You can see it's still Christmas at St. Mark's (and in all liturgical churches) because of the Christmas tree. I love this time after Christmas Eve when I get to practice by the light of our tree. (Some people prefer to call it a Chrismon tree - but that's a topic for another article.)
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| Christmas 2022 |
There was a time when St. Mark's was home to a different kind of tree - a living Christmas tree!
Now, before anyone get curious and runs up to the tree to pluck its needles to see if they are real or not, I'm talking about a tree made formed by living people!
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| Svend Simonson with Luci |
Apparently, this was the brain child of Hugh Alderman, one of our earliest music directors. Red Brown once told Viki Grzelinski that St. Mark's had the very first living Christmas tree in Jacksonville. He also said that Svend Simonson built the frame of the tree. Children stood on risers that gradually decreased in length so they formed a triangle. Each year Mr. Alderman (who was St. Mark's Music Director for more than 20 years) picked one lucky child to be the angel at the top.
A show this good had to go on the road! And what a great way to share the good news of Jesus at Christmas time!
A 1962 article in the Florida Times-Union reports that the Christmas tree performed two concerts at the Cummer Gallery of Art in Riverside on Sunday, December 23, 1962.
This picture, possibly from 1962 or at least about that time, was clearly taken in the old nave of our current building on Hendricks Avenue.
Two handbell choirs joined in the festivities - and the Cummer event was their premier performance! They played the Petit & Fritsen handbells from Holland. According to the program, a young Steve H. played in the junior choir! (Red Brown was not in the handbell choir that year, but he told me of playing the bells as well.)
Since published handbell arrangements were scarce at the time, Hugh Alderman arranged several of their songs.
Do you have a memory of the living Christmas tree, or perhaps a memory of Hugh Alderman? I hope you'll share it in the comments below.
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| Hugh Alderman, left, with Pastor Nordsiek |
I wonder what people will say of St. Mark's Christmas music 60 years from now?
Merry Christmas and happy new year!
