CHRISTMAS MUSIC: Holiday concerts and musical productions...

CHRISTMAS MUSIC: Holiday concerts and musical productions will abound at San Fernando Valley churches this weekend and next. Among them are the following:

* “Scrooge,” a musical based on Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” will be presented at 7:30 p.m. today and Sunday by the music department of the Congregational Church of Northridge, 9659 Balboa Blvd. Admission is free, but donations will be requested.

* Thurl Ravenscroft, the voice of “Tony the Tiger,” and choir director Gordon Hafso, both former church members, will return to Emmanuel Lutheran Church, 6020 Radford Ave., North Hollywood, for a 50th anniversary Christmas concert at 7 p.m. today and Sunday. The concert is free.

* The Christmas musical “Fire of Hope,” by Doug Holck, will be performed by the choir and orchestra of Osborne Neighborhood Church, 13501 Osborne St., Arleta, at 6 p.m. Sunday and 7:30 p.m. Monday. For more information, call (818) 899-7473.

* Six performances of a 90-minute musical, “Glory to the Newborn King,” will be presented by Church on the Way at its Van Nuys west campus, 14800 Sherman Way, starting at 8 p.m. Friday. Two performances will be on Saturday and three on Sunday. Tickets are free, but advance reservations are required. Call (818) 779-8000.

NATIVITY PRESENTATIONS: The Gospel stories of the birth of Jesus will be depicted at many churches--from outdoor recreations of Bethlehem and a video show screened on the exterior of a church, to a now-traditional “Madonna and creche” art festival.

* The seventh annual “Journey to Bethlehem” will begin tonight at St. John’s in the Valley United Methodist Church, 20600 Roscoe Blvd., Winnetka, with guided walking tours at 6:30, 7:15 and 8 p.m. The same schedule will be followed on Sunday night and on Friday and Saturday nights next weekend. For more information, call (818) 341-6434 on weekday mornings.

* An outdoor “Bethlehem 1994” production at the scenic Church at Rocky Peak in Chatsworth will begin Friday at 7 p.m. and will be repeated four other evenings. Call (818) 709-0113 for information on the walk-through “interactive event for the whole family.”

* An outside wall of the Crescenta Valley United Methodist Church in Montrose will be the “screen” for a 20-minute projected video on “The Joy of Christmas” showing continuously between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. this Sunday and Dec. 18. The church is at 2700 Montrose Ave., accessible from the La Crescenta Avenue exit of the Foothill Freeway. For information, call (818) 249-6173.

* The 17th annual Madonna and Creche Art Festival at Glendale First United Methodist Church, 134 N. Kenwood St., will begin today at 11 a.m. and remain open until 7 p.m. The free exhibition of traditional and contemporary art will continue from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday, and from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday.

JEWISH LECTURES: Rabbi Harry Essrig will lecture on “What Jews Adopted from Civilization” and “Is There a Judaic-Christian Heritage?” next weekend at Temple Solael in West Hills where he was formerly an associate rabbi.

Essrig’s talk on civilization will begin at 8:15 p.m. Friday and the second lecture will be at 10 a.m. on Saturday at the Reform synagogue, 6601 Valley Circle Blvd. Admission is free.