Wake Up

We were to learn of sermons and scripture, preaching and purpose, and use our imaginations in the process. As we entered the first session of our School of Lay Ministry retreat, I was excited about the theme of the weekend, "Opening the Word, playing with Midrash." 

As we, led by Pastor Elaine Hewes, explored the sculpting of a sermon, I realized just the impact a current sermon has been having on my life. Current, not recent. I'll get to that later.

Pastor Elaine spoke of asking questions about what God is being and doing in the text, and answering those questions in a way that leads people to a place where they feel they should respond. She encouraged the sharing of personal stories of struggle that might speak to the text, or perhaps juxtaposing two unlike things to carry the message across. She spoke of journeying through the week with the text, waking up to the things, people, songs, interactions, and such in your life that speak to the text and to your heart and bringing some of these into the sermon. And much more than I can sum up in a simple paragraph. 

As Pastor Elaine spoke, I had a revelation. This is what a friend of mine does when she writes a play. Or speaks to teens about tough stuff. Or encourages friends. She wakes people up. She draws on her life struggles, images that inspire her or shake her up, things around her that catch her imagination, and instills them into the essence of the plays that she writes or passionate words she speaks. Her plays are one big sermon. They talk about the tough stuff in a way that inspires the audience to at least think, if not act in response to the issues presented in the play. To act, not out of guilt or obligation, but out of a pull from your inner moral compass after experiencing the performance. 

The sermon that is Beautiful Things, last year's original play by Elizabeth Namen at Epoch Arts, continues to speak to me and change me to this day. Unfinished People, the play currently being rehearsed for its June 2, 3, and 4 performances, is doing the same. Community, distraction, addiction ... meat ants and caterpillars ... the Snagglelump ... the poetry, severity, hilarity, and motivation of her words call me to wake up and take notice. 

Distractions and separateness rule our lives, blinding us to mystery, to community, to love, to the beauty in the juxtaposition of seemingly unrelated things. We need to wake up, look up, stay connected to something bigger.