Christmas spirit pleasing to pastor

Nativity scene float to appear 2nd time in downtown parade

Jean Torkelson, Rocky Mountain News

Thursday, November 30, 2006

The Rev. George Morrison sees more Christmas spirit this year. It's in the stores, the streets and in the 32nd Parade of Lights, which opens Friday in downtown Denver.

"I sense there's been a change across the country," said Morrison, pastor of Faith Bible Chapel.

"For example, some of the retail stores aren't so uptight about their sales people saying 'Merry Christmas.' I just feel people have loosened up a little bit. So maybe the controversy turned out to be not so bad."

It was a controversy that Morrison was very familiar with.

The parade sparked a national debate in 2004 about religion in the public square when organizers rebuffed the Arvada pastor's inquiry about entering a Christmas float. They said its religious message didn't fit the parade's secular theme.

The past is now all but forgotten. For the second year, one of the floats is called "Christmas Story" and features a full Nativity scene, including Mary, Joseph, shepherds and the baby Jesus.

The float was launched after a peace-making summit was held in the spring of 2005 between Christian churches and the Downtown Denver Partnership, a coalition of 350 businesses that puts on the parade with private money.

The Christmas Story float will be the only entry with a religious theme, said parade spokeswoman Sarah McClean.

"We didn't have any other (religious) applications, but we would always welcome them," she said.

The Christmas float is sponsored by a coalition of Protestant churches and the Catholic Archdiocese of Denver.

They banded together to raise $30,000 to build the float for the 2005 event. There's also an annual entrance fee of $10,000.

Morrison said the participating congregations are Faith Bible Chapel, Orchard Road Christian Center, Victory Church of Westminster, Heritage Christian Center and Arvada Covenant Church.

The parade will also feature a Christmas caroling choir.

Among the perennial Parade of Lights favorites will be high school marching bands, singers, dancers and floats that include a glittering panorama of Denver's skyline, a huge masted ship festooned with LED lights, and a 32-foot replica of an ice-capped North Pole with Santa Claus, elves and penguins.

In more proof that peace continues to reign this year, the carolers will refrain from handing out hot chocolate along the route, a gesture of solidarity that Christians used when they were belatedly allowed to march in 2004.

But the free hot chocolate didn't sit well with the food and drink vendors who line the route, "and we don't want to do anything to harm the vendors," Morrison said.

In addition, the Salvation Army is again welcome to do its traditional bell-ringing before the parade and volunteers will be riding in it, too.

So, all's well that ends well.

"This isn't a win-lose situation for anybody," Morrison said, "it's a win-win for all people this Christmas season, and for celebrating with joy without getting held up on minor details.

"And I'm thankful for that."

2006 Parade of Lights

• When: The Parade of Lights starts its 2-mile procession through downtown at 8 p.m. Friday and 6 p.m. Saturday in front of Civic Center and the Denver City and County Building on Bannock Street at West 14th Avenue.

• Online: For more information, go to www.denverparadeoflights.com