St Peter’s Parish, Wairoa, and the whanau from Tawhiti a Maru Marae ended 2009 by celebrating the 21st birthday of Jesus!
The celebration in the parish’s drop-in centre was the idea of sacramental programmer and treasurer of Tawhiti a Maru Marae, Lil Adsett.
Lil had often thought about the kind of coming-of-age celebration Jesus might have had.
With the support of the whanau, some ‘licence’ taken with scripture characters, a little mixing of cultures, the use of ICT and musical media, and a chance for individuals to showcase their talents and flair for the performing arts, a wonderfully entertaining and spiritually edifying (in that order) production came to into being!
The production followed the format of 21st birthday parties with guests, speeches, salutations, singing, eating and drinking!
Jesus’ guests were gathered from the pages of the bible. These guests (who delivered a suitably entertaining item or two) included St Joseph, the daughter of Pharaoh, wee Moses, a shepherd, a blind man and a beggar, the Holy Spirit, Mary Magdalene, King David, a collection of saints, Lazarus, Jacob, St Patrick and even an acquaintance of the recently canonised Fr Damien of Molokai!
The celebration injected some fun into the Catholic community in Wairoa. In the pooling of resources, faith in Wairoa took on a new face and a new shine! Well done, whanau!
Images: Above: Mary (Lil Adsett), Jesus (Tim Mogford) and St Anne (Topsy McNabb) prepare to cut the 21st birthday cake.
Above right: Melissa Paul, Sr Carmel, Pauline Lane and Sr Rachel (all saints from heaven!) with Jesus at his 21st party in Wairoa last Christmas.