Display takes visitors on 'Walk to Bethlehem'

Santa Claus. Reindeer. Candy canes. Mistletoe.

It's that time of year when people start shopping for Christmas gifts, baking cookies, decorating Christmas trees and putting up outdoor Christmas decorations.

But in the middle of Mesa's Natal Circle, a cul de sac that draws thousands of visitors on foot and in tour buses, limos and trolleys each year with its extravagant Christmas decorations, lies a Christmas display in one backyard that is a stark contrast to those on the other side of the gate.

"You're bombarded with a very different picture of Christmas here than what you see on television," said Pastor Roger Ball of First Baptist Church in Tempe. "It's real clear real quick that the message in the backyard is quite different than the message on the street."

This year will be the sixth year Ball, 57, his wife, and about 150 members of their church transform the backyard into a "Walk to Bethlehem" that, as Ball says, offers visitors a reminder of the hope and peace of the Christmas story in a post-9/11 world.

Ball said the economy and lingering threats of terrorism since 9/11 have left people feeling anxious, fearful and frustrated, but the message of the Christmas story is that "God's love is unconditional" and "Christmas is the announcement of peace on Earth, and that peace is Jesus Christ leaving heaven and coming to Earth."

"This is a reminder that even if your circumstances are bad, even if tragedy strikes, like 9/11 or the economy drops, you can still smile, you can still enjoy life, you don't have to be trapped by your circumstances," he said. "There is a God and God is much bigger than the economy and much bigger than terrorists and much bigger than any man-made problems."

Ball said the Walk to Bethlehem concept is based on the story of Jesus' birth in Luke 2:1-21 in the Bible. Visitors follow an asphalt pathway around the backyard that takes them by several murals and displays depicting the events with Bible verses on marquees that tell the story. The visual display is accompanied by an audio narrative played over a sound system that explains where God was on 9/11 and relates it back to the Christmas story.

"You step into the backyard and suddenly there's a holy hush that comes over you," he said.

"We've had people who had loved ones killed in the top of the Twin Towers (come) and experience this narration, this story of Christmas. We've had firemen who fought the fires, not knowing this was in the backyard and walk through and experience (it) . . . Every night we have people come out crying. Everybody comes out sober, somber, reflective."

The message and hope of the Christmas story is timeless, he said.

"It touches the soul. It touches the heartbeat," he said. "It's a message that's 2,000 years old that still convicts. It reminds people that there is a better way to live life."

Other Walk to Bethlehem Events

Thousands of people are drawn each year to more than a dozen decorated homes on Mesa's Natal Circle, near Guadalupe Road and Country Club Drive in the Rancho Del Mar subdivision.

• Natal Circle residents hold a canned food drive to benefit the United Food Bank. Visitors can drop off canned food items in marked garbage cans at the entrance of the cul de sac at Cherry and Natal Circle.

• "Walk to Bethlehem" is open through Christmas Eve from sundown until about 9 p.m.

Roger Ball, a pastor at First Baptist Church in Tempe, sets up a "Walk to Bethlehem" display in his backyard at 618 W. Natal Circle in Mesa.