RIDGEWAY – Thirty community choir members from The First Baptist Church of Ridgeway, First Baptist Winnsboro, Aimwell Presbyterian (Ridgeway), and First United Methodist of Winnsboro presented the annual cantata – Emmanuel: Celebrating Heaven’s Child on Thursday, Dec. 9 and again on Sunday, Dec. 12.
Following each nightly presentation, a reception was held for the community in the fellowship hall of the church.
A total offering of $702 was collected both nights for Fairfield Food Bank. The Columbia food bank will match that offering by six times the offering amount.
The pairing of the cantata and the community choir was the vision of Mary Gail Douglas.
“First Baptist Church of Ridgeway has not had a cantata for several years,” Douglas noted. “I knew that some churches were not having Christmas programs this year due to the pandemic, so I thought we might be able to gather about 5-6 people from other churches to help us present one.”
Her vision grew exponentially each week as word spread and those she invited, invited others.
“We had over 100 in attendance each night,” Douglas said. “Our focus was not so much on performing a cantata but sharing a message of hope and the incredible love of God with our community at Christmas.
This was something we talked about at each practice over 8 weeks. We heard from many that the music did just that.”
Choir director for the cantata was Louise Ruff and Douglas served as music director and pianist. Susan Wilson was also a pianist and narrators were Doug and Dede Ruff.
The choir presented O Come All Ye Faithful, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, O Little Town of Bethlehem and Silent Night, Holy Night.
Soloist Vicki Maass sang Heaven’s Child and Louise Ruff sang Mary, Did You Know.