Participation

"I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams,
your young [women] will see visions."
Joel 2:28

After class on Saturday, my husband and I rushed over to the Moore Theater for the kids poetry slam. Our god-daughter and her sister were in a play. Well, it wasn't just any play, it was a play written by our god-daughter! (Yes, we are very proud.)

They performed the play three times so that each child could participate in a different way--acting, props management, lights, stage directing, etc. There were moments of brilliance and moments of chaos (they had only practiced for a week!) but overall it was really good and enjoyable.

And I couldn't help but think of Annie Dillard's "Expedition to the Pole." We are like the kids up on stage, delivering lines (sometimes audibly), pushing around unmanageable props, standing around (out of character) waiting for the next line of the story to take place. What is important is that we are up on stage and are participating. We are in the midst of the action--sometimes via the control room (is that a metaphor for the role of the pastor, shining light on the action?). We so want to be perfect and wonderful, but really we just bumble along. However, our bumbling activity is a joy to observe. Every time I see my friends' children on stage I love them (my friends and their children) more . They are putting themselves out there, they are growing creatively and they are participating.

I can't help but think that God loves us all the more for being on-stage, participating in the mystery that is the redeemed life. We (in the church) are the Keystone cops, the dancing bears, the guitars players, the singers of songs. We dream dreams and sing our songs. And somehow, it is what we are meant to be and do.

Peace,
Chelle

We are the music-makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams.
World-losers and world-forsakers,
Upon whom the pale moon gleams;
Yet we are the movers and shakers,
Of the world forever, it seems.

from "Ode" by
Arthur O'Shaughnessy