HARLINGEN — To help put on a live Nativity scene, you have to have an eye for talent.
As director of Christian education, otherwise known as youth director, Kayla Brock is coordinating the youngsters who are participating in the live Nativity being put on by St. Paul Lutheran Church in Harlingen this weekend.
“A lot of it is getting the kids excited about it, getting them kind of in the mind-set of, ‘Oh, this is a really cool service opportunity for me to serve my church and community,” Brock said.
But it also involves partnering with parents.
“It’s discussing with them, saying, ‘Hey, your kid would be so awesome at doing this,’” she said.
Children have different skills they can bring to a scene. Some are good at memorizing lines. Others just might be “super outgoing.”
Brock says all children are going to be outgoing. But they’re outgoing in different ways.
“They’re not all going to be extroverts where they get excited about being in a play, and so then it’s working with the kids and seeing their strengths,” she said.
Some children are really good at the “behind the scenes stuff.”
“So we have some working with our volunteers, some kids will be performing with our bell choir and some will be working in the kitchen and getting things ready,” she said.
Other kids are really good at telling jokes.
“So last year, we had some kids set up as shepherds before you got to the actual Nativity part, where they were sitting around telling some different jokes about sheep and stuff like that; just cracking jokes,” she said.
“Some kids are actually part of the live Nativity,” she said.
“With that, they don’t have any speaking lines, they just get to be part of the experience of being in the little manger setup that we have.”
So, her job is recognizing the strengths of each child and plugging those into the scene.
If you go
The St. Paul Lutheran Church in Harlingen is scheduled to hold its live Nativity scene tonight, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., at the church at 602 Morgan Blvd.
