 I'm Brian Konkel, chaplain here at Gustavus Adolphus College and creative director of Christmas and Christ Chapel. One of the things that makes Christmas and Christ Chapel so unique is that no two years are alike. Every year brings something new, a different twist on the Christmas story. This year's theme, Obuntu Jsu, from the cradle of humankind to the ends of the earth, really focuses on this word, Obuntu. A word that is difficult to translate into the western languages, but also very difficult to embody. Obuntu recognizes that there really is no such thing as a self-autonomous individual. My pain is your pain, and your pain is my pain. My joy is your joy. My celebration is your celebration. And in many ways this embodies the Christmas story, the way in which God comes in human form to earth, to share in our experience, to share in our joys, to share in our suffering, to share in our celebrations. So Obuntu provides us with this amazing lens to see the Christmas story a different way. One could say hearing the story again as if you were hearing it for the first time. One of the defining visual characteristics of this year's program is our use of the baobab tree, which has a very significant spiritual ramification in southern Africa. The baobab is a gathering place. It's a powerful place. It's a religious sacred place. Where communities gather under it to reconcile, to sing, to communicate. And so here in Christ's Chapel, we will be under the baobab. We'll be inspired by it. We'll be reconciled underneath it, as is the case in southern Africa. It's a profound visual that connects us to the spiritual roots of Obuntu and our theme, bringing here to Gustavus' office. This year's particular theme is of personal significance for me. Prior to coming to Gustavus, I'd spent about ten years living overseas, the second half of that time living in South Africa, where Obuntu was introduced to me. Not just this idea as an intellectual exercise, but seeing it embodied in my own experience. In October of 2010, my son was born in South Africa. And on the day of his birth, I was approached by the men of the community to inform me that my name had been changed. And not something that happens every day. And my name had been changed from umfundizi concogo, which basically means pastor conco, to baba kaya. My relationships changed who I am. This was Obuntu played out in front of me. And for me to live 10,000 miles away from home, it was a difficult time for my wife and I. But to see the community wrap their arms around, it was seeing Obuntu lived out because our pain was their pain, and our struggles was their struggles. And it culminated on the day of abtism as he was embraced by the local community, recognizing that this identity was shared in this community. This theme has been something that has been sitting inside my own heart for a number of years. And to see it lived out here at Gustavus is really a dream come true. And I'm excited to see these 350 students live this out and share this message with this community in a really profound way. This year's program is broken up into four very distinct chapters. The first being creation, the second alienation, the third incarnation, and the fourth proclamation. The beginning, the creation chapter of our story is just that, the recognition that we're all bound together in this common creation narrative. Something to look for is noticing the very first sound we hear in Christmas and Christ Chapel this year is the voice, the breath, the word of God bringing creation into being from the east door which gets echoed into the west door and the sunlight coming right up above. And as doing so, the dancers awakening from their slumber up on the choir loft. It's a dramatic piece. The dancers will take the roots of the Baobab tree at the center of the chapel and take those roots out into the congregation as the choir processes in. In many ways, it's mirroring the Genesis story of making order out of chaos. The second chapter of the program is alienation. To show that we're not just bound together in our common creation but we're also united in the ways that we divide, the ways in which we hurt one another, the ways in which we harm one another. One thing to take notice here is our student social justice theater troupe, I Am We Are, a profound piece where a single voice stands in the center of the chancel and those that are around him turn their back to him. He's lonely, he's estranged, and it's meant to embody the ways in which even though we come from a common creation narrative, we do things to one another to estrange ourselves from one another. The third chapter of the program is incarnation. The way in which God in Christ breaks into human history and reconciles our alienation, our alienation of God in humankind and the alienation between humankind and one another. One of the really striking pieces of this third chapter is that the candle comes back into the program. What we will see is the Christ candle emerges into the chancel and a dancer embodying the Holy Spirit receives her light from that Christ candle and shares it one candle at a time throughout the choir and then it spreads throughout the congregation. The fourth chapter of the program is proclamation. To highlight the subtitle of the program to the ends of the earth, the musical selections will take us to places around the world to show the way in which this Christmas story, this gospel, this good news, the story of Jesus is shared literally to the ends of the earth. And of course, we end with a story that is a great tradition here at Gustavus Adolphus will come all the faithful. What better way to end our Christmas in Christ chapel here in 2016. This year's theme of Ubuntu matches quite wonderfully with our Gustavus core value of community. As former president Edgar Carlson said, we need each other to become ourselves. And this is the message of Christmas, the sense of togetherness, the sense of community. And as we proclaim that story here in Christ chapel, we share that good news from the Gustavus community to the community around the world.