Three Gifts Wrapped in the True Meaning of Christmas

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By TAHLIB

"The Adoration of the Three Kings" (1530) by Girolamo da Santacroce

Every Christmas, we've exchanged three gifts inspired by the example of the Three Kings (Wise Men). The “gold” gift, is the big item on the mind of the receiver; the second gift of “frankincense” is for spiritual growth, and is typically a work of religious art; and the third gift of “myrrh” is for the body. This year, I'm extending this framework to other family members, but rather than giving a sermonette each time, I will use colored wrapping paper. The "Mind" gift in gold paper; the "Soul" gift in "white" paper for holiness; and the "Body" gift in "red" for the blood Christ shed. Overly complicated? Maybe, but complex meanings are what helps make a Holyday.

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A Black Director's Own Christmas Miracle" "Black Nativity" Opens Today

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Felicia R. Lee

Kasi Lemmons, pictured at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Harlem,
wrote some of the lyrics for the movie “Black Nativity.”

HOLLYWOOD---“Black Nativity,” an unapologetically feel-good musical about a family’s Christmas miracle, is a stark stylistic departure from Kasi Lemmons’s signature film as a director, the brooding 1997 indie hit “Eve’s Bayou.” But Ms. Lemmons said that “in a weird way” the two films are not dissimilar: Both examine complicated families and belief in things unseen through a child’s perspective. Black Nativity,” which opens Wednesday. [link]

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Christmas Tree and Neapolitan Baroque Crèche on Display for Holiday Season at Metropolitan Museum

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS

NEW YORK---The Christmas tree and Neapolitan Baroque crèche at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, a long-standing yuletide tradition in New York, will be on view for the holiday season, from November 26, 2013, through January 6, 2014. The brightly lit, 20-foot blue spruce—with a collection of 18th-century Neapolitan angels and cherubs hovering among its boughs and groups of realistic crèche figures flanking the Nativity scene at its base—will once again delight holiday visitors in the Museum’s Medieval Sculpture Hall. This exhibit of the crèche is made possible by gifts to The Christmas Tree Fund and the Loretta Hines Howard Fund. [2012 Highlights]

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Estacado principal tells Christmas story through sketches in LCU art exhibit

LUBBOCK-AVALANCE JOURNAL 
By Natalie Gross

"Shepherds in Fields is a linoleum block print by Sam Ayers. The Estacado principal will have his work on display at Lubbock Christian University through Dec 6th. (Zach Long)

TEXAS---The “Good News of Great Joy” art exhibit at Lubbock Christian University has a 21-year history behind it. The event, set to run through Dec. 6, with a reception Monday, Nov. 11, all started in a Hardwick Elementary School art class in 1992 when Sam Ayers, a longtime educator, observed the students making relief prints. He decided to join in and chose a religious theme for his first go. He was pleased with how “Madonna and Child” turned out, and thus the exhibit was born. The 36-piece collection now on display has been an ongoing project of Ayers since that day, and he’s devoted more than 100 hours to making it happen. [link]

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New Book: 'The Christmas Cat', and Imagine Jesus With First Pet

THE CHRISTIAN POST
By Sami K. Martin

PUBLISHING---Maryann Macdonald is the author of "The Christmas Cat," which arrives just in time for the holidays. The story tells the tale of a cat believed to have been present at the birth of Jesus the Christ, and Macdonald spoke with The Christian Post to explain why she wanted to tell this particular story and what she hopes readers will take away from it. [link]

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