The Christmas season is just beginning, and in Selma that means it’s nearing time for the Selma Choral Society’s 68th presentation of “The Messiah.”

Around 30 people have been rehearsing since October for the production. President of the choral society, Gery Anderson, said rehearsals have been going well.

“It’s gone great,” Anderson said. “We’re doing some new things this year that we haven’t done before, and we’ve had just a lot of enthusiasm and people have been very excited about it.”

“The Messiah” is an oratorio composed by George Fredric Handel in 1742 and is separated into three different sections.

The first part is set up to be the birth of Christ, and the second is a representation of the passion of Christ. The final section represents the return and the reign of Christ.

This year, the choral society will be performing the third section, along with three other musical pieces to include Gloria by Vivaldi, Christmas Oratorio by Saint-Saëns and Christmas Oratorio by Bach.

“I think one of the great things about this is it’s the kickoff to the Christmas season in Selma, and it’s just a time when those of us that love to sing get together and get to participate in some of the great, sacred Christmas music of the season,” Anderson said.

“We’ve had just a great group of people. Everybody’s been real excited. It’s just been a lot of excitement.”

Anderson said a lot of hard work goes into preparing for the presentation, and he feels that everyone involved has put in the effort.

“I think we’ve been working hard, and I think that we have really gotten the music under our belt and at that point it’s just going to be singing it from our heart and thinking of the words and meditating the words as you sing them and proclaiming just the joy of this season and the joy of Christ coming down to Earth,” Anderson said.

“We present just timeless music that just tells the story of Christ coming to Earth and his redemption and that’s a story that never gets old. I think it’s just exciting for people to come.”

The performance will be Sunday at 3 p.m. at Cornerstone Presbyterian Church.