Taking Christmas songs on the road

“Oh, that You would bless me indeed,
and enlarge my territory,
that Your hand would be with me...”
 

— from The Prayer of Jabez

Central United Methodist Church’s Singing Christmas Tree is enlarging its territory.

The 50-voice choir will perform three times this weekend, at two different churches, on two different trees.

Performances take place Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. at Central United in Spencer, with a third performance at 7:30 p.m. at Mount Zion United Church of Christ in China Grove. Instrumental and hand bell preludes begin a half-hour before each concert.

The afternoon concert is aimed at residents of Salisbury-area nursing homes and group homes, as well as for older people who don’t like to drive at night. The choir first added that performance last year.

Central’s Singing Christmas Tree is observing its 20th year. It started as a part of the church’s outreach ministry, according to Jerry Dudley, who’s served as technical director since the beginning. His wife, Melinda, has sung in the choir for 20 years.

“The first couple of years,” Jerry Dudley says, “it was not real technical. The choir stood on risers and wore green robes, and we strung lights in the form of a triangle to make a Christmas tree.”

Kimberly Lentz is in her 13th year of directing the “tree,” as choir members call it. Her aunt, Barbara Everhart, started the project. For Lentz, it’s a year-round endeavor.

“I keep a constant list of music running,” she says. “I have oodles of music. With this group, I want them to be able to do some things that they don’t do with their regular choirs. They’re dedicated and willing to work.”

Carol Everhart joined the choir in 1989, after she married Lentz’s brother, Kelly Everhart.

“My favorite things are getting to know people from other churches and getting to do more complicated music than we do with our choirs,” she says.

Attendance in the tree has grown steadily over the years, with members inviting friends, and those friends bringing folks with them. The choir now has members from 20 different churches.

Everhart invited John Corriher of Mount Zion to participate several years ago. He, in turn, brought in other members from Mount Zion.

From the beginning, he says, he wanted to bring the tree to his home congregation.

So he built a second tree this year to accommodate the schedule.

“When you’ve got that many people involved, you’ve got to keep it in a real tight time frame. There’s not enough time to move the tree,” he says. “The only way I could get the bunch down there was to build another tree — that was a given.”

He adds, “People talk about having a ‘calling,’ and I have always been real dubious of that until I got into this thing. It was like I didn’t have a choice. I had to get it done.”

After getting the green light from Lentz, the choir and Mount Zion’s consistory, Corriher approached members of his congregation to help.

Steve and Peggy Whicker and their son, Phillip, of Cozart Lumber Co., donated the wood. Phil Simpson of DESCO Inc. donated the electrical equipment and dimmers. Corriher donated his time to build the tree.

He worked with David Barnhardt, who built Central’s tree, to design a pattern. Mount Zion members Bobby Yost, a carpenter and choir member, and Gary Sechler, a contractor, helped him put it together in the sanctuary. Several female choir members from Mount Zion put on the greenery and lights.

“It was amazing to see it go together,” Corriher says. “I am just so proud of the way it looks.”

The result brought “oohs” and “aahs” from the choir when they rehearsed in China Grove Tuesday night.

The choir begins its practices the first Tuesday after Labor Day and joins together each Tuesday until the performances in early December. This year, the first practice was set for Sept. 11.

Lentz went on with practice.

“I decided that there wasn’t a better place to be,” she says.

“It was a welcome relief,” says choir member Lynn Lippard.

Selections from this year’s performances will include: “Joy to the World,” “Joy in the Morning,” “What Child is This?” “Does Bethlehem Know?” “Angels We Have Heard on High” and “O, Come, All Ye Faithful.”

According to its tradition, the choir will end its performances with “Silent Night.”

The choir seems excited about its extended performance schedule, Lentz notes.

“Everything we’ve asked them to do, they’ve done eagerly,” she says. “It’s just something bigger than you ever expect. Just to see those people singing praises just makes it worthwhile. And people come up to me later and say, ‘This is Christmas to me.’”

Contact Susan Poe at 704-797-4289 or lifestyles@salisburypost.com .