Journey to Bethlehem

In the spirit of the coming holiday season, Dr. Eric Thorson has been keeping a list. But he has checked it much more than twice - sometimes he checks it twice a day. It takes that sort of attention when you are leading more than 100 people to Bethlehem for Christmas Eve.Thorson's 46-member Carson-Newman College A Capella Choir will join two other groups on an 11-day study/concert tour with stops in Israel and Jordan December 14-25. "This event is not a typical tour," says Thorson. "It's actually a pilgrimage in that this trip will grant each participant the opportunity for a personal, a spiritual, journey."



A Cappella will accompany St. Timothy on The Northshore United Methodist Church, of Mandeville, Louisiana, and members of the Knoxville Choral Society (KCS), which Thorson also directs. The three groups will combine to offer a 160-voice choir that will be led in performance by St. Timothy's Dr. Robert McBain, with whom Thorson has coordinated the trip.

Also making the trip and performing are five soloists: Viola Dacus, a mezzo soprano from Clinton, Mississippi; Cheri Rose Katz, an alto soprano from Roosevelt, New Jersey; Sandra Lopez, a soprano from Miami; Stuart Neill, a tenor from Miami; and Horace English, a baritone from Shreveport. The choir will be accompanied by the Palestinian Classical Youth Orchestra of Ramallah.

Since the start of fall semester, Thorson has led rehearsals four days per week for musical preparation, but he has also led choir members to prepare their hearts for the sojourn as well.

"To have the bible illustrated to my students in such a real and deeply personal way excites me," notes Thorson. "Several weeks ago I took my concordance and highlighted the places we will take in so we can talk about them and think about them. They're going to walk the Via Dolorosa; they're going to the Sea of Galilee; we will be there. I believe this is a way to help bring someone's faith to a new level, including my own."

Garrett Martin, a senior church music major, says the buzz about the journey has been building since Thorson first mentioned it last spring.

"Doc (Thorson) talked about it at the end of last (academic) year; I think it was April," the First Baptist Church, McMinnville member said. "And every time I think about it, I just get chills. The thought of being in Bethlehem on Christmas Eve is enough for any Christian, but, to be singing Handel's Messiah on Christmas Eve in Bethlehem is even more. It just doesn't get better than that."

It may well in fact get better than that, given that the witness of the event will be broadcast in Israel and that ABC TV Network has made a bid to tape the event for American broadcast on Christmas Day.

"We'll be able to teach, share and have opportunities to witness about our faith in Jesus," notes Thorson, who serves as minister of music at Knoxville's West Hills Baptist Church. "This is so very much who we are. It gives us a grand opportunity to deepen our faith, share it and examine its roots."

Prior to the culminating event in Manger Square, the group will travel to Amman, Jordan for a command performance before King Abdullah II and Queen Rania. Other performances include events in Nazareth and Jerusalem.

While Thorson says such a trip is a life-long dream, it is even made better by the prospect of taking college students to use their talents and gifts for God's glory.

"Oh, this is why I teach," said the professor. "To see it click, to watch their lights go on is beyond the imagination of what I hoped to be able to do as a person. And, to get to reach out to people in faraway places in this way; well, it just brings your faith to a whole 'nother level."

Thorson says the financial support his group has received from organizations, churches and individuals has made the trip possible, but asks for prayer support, which he says "is crucial."

"We would cherish knowing that believers are partnering with us in prayer and are lifting us up," he explains. "I hope people will pray for us, pray that we carry attitudes of grace that will help our witness to others, and that they will pray for day-to-day support as we travel about in that part of the world."

Given the responsibility he feels for his choir members, the vocal director admits to a slight case of the jitters.

"Anytime we tour, I carry a certain amount of nervousness, in part because I very much want and intend to bring these students home safely, and, given present realities, it just helps knowing that we are the subject of prayers to the Father," he says.