BECs make crib with recyclable and reused products

Dec 15, 2017

IPOH (Herald Malaysia): St Michael’s Church has welcomed Advent in a special way by coming up with a crib that’s in tune with the Penang diocese’s call to recycle, reduce and reuse.

Its crib and Christmas decorations this year are the work of BEC Chateau Gardens and Greentown, headed by its BEC coordinator, Agnes Wong.

With the theme Lights and Bright Christmas, some 20 volunteers of the BEC took part in decorating the church and created the crib starting from September. The Altar servers of SMC helped in putting up the decorations after the feast of Christ the King.

The crib itself is the focal point, using branches and twigs gathered from trees after they had been pruned, with palm leaves sheltering its roof.

There is a green forest of Christmas trees behind the manger and behind the main altar, giving the interior of the church a “green forest” look.

Lights have been put in between the palm leaves to light up the interior of the small crib.

The “carpenter” of the crib is Bernie Wong, who is from another BEC but has been making the St Michael’s cribs for several years now. Mary Jo Moh is the artist behind the work, with her clever decorator’s passion for Christmas and her love of handcrafted things.She was assisted by Dominic Chong.

Old pieces of planks obtained from a wooden house demolished at the car park area were salvaged and kept. These were then recycled and handpainted as large Christmas candles, and outdoor Christmas trees placed near the statue of St Michael. Huge poinsettias surrounded the Christmas candles placed in the church and outside. The poinsettias adorn the area above the Cry Room area and the choir loft.

In all, the BEC members made up 12 outdoor Christmas trees, painted them and decorated them with musical lyrics in English and Mandarin.

In the porch area, there is the Star of Bethlehem, surrounded by two angels.

Within the church, there are tapestries of the Nativity starting from the Annunciation and leading up to the birth of Jesus Christ. These tapestries were meticulously handsewn by the same BEC several years ago, but have been re-used, because many of the parishioners admired them when they first came out.

All these things called for a great degree of emotional involvement as they put heart and soul into the process as well as a genuine sharing of self and time.

But perhaps the most wonderfully welcoming thing was the message in the sewn tapestries: that Christmas is all about the Hope, Peace and Love of Jesus Christ.