'Ornament' shows that Christ is the true reason for Christmas

The true reason for the season was celebrated at Belvedere First Baptist Church on Sunday evening as the church held a presentation of the holiday musical, "The Ornament."

The mood was festive, and the church received a large turnout for the weekend performances of the musical held on Saturday and Sunday.

Josh Edwards, the minister of music at Belvedere First Baptist, said the musical's cast has been rehearsing for the two shows since August. He said the message from the show is celebrating the birth of Christ during the holidays - the true ornament of Christmas.

"People have a lot of different things they look for in Christmas, the ultimate ornament being Christ," said Edwards.

The cast's performance included many holiday favorites such as "Silent Night," "The Christmas Suite," "What Makes Christmas" and "O Holy Night."

"The Ornament" presentation performed at Belvedere Baptist was written by Matt Tullos, a pastor in Nashville, as a supplemental narration to the original musical drama written by Phillip Keveren.

Sunday's performance was narrated by Betty Holton and James Whitt. They talked about how people sometimes get wrapped up in the commercialization of Christmas, forgetting its true meaning.

The musical ended with John 3:16 and the words, "The offer still remains, and, though the story remains the same, year after year, once we make the story of Christmas one that truly lives within our hearts, we are never the same again."

Contact April Bailey at abailey@aikenstandard.com.