From Page to Stage

In one of our classes, we had an interesting exercise. We were split into groups of 3-6 based on various activities from high school. There were several athlete groups, band group, choir group, nerd group, arts group, and drama group. Naturally, I was in the drama group. For this particular class, we were given four of the seven "I Am" statements given by Jesus in the Gospel of John as well as a vocabulary word for that class and told to discuss the properties of the analogy and then apply it to our various interests. At first, my group was very confused and we did not understand what we were supposed to do at all. Then, as each group shared their findings, we learned that we were to put the various ideas of the statements into the terms of our interest. Here, I would like to share my drama group's finding and hope that perhaps it brings some insight to you as well. I only have three of the four "I Am" statements because we did not fully understand for the first of the four.

I am the light of the world. ~John 8:12

Lighting is an integral part of drama. Lighting is what sets the mood for a scene. Depending on the brightness and color, the feeling of a scene can change from cheery to frightening. In the same way, how much time we spend with Jesus will determine our mood. Also, lighting determines direction of focus because where the spotlight centers is where the important action takes place. Similarly, Jesus will highlight those places in our life where there ought to be action. Finally, backstage, the smallest bit of light will guide those working to organize and prepare thing for the show and keep them from either running into each other or misplacing something so that it becomes a hindrance to others. Likewise, even the smallest bit of Jesus will illuminate our lives so that we may put things in order and avoid collision with others.

I am the door. ~John 10:7, 9

The stage door allows one to go from backstage to on-stage. Behind the door, you are you of the present time and place yet once you go through that door, you become a whole new person, totally different from who you truly are. When we accept Jesus and go through Him to new life, we become a new person. The backstage door allows one to see the organized chaos that goes in to making the show and gives one a totally new perspective in to what is really going on with the show. Equally, Jesus as our door allows us to see the world in a new way, being now able to see the spiritual dimension that is behind our present world. The lobby door can only be entered at a price (whatever was paid for the ticket) but once you are in, you are given excitement and adventure. So, we can only enter through Jesus by His sacrifice to enter into the incredible life that God has for us. In a somewhat different vein, the stage belongs to the director and the actor may only enter the stage through the door that the director has specified. God the Father, director of all that is, has specified that His son Jesus is the only way to enter into relationship with Him (Luke 9:35, John 14:6)

I am the true vine. ~John 15:1

All shows have times of cutting and refining. Callbacks are the time for cutting away those who will not help develop the show to its fullest potential. In the same way, God will cut away those parts in our lives that do not help to develop us more to be everything that He would desire us to be. Once you've made it past the callbacks (meaning you've got a role), you spend time deepening your understanding of the character and refining your acting abilities so as to portray the character believably. In terms of the true vine, those are found to be fruitful will be pruned, cutting away the bad parts so as to make it the new fruit even better than the last.

Redemption

This one is a bit more extrapolated so please bear with me.

After working so hard for so many weeks on getting ready for the show, you finally perform. But, eventually, you need to be brought back to the reality of you, the original person outside of the character. When you go out to meet your family and friends who have come to see you, they congratulate you, not your character, on how well you did and how much they enjoyed the show. If you do not return to yourself and disentangle from the character, you can become lost within that character. Such has been the fate of some method actors who went too deep. With redemption, God is bringing people back to who they were truly meant to be, those who are in constant communion with Him. We are to be no longer lost within the mesh of sin in which we were born. Rather "the LORD redeems the souls of his servants: and none of them will be desolate" (Psalm 34:22). We will once again be whole and free with Him.

Thus was the extent of our exercise. It was very revealing for me. And I wanted to share it with all of you.

Pruning, George MacDonald, and Me

Pruning is a rather ugly business, in my opinion. Everything at the beginning looks so beautiful and lovely. Granted there may be something out of place or that looks deformed but overall, it's not so bad. Then you go and prune the bush. Then it's nothing but ugly branches shooting off to nowhere with nothing but a ragged end and dripping sap. There is nothing pretty about it . . . at the time. The benefits of pruning can only come after time has elapsed, when it's time for the fruit or blossoms to form. Once this happens, the pruning proves to be of extreme importance. Without it, there would be an unnecessary use of nutrients by branches that would no longer flower or produce fruit. Thus they were cut away so that those parts that were producing as they should could get more of what they needed so as to do what they did better.

My soul must unawares have sunk awry.

Some care, poor eagerness, ambition of work,

Some old offense that unforgiving did lurk,

Or some self-gratulation, soft and sly -

Something not thy sweet will, not the good part,

While the home-guard looked out, stirred up the old murk,

And so I gloomed away from thee, my Heart.

~George MacDonald, "February 14" from Diary of an Old Soul

If I should slow diverge, and listless stray

Into some thought, feeling, or dream unright,

O Watcher, my backsliding soul affray;

Let me not perish of the ghastly blight.

Be thou, O Life eternal, in me light;

Then merest approach of selfish or impure

Shall start me up alive, awake, secure.

~George MacDonald, "February 16" from Diary of an Old Soul

These two poems somewhat describe my situation in life at the moment, along with the pruning thing. God has been showing me over the past several weeks a weakness that I had never acknowledged before that has kept me from all that He has for me. Somehow, by some small slip, I have allowed myself to wander from my original purpose and design. However, even though I know what is my problem and how to remedy it, I find myself stalling and sinking further and further away from what what I want and ought to be.

How can I return to that place of openness and vulnerability where God desires I be? How can I loose this strangling hold upon my heart? How do I learn to trust You more?