“Choose to untie the ropes of wickedness, help the oppressed to go free, share your food with the hungry; take poor, homeless people into your home, cover with clothes anyone you see naked, and do not act uppish toward your own kin and neighbors! Then your light will break through like the dawn...and your light will rise in the dark.” Isaiah 58
On Sunday, January 6, Bethany Lutheran Church in Cedar Rapids presented its 30th annual Epiphany Community Concert. Each year, the concert is a culmination of the Christmas Message focused upon the Wise Men’s arrival in Bethlehem.
This year’s theme, Living in His Light, was a tapestry of Scripture, prayer, Liturgical art and dance, and music. The music was presented by the Bethany Chamber Players, Bell Choir, vocal soloists, a professional brass quintet, and a 50-voice community choir with singers from Bethany Lutheran Church, Concordia Lutheran Church, King of Kings Lutheran Church, St. Paul Lutheran Church in Marion, St. Paul Lutheran Church in Mount Vernon, and Trinity Lutheran Church in Cedar Rapids. The guest musicians were Charles Harris (French horn) from the Cedar Rapids Symphony Orchestra; Alan Naylor (Trumpet) from Coe College; John Manning (Tuba) an Assistant Professor at the University of Iowa; and Brett Wolgast (Organist and Cantor) from First Lutheran Church in Cedar Rapids. Afternoon and evening performances were offered followed by a complimentary soup supper and reception.
This year’s concert theme, Living in His Light, was inspired by Bethany’s 75th anniversary theme, Bethany Ablaze: Living in His Light! and Jaroslav Vajda’s hymn text In Darkest Night, to the tune of THAXTED by Gustav Holst (LSB 941). This hymn encourages worshipers to share their light and reflect God’s love with others, as part of God’s ‘global galaxy’.
