Just as scholars differ on when exactly Christ was born, dwellers on the hills and farms around the hamlet of East Craftsbury in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom differ on when the Christmas pageant first appeared at the Presbyterian Church.  They do agree that the pageant, with its accompanying carols (virtually unchanged for all of its nearly seventy years) has a special place in the community.  This may account for the special sound of the congregation singing the carols on this recording, most of which are part of the pageant and the service which surrounds it.  There are, to be sure, some technical reasons for the sound,  familiar to those who already own the companion recording, Our Favorite Hymns.  One is the tradition of part singing.  Most members of this congregation naturally pick up a hymn book and sing not the melody but their parts, bringing forth a stirring harmony.  Another is a full measure of men’s voices, including the Men’s Choir.  A third factor is the acoustic nature of the Church itself, designed in 1909 by one of Vermont’s leading architects of the day.

 But mostly the spirit of the singing is about Christmas in a small, snow-covered, Vermont township where some families have worked the same dairy farms for 150 years.  This is a close-knit congregation, many of them kinfolk, celebrating the hope of the world in the birth of Jesus Christ.  They’re also celebrating the hope of the families and community represented by the children in the pageant.  Like his brothers, sisters and most of his contemporaries, Morris Rowell can remember appearing first as a shepherd, and later a wise man, in the earliest pageants first staged by his neighbor, the late Miss Jean Simpson.  All of Morris’ brothers, sisters, children, nephews and nieces played their roles in turn with his grandchildren participating now. Most of their voices are on this recording, joined by three generations of pageant players and singers from the Calderwood, Kinsey and Urie families.

While the church is Presbyterian, the pageant is ecumenical. Children from families with no other connection to the church have traditionally been involved, recruited by young friends as angels, shepherds, Magi and members of the Holy Family.  “Just about every kid that grew up here has been in it,” said the late Albert Urie, the Sunday School superintendent when the pageant began.

When a prior pastor came to the church, he recalls being told by the elders he could  “change anything you like in the order of worship – except the pageant.”  Thus everybody knows that when the organ strikes up “Angels We Have Heard On High,” small figures with gauzy wings, tinsel halos and flashlight candles will make their entrance.  Joseph and  Mary, carrying the Christ Child, appear to the strains of  “O Little Town of  Bethlehem.”  Next “While Shepherds Watch Their Flocks” and, finally, “We Three Kings,” bearing gifts, advance majestically.

 East Craftsbury Presbyterian Church holds a warm and welcoming congregation.  Nothing would please us more than if you were to stop by and sing with us.  Meanwhile, we hope you enjoy this recording.