and the supporting scaffolding above where the angels stand. His wife Cathy has played the innkeeper’s wife, their daughter as Mary, and their boys as shepherds and angels. He says that through rain, sleet, or snow, the pageant has never been canceled. Even the donkey that has come the last twelve years knows his route around the church on Woodridge Drive. Once the music begins he starts his paces, following Joseph and Mary towards the innkeeper. The mellow sounds of the sheep and goats can often be heard in the background.

Liberty Cameron and her husband Jason jumped right in to help when they moved here nearly ten years ago. Jason’s skills lie in outside lighting and sound and he never minds the variable temperatures. He’s quite happy to pitch in wherever he might be needed. Liberty on the other hand, has organized the crèche exhibit inside the church. Adding her collection of twenty nativities, she has been careful to insure that all the crèches are displayed in a way that any age might enjoy. This year she steps outside to direct the live nativity pageant. The teenagers know that the ultimate honor is to depict Joseph or Mary when they become a high school senior. By the age of eight, many children have played a shepherd, an angel or been in the angelic choir.

Both Liberty and Bishop Kosiek speak softly of the miracles of the pageant—heavy snow that quickly stopped or diminished to flurries, rain that disappeared, a little shepherd trudging up the hill with his shoes blinking soft lights in the snow, and the enacting of the humble birth of the Savior over and over again, year after year and always feeling the same—grateful for His gift to the world.

The live nativity pageant runs this weekend, December 11th and 12th 6:30-8:30 p.m., with the pageant every half hour. Featured musical performances inside the church include the Bolingbrook High School Madrigals, the Downers Grove North Treble Ensemble and Friends in Harmony, a female singing group.

Location:
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
7201 Woodridge Drive, Woodridge, IL 60517