From ABCCM:
ABCCM Celebrating 30th Anniversary of Return to Bethlehem
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Asheville Buncombe Community Christian Ministry (ABCCM) will from Dec. 8 to Dec. 11 hold Return to Bethlehem, a family-friendly holiday event that captures the spirit of Christmas by faithfully re-creating the Bethlehem marketplace as it might have appeared the night that Jesus was born. This is the 30th anniversary of Return to Bethlehem, which features market stalls, Roman soldiers, a temple, live animals and the Holy Family.
Groce United Methodist Church, located at 954 Tunnel Road in East Asheville, will again host the event. This year’s schedule is Thursday, Dec. 8, 6 p.m.-8:30 p.m.; Friday, Dec. 9, 6 p.m.-8:30 p.m.; Saturday, Dec. 10, 2 p.m.- 8:30 p.m.; Sunday, Dec. 11, 2 p.m.-6 p.m.
Return to Bethlehem is ABCCM’s gift to the community and there is no charge to attend. Donations are accepted and will go to ABCCM’s services for the hungry, homeless, needy and sick in our community.
Thousands of volunteers in the last three decades have worked to make Return to Bethlehem come alive for the community. To this day, volunteers build and paint sets, create and maintain costumes, decorate sets, play roles in the event, work backstage to make sure the event keeps moving, and play and perform for visitors waiting to experience the marketplace of Bethlehem.
For visitors, the experience begins in the church sanctuary, where groups of seven or less are assigned a Hebrew family name and wait to hear the name called. Volunteer music groups perform Advent music while visitors wait for their turn. When the name is called, the group is escorted down an elevator and into a dark, star-lit hallway, where the journey begins. Visitors pass the census-taker as they enter the city, and then visit the various vendor booths and the temple. All along the way, the men and women of Bethlehem talk about the young couple, including the wife who is about to have a baby, who had just stopped in Bethlehem. Finally, visitors enter the stable where Joseph and Mary sit with the baby Jesus.
“Return to Bethlehem is one of the most exciting events that our churches and volunteers do all year long,” says Reverend Scott Rogers, ABCCM’s executive director. “After 30 years so many people tell us, it’s not Christmas until they’ve been to Return to Bethlehem. It brings the focus of Christmas back to your family, your faith, and why we care about a homeless man and woman who needed a place to stay.”
Volunteers are needed to paint scenery, play roles in the cast, help behind the scenes and for other tasks. For more information on how to volunteer, call Terri Bowman at 828-259-5326 or email terri.bowman@abccm.org.
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