Good Friday 2023

It's Good Friday, and today was the premiere of our production.  I met a lady in the parking lot who drove all the way up from Jacksonville, Florida, just to see this live and in person.  There were no doubt others that made such a pilgrimage.  The crowd was immense, a picture of things to come this weekend - not only was the sanctuary filled to capacity, and our overflow was filled too.

Maddie was ready to go with the cast tonight, and you can see her here amongst the crowd, rushing forward with palms to go see Jesus on Palm Sunday.
 

It was a wonderful production, of course.  All the practice and effort and work from so many people in the team lead to this one moment, opening night of this great presentation of the gospel.

Ah, the return of the "bird lady."  Dawn was back with one of those large fan things, oversized "Isis wings" that were requested for a comeback - but this time we had three dancers with these on them for the last celebration number.  There were a lot of costumes of course - a lot!  Mom was maxed out with last-minute entries and costuming for animal handlers, new kids, revelers and so on.  

Maddie was here all day, and she enjoyed her day helping others along and of course doing her part in the acting.  Here are a few pictures she has taken throughout the day on her phone as she got ready for the evening.

Those last pictures are fun, because Maddie got there early today to be a test subject for the make-up department.  Camille was instructing a team on the look for our dancers for one particular number, and so she needed a test subject to demonstrate on.  Enter Madison!

Anyway, it was a great start to the weekend, and it's going to be a very exhausting one, but here we go, right?  Tomorrow we get up early and head to church for three more performances.  We're super tired, but it's a rewarding sort of tired, and it's going to be a powerful weekend for all those who come to see our Easter production.