Candlelight Dinner is a show that BFA puts on for the German community every year. This year, it took place this Friday and Saturday. It involves testimonies, music, dance, and drama. This year’s theme was “Brokenness to Beauty.”
The evening starts with a fancy dinner and an introduction by a German narrator. The first testimony was Insa, a German artist who went through a time of struggle: could she be an artist and truly express herself while being faithful to God? During her time of brokenness, she first rejected her art, but after realizing she could not live without art, she rejected God. Eventually, she came to the realization that God had made her to create art; these were not two mutually exclusive aspects of her life.
After the first half of her testimony, two students and I played “Bridge over Troubled Water.” This was a song she had chosen to represent her time of brokenness. At the end of her testimony, another group sang “Gracias a la Vida.”
Warming up in my office
Our performances went well – the second night was especially top-quality! I had been nervous about keeping my violin in tune because we had to wait off-stage by a door that opened into the cold air. In the dress rehearsal on Wednesday, my E string went out in the middle of the piece, so I finished the piece on the A string. Fortunately, the actual performances went well!
The next testimony was by a BFA teacher; a native German speaker read his story in German. His story was about his son who was born with a genetic defect; he lived a short life, yet even within all the pain and struggles, there was hope because the son trusted in Jesus.
The final testimony was a riveting account of a woman who had gone through a severe time of depression in Africa. In her Afrikaans accent, she told how she had been driven by success, but reached a point where that striving to succeed was not enough to hold her inner structure together. When that collapsed, she had no desire to live. She took a revolver, loaded it, undid the safety latch, and was about to end her own life when the phone suddenly rang – it was her friend from South Africa asking what she was doing. Her husband inexplicably felt something was wrong and came into the room a couple moments later to find her with the revolver in her hand. He got help for her. During this, her darkest time, she realized that she needed God. She could not keep up the meaningless rat race of life. It took this great time of brokenness for her to allow God to heal her and bring beauty back into her life.
Her testimony was depicted by two dances. The first was a jazz dance that showed her rejection of God; the second was a ballet that showed her submission and longing for God. The dancers portrayed the contrasting emotions in a powerful way.
Dancers show some attitude, expressing rebellion against God
The finale was a sign team/drama act choreographed to Natalie Grant’s “Perfect People.” Several people held up “cardboard testimonies” during this part – On one side, the cardboard said something they had struggled with; they flipped it over to show how God had changed that to something beautiful and whole.
Cardboard Testimonies
There were about 500-600 people who came to Candlelight Dinner. Please pray that they would recognize their own brokenness and need of God!
My week was full of Candlelight Dinner preparations this week. Next week, however, my week will be full of Budapest preparations! On Wednesday I am flying out to Budapest with Katie Roberts and Peggy Stuckey to attend an ACSI honors music festival. Last year was the first time they added strings to the music festival, and BFA sent the largest number of string students. This year, it takes place during BFA’s high school retreat, so BFA won’t be able to send any students. Therefore, the three of us are going to play with the few students there, coach them, and keep this string part of the festival alive for future years. I’ll be switching off between playing cello and violin!
