Area events may ward off holiday blues

12/20/2003

Got a case of the Christmas blues? A local pastor and his band have a musical antidote.

“Blues Christmas” is the theme of a Toledo concert tonight by the 3rd Floor Band, a music group led by the Rev. David Harris, pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church in Lima.

“ Blues Christmas is an attempt to more fully describe the world of pain and darkness into which Christ was born, demonstrating God s willingness to enter the pain of our lives,” Mr. Harris said in a news release.

“The world typically wants to hear a charming story with quaint characters that live happily ever after. In reality, the story is about light in darkness, hope in suffering, trust in the unknown, and meaning through vulnerability.”

The concert will be presented at 7 tonight at the Collingwood Arts Central, 2413 Collingwood Blvd. Admission is $10 for adults, free for children 18 and younger.

Proceeds will benefit Grand Central Station s after-school program, which serves central city children and families, and FOCUS, which works to overcome homelessness.

Here are some other Christmas events scheduled by area churches:

•  Drive-Through Living Nativity, over 100 participants portraying five Christmas scenes, 6-8 p.m. today and tomorrow, All Saints Lutheran Church, 5445 Heatherdowns Blvd., free. A pictorial preview is available online at www.allsaintstoledo.org.

•  German Christmas Service, 2 p.m. tomorrow, Augsburg Lutheran Church, 1342 Sylvania Ave., led by the Rev. Dr. Gustav Kopka of Grosse Pointe, Mich.

•  Christmas at Greccio, a Franciscan celebration of the incarnation in story and song, 4 p.m. tomorrow, St. Hedwig Catholic Church, 2916 Lagrange St.

•  Polish Christmas Eve Mass, 4 p.m. Wednesday, St. Anthony Catholic Church, 1416 Nebraska Ave., featuring candlelight procession.

•  Stations of the Nativity, with choral music, 4 p.m. tomorrow, St. Mark s Episcopal Church, 2272 Collingwood Blvd.

•  Living Nativity, 6-8 p.m. tomorrow, First Baptist Church of Greater Toledo, 6520 Pilliod Rd., Holland.

•  183rd Annual Christmas Eve Celebration, Scripture and carols by candlelight, 4:30, 7:30, and 11 p.m. Wednesday, First Presbyterian Church, 200 East Broadway, Maumee.

•  “The Christmas Light” cantata, Christmas sing-along, and candlelight ceremony, 7 p.m. Wednesday, Zion Evangelical Church of Summerfield, 7295 Kruse Rd., Summerfield, Mich. 734-856-1090.

•  Christmas jazz, 10 p.m.; choral chamber music, 10:30 p.m., and Festive Christ Mass with orchestra, 11 p.m., Wednesday at Trinity Episcopal Church, One Trinity Plaza, downtown.

•  “Lighting the Way for the Christ Child,” display of more than 1,000 luminaria, dusk Wednesday, New Rochester, Ohio, State Rt. 6 and State Rt. 199 in Wood County.

•  Christmas Eve services, 4, 7, and 11 p.m., Community of Christ Lutheran Church, 6517 Finzel Rd., Whitehouse.