An actor entering through the door, you've got nothing. But if he enters through the window, you've got a situation. - Billy Wilder
In the theatre we present stories that raise the stakes, raise the energy, raise the conflict, raise the surprise for the audience. Great stories are never merely about the common - even "every person" stories point out the amazing in the average. As my colleague Paula Barrett puts it, "Nobody ever wrote a play about a family sitting down to a quiet, uneventful meal." And if we think about the plays, television shows, films, and books that hooked us and kept our interest, they were about surprising characters in surprising situations.
It's pretty easy to lose Easter in the weeks following the feast of the Resurrection, just as it is easy to lose Pentecost in the madness of the events and celebrations that permeate the month of May. Our singing of "Alleluia" after it's Lenten absence becomes routine by the fourth Sunday of Easter. And while we hit the liturgical color red HARD on Pentecost, we see it not so much as passion and fire of the gift of the Advocate as much as it seems to reflect the roses we give to our mothers or our prom dates.
We often take these critical holy seasons casually, perhaps because we aren't surprised by the incredible power of the situations that they commemorate. We say, repeatedly, "Alleluia! Christ is Risen!" so many times, that we may not recall just how extra-ordinary the situation is. We center so much of our ingenuity and creativity in our own egos that we neglect that inspiration, the "breath" of newness, comes from the gift of God's presence always with us.
Jesus' resurrection appearances were not entrances through a doorway - they were THROUGH THE DOOR! Pentecost wasn't an "aha" moment - IT WAS TONGUES OF FIRE AND ECSTATIC PROCLAMATION! If they hadn't been extra-ordinary situations, you would not be reading this right now.
Each Sunday is a celebration of the Resurrection. Each new idea and proactive initiative to make our lives and communities better places is stirred in us by the Holy Spirit. These remembrances started with amazing moments, unbelievable events, startling situations. Let us try to keep our feasts by recalling the shocking stories from which Easter and Pentecost arose. They aren't nothing - they are EVERYTHING!
In the theatre we present stories that raise the stakes, raise the energy, raise the conflict, raise the surprise for the audience. Great stories are never merely about the common - even "every person" stories point out the amazing in the average. As my colleague Paula Barrett puts it, "Nobody ever wrote a play about a family sitting down to a quiet, uneventful meal." And if we think about the plays, television shows, films, and books that hooked us and kept our interest, they were about surprising characters in surprising situations.
It's pretty easy to lose Easter in the weeks following the feast of the Resurrection, just as it is easy to lose Pentecost in the madness of the events and celebrations that permeate the month of May. Our singing of "Alleluia" after it's Lenten absence becomes routine by the fourth Sunday of Easter. And while we hit the liturgical color red HARD on Pentecost, we see it not so much as passion and fire of the gift of the Advocate as much as it seems to reflect the roses we give to our mothers or our prom dates.
We often take these critical holy seasons casually, perhaps because we aren't surprised by the incredible power of the situations that they commemorate. We say, repeatedly, "Alleluia! Christ is Risen!" so many times, that we may not recall just how extra-ordinary the situation is. We center so much of our ingenuity and creativity in our own egos that we neglect that inspiration, the "breath" of newness, comes from the gift of God's presence always with us.
Jesus' resurrection appearances were not entrances through a doorway - they were THROUGH THE DOOR! Pentecost wasn't an "aha" moment - IT WAS TONGUES OF FIRE AND ECSTATIC PROCLAMATION! If they hadn't been extra-ordinary situations, you would not be reading this right now.
Each Sunday is a celebration of the Resurrection. Each new idea and proactive initiative to make our lives and communities better places is stirred in us by the Holy Spirit. These remembrances started with amazing moments, unbelievable events, startling situations. Let us try to keep our feasts by recalling the shocking stories from which Easter and Pentecost arose. They aren't nothing - they are EVERYTHING!
