A Christmas music video

Israel has entered its third lockdown on last Sunday evening. Again this means for us that all youth meetings are on hold. We are not able to travel for more than 1000m from our house except for essential visits to the doctor, supermarket etc.

These times when we are not able to physically meet with each other are really challenging in staying connected with our youth. Even though we do have modern technologies available that allow us to have online forums, we made the experience that youth, who often already spend many hours of the day in distance learning platforms, are exhausted from these ways of connection. So already, during our times in lockdown, the youth workers at St. James Vicariate do prepare their youth meetings, so that quickly after the lockdown is lifted, we can have direct encounters with our youth in parks, at the beach or during hikes in nature --- trying to find a quick antidote to the many hours in front of a screen. In the past year we have had - according to ministry regulations - mainly local meetings in small groups, though we very much miss our week-end long regional gatherings.

Our Christmas music video project showed us anyway that a lot is possible even during lockdowns and the closure of air space. Youth of Desert Flower, together with youth from our exchange group in Austria, Germany and the Netherlands – whom we met in summer of 2019 in Austria – came together to produce a music video of the Christmas song 'Oh come, all ye faithful'. A produced music track was sent out to all the participating members of the youth exchange with instructions on how to record themselves. The youth in Israel mainly met locally for rehearsals, film shooting and recording. We saw that with great enthusiasm and seriousness the youth participated in the recordings, shootings of additional material etc.

Before the actual launch of the music video on 20.12.2020, all the youth from the youth exchange met on zoom for a pre-launch party. Even those who shied away from sending in their own videos were present. Some even changed their shift at work to make time for the event. After 1.5 years since the actual youth exchange in Austria, we heard from each one how he or she has experienced the past year, we counted down the seconds for the launch of the video and for the first time had a look at the final product. The experience of being physically distant though very much together was very strong and inspiring. It encouraged us to continue together and hope to finally meet again for the second part of the youth exchange during the summer of 2021 in Israel. Until then we hope that the music video we made, not only lifted our spirits but also those watching it.

Here is the link