Page Number 109
Recently, Abe Hardesty at "The Greenville News" had the pleasure of interviewing Steve Lawton regarding the Music Ministry at Mitchell Road Presbyterian Church.
Abe Hardesty
City People writer
Steve Lawton, now in his 14th year as Director of Music and Worship at Mitchell Road Presbyterian Church, loves the traditions of his Christian faith.
That love is on display prominently each December, when Lawton and wife Cathy -- who with two other directors combine to manage nine choirs and ensembles at the church -- lead a dedicated group of musicians who produce the Madrigal Feaste in the first week of the month and the Candleight Carol Services on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
The traditionally based services on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, which seem to go against a modern-day trend in Christian churches, are so popular that the program will be expanded this week to include three services on Saturday -- at 4 p.m., 5:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. -- in addition to an 11 a.m. service Sunday.
“We are seeing a swing back to some of our richer traditions. We are having services on Christmas Eve and on Christmas Day intentionally to keep Christ in Christmas,”Lawton says.
“There are times when we feel like the little boy with his finger in the dike…but we are seeing an increase of interest in going to church in conjunction with Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. Young families are leading the way, choosing well, making an authentic, historically-rooted Christ-centered Christmas a real part of their family celebration.”
Lawton says the Candlelight Carol Services, a tradition for decades at the church, allow family members to focus on Jesus’ incarnation before indulging in the gift-giving and feasting of the season. A third service has been added this year to accomodate the standing-room-only crowds of about 1,100 for each of the two Christmas Eve services in recent years.
A nursery is offered at the 5:30 p.m. service.Lawton says the congregation is “very involved” in the program lasting approximately one hour. Congregants sing carols after the reading of each of the stories which depict the birth of Jesus Christ. Other music this year is added by the sanctuary choir, the Joiner Family string ensemble, Jered McKenna and his musicians, the Kingdom Kids Choir and the handbell choir.
“In my 14 years here, we have always had overflow crowds on Christmas Eve. People would come an early to get a “good seat,” saysLawton, a Santa Barbara native who came toGreenvillein 1998. “We model our services loosely on the English service of lessons and carols. We keep it short and sweet, and we end by singing “Silent Night” with a gently plucked guitar, by the light of 600 candles. We listen to the somber tolling bells “warning the powers of evil that a Saviour is come into the world.” And then a festive peal sends us on our way, singing.”
Lawton started the Madrigal Feaste 11 years ago, and has drawn a sellout every yearof the 700 seats well in advance. The feast and the Candlelight Carols are the culmination of the four Evensong Sunday concerts during Advent.
“This is not “tipping the hat” to God on Christmas Eve,”Lawton says of this week’s services. “It is real, Biblical worship, intended to bless God and re-orient our thinking in a commercial-saturated, self-centered world.”
Lawton gets plenty of needed help in the coordination of voices and events from wife Cathy, who is also a degreed musician, educator and organizer. The couple begins making Christmas plans for the choirs in July.
“We have a great crew. The Madrigal Feaste requires the services of 142 volunteer ringers, singers, wenches and footmen (servers), costumers, decorators, cooks, directors, instrumentalists, magicians, jesters and construction workers. We bring in a guest artist now and then, foran Advent concert, such as classical guitarist, Rodrigo Rodriguez. The choral concert and Christmas Eve services also require a good many workers.”
Lawton marvels annually that so many of the singers do double, and sometimes triple duty during the month -- then come back for more the following year.
“I asked one of them recently about the risk of burnout,” he says. “I received a gentle scoff for a reply. “When people are doing something for the love of God, they cannot do enough, and they never burn out.”
On a personal side,Lawton says Christmas music is typically an energizing experience.
“Cathy and I use “Joy to the World” perhaps more than any other because of the great promise it contains — to spread the blessings of the Kingdom as “far as the curse is found.” We also love some of the new work by the brilliant local composer, Dan Forrest. His “Carol of Joy” is amazingly good. Most of our well-loved carols come to us from folk songs. They represent countries from all around the world. They are immediately accessible, singable, and in many cases, danceable.”
“Some carols are so intimate and heart-breakingly sweet that they evoke tears almost every time,”Lawton says. “Some composers seem to have saved their loveliest and most touching tunes for the adoration of the Christ child in the manger.”
