Caribou’s Living Tree choir celebrates Christmas

The Living Christmas Tree of the Caribou United Baptist Church is scheduled to present When Love Came Down on December 12, 13, and 14.
“It’s a whole new cantata to us,” said director Joseph Siddiqui, “and while we’re keeping the musical portion as strong as ever, this year we’re blending the show with drama a little more than we’ve done in the past, so some of our choir members are going to be in the drama as well.”
It’s taken 45 choral members, 10 actors and actresses, and a whole lot of volunteers/tech specialists to produce this seasonal spectacle; about 125 members of the Caribou United Baptist congregation made a contribution to the production.
Rehearsals for the show started in September, and have continued every week until opening night.
“This is a challenging musical,” Siddiqui said, “the choir has worked hard and done will, they’ve made great progress.”
It took an entire day to bolt together the frame of the giant tree, which will be supporting the weight of 45 singers. The addition of pine boughs, lights, and other accessories began the next day.
“Everyone comes together and that’s what’s really exciting,” said congregation member Kristi Herron, “is to see the willingness of everyone to come together and get things done.”
With such extensive preparations, it’s no wonder that the production draws audience members from as far away as Bangor, Augusta and Boston. According to Herron, some individuals start planning to attend the performance in the summer months, calling around to make sure that the United Baptist Church is still planning on performing the show.
“We are excited that the community is still excited to have us,” Herron added. Herron was a part of the Living Christmas Tree during its first year, back in 1974. Since then it’s become a tradition for the Church and the community.
Though many place the focus of Christmas on lights and presents, the members of the United Baptist church are focused on putting Christ back in Christmas, which is what the performance is about.
“Christmas is not about the glitter and the glamour and the presents,” Herron said, “it’s about the babe that was born.”
“The best aspect of the performance is the message, no question.” said John Kiehn, pastor of the Caribou United Baptist Church since 2004, “It is a very central thing with everyone that I’ve talked to, is that the message and the opportunity to share it are the most important part of being a part of the performance. The friendship, the fellowship, the fun — those are side benefits and wonderful benefits, but that’s not our central point. Our church’s motto is to know God and make him known, and you do see that when people get involved,” Pastor Kiehn added.
Though the Caribou United Baptist Church has a weekly congregation of about 200, they are expecting thousands to attend the hour-long performance.
Preparations for the production may be elaborate, but members of the congregation participate in the event for one very simple reason: “my experience is that the majority of the people involved with the production see it as an opportunity to participate in giving the message to the community,” said Pastor Kiehn, “Christ came to Earth for us; he came as a child, but he came to grow up and die for our sins. That is the central theme of everything we do.”
Though the performance is focused on a simple message, the performance is spectacular.
“Many people, when it’s their first time to have seen the tree, are dumbfounded,” said Herron, “When the lights come on row by row, you can here people who’ve never seen the tree before gasping because it’s so exhilarating. It’s nice to see that people do appreciate it,” Herron added.