Bethlehem Comes to Benton Street

By Carolyn Schuk - Santa Clara Weekly, December 7th, 2005

About eight hundred years ago St. Francis of Assisi put on the first outdoor Christmas pageant. More recently, Jerry Cintas of Santa Clara First Baptist Church (SCFBC) has followed the saint's example, dramatizing the Nativity story for modern day Silicon Valley residents.

A lifelong Santa Claran, Cintas first created SCFBC's "Bethlehem" - which SCFBC Pastor Richard Reaves calls a "nativity immersion" - in 1998 to bring the Christmas story to a wider audience.

"We used to spend a lot of energy on shows in our church," production manager Cintas explains. "But people don't want to come to programs in church. They think they're going to be preached at. What I wanted to do is present the Christmas story in a way that would reach a wider community. The community really embraces this program. It's a really good feeling to know that we present the Christmas story in a way that affects people's lives."

The event transforms the church parking lot into a first century village square complete with crowds, craftspeople, vendors, Roman centurions, and even beggars. The heart of the program is a dramatization of the Christmas story from the Gospel of Luke.

Joseph and his wife Mary, who is expecting a baby, travel to Bethlehem to be registered for a census. They arrive on a donkey looking for a place to stay. Finding "no room at the inn," they take refuge in a stable, where Jesus is born. His birth is celebrated with visits from angels, shepherds, and Wise Men from the Orient who are led by a bright, new star to Bethlehem.

Putting on the annual show, which includes a 40,000 square foot set - is a formidable undertaking.

"We have about 100 people in the show and between 50 and 100 people behind the scenes doing everything from costumes to building sets to publicity," Cintas says. "We started around Halloween building the sets."

In addition to human actors, the pageant features a sizable four-legged cast as well, including camels, horses, donkeys, llamas, goats and sheep.

Sometimes those four-legged players provide side shows of their own.

"The animals stay here at the church location overnight," Cintas explains. "Two years ago four little goats escaped and ran across Benton St., into Santa Clara High School, and into a classroom." The school's janitors eventually rounded up the goats, but not before the escapees had provided the students with a welcome distraction from their studies.

"I don't know if the administration was happy," says Cintas, "but the kids were having a great time."

"Bethlehem" opens Thursday Dec. 8 (2005) and runs through Monday Dec. 12, (2005) every half hour from 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Admission is free. Santa Clara First Baptist Church is located at 3111 Benton Street, directly across from Santa Clara High School. For information visit www.BethlehemSC.com or call (408) 241-7635.

Carolyn Schuk can be reached at cschuk@earthlink.net