“Pastor Nathan was very clear with me,” Pastor Stertzbach told the Chamber Singers at their first rehearsal in August. “Pastor Nathan wants Lessons & Carols to be our traditional Christmas performance at IBCS. But he is allowing a departure for this one year.”
The IBCS Chamber Singers will partner with master storyteller Pastor Ken Endean on both December 5 and 6 to share a spellbinding musical interpretation of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Working from the original text, composer Benedict Sheehan has created a ground-breaking, concert-length story score that weaves familiar Christmas carols into the fabric of the Dickens story. Bringing timeless carols of the season together with the beloved characters of Charles Dickens promises to create an unforgettable new version of a Christmas classic.
Without adding to or changing the story—without “Christian-izing” the ending—the Biblical message rings as loudly as the bells heard on Christmas day! Of course, the concert is not called “Lessons & Carols” this year because there are no lessons—that is, Scripture passages, though the themes of Dickens’ story are indeed Christian. One secular reviewer notes of the presentation that “while the story proper is set in an English locale hundreds of years ago, its message about redemption, forgiveness, and charity is one that transcends any one era and speaks universally.” In the fanciful story, Scrooge is forced to answer the Biblical question, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
Writer Matthew Guard, who compiled the narration using only Dickens’ actual words from the original story, states, “Writing this now, on the day that I've heard the final mastered recording for the first time, it's hard to believe that this particular arrangement of words and music has never existed before.” This presentation of A Christmas Carol truly does feel like something that's been with us for years. And, certainly, its timely message will remain with us long after the final notes have died away.