Production and Being a Part of the Body

Credit: Ellen Rockett

This past weekend, Michael and I performed in a musical called Death Takes a Holiday. It was great fun to be a part of it. While Michael has performed in 30-some shows over the years, this was my first as an adult. (I did star in the 1st grade musical, and the 4th and 5th grade musicals, but that is where my theatre career had ended.) We met wonderful people, and were impressed both by the level of talent in this community theatre company, and in the willingness of people, many of whom work hard in full-time jobs and have families at home, to step up and dedicate their time and energy to this project. (The company is FirstLight Players, which is connected with First Unitarian Church of Rochester. Many participants, though by no means all, are members of the church... which, for interest's sake, is where Susan B. Anthony was a member!) The resulting show, which was performed three nights this past weekend, was quite remarkable, and a load of fun to be a part of.

Butler Fidele and Maid Sophia after one of our performances.
(Thanks Ellen, for the photo!)

I played the role of Sophia, the "sexy maid," who first introduces "Death" (who has become human for a weekend so he can learn about life) to the feeling of lust, and it was a blast to play a character so completely different from my Lutheran pastor persona. (I had to work at saying one of my few lines - "I brought you fresh towels, sir" in an alluring way. "Towels" is just not a very sexy word!) As people discovered I was a Lutheran pastor, many asked about my churches, and about what I do exactly. The conversations I had with various members of the cast and crew were interesting, open, and loving. A colleague of mine recently mentioned that she interacts with very few people on a regular basis who are not either members of her church, colleagues, or otherwise somehow members of the Christian church. I felt very blessed to be spending several days a week working with people who did not necessarily share my beliefs. Unitarianism, you see, tends to draw people from many different faith backgrounds: people who have been hurt by religion in the past, people who haven't felt welcomed in other churches for whatever reason, people who married someone of a different faith, etc., all come together with a shared desire for community, service, and thoughtful, communal reflection on spirituality and life. Consequently, the conversations I had with the wonderful folks from this congregation - and some who were not - were varied and enlightening. I am a richer pastor for having spent so much time with them!

Credit: Ellen Rocket

Of course, as a Lutheran pastor, I couldn't help but reflect theologically on the experience. I will comment on the content of the show in another post, but for now, just the experience:

Most of the time I spent was with the cast, but it soon became apparent just how many behind-the-scenes people were involved. We had the two young men, twins, who are students at Rochester Institute of Technology, doing the sound; the young woman new to the area who wanted to be involved (but didn't want to sing in front of people) serving as the stage manager; the full-time-mom/former fashion designer working on costumes; the graphic designer who donated her time and talents to create all the publicity and the programs; the folks who built our incredible sets and hung the curtain, transforming the sanctuary into a theater; the women who worked tirelessly collecting props, and then organizing them each night during the performance; the immensely talented choreographer, director, co-producers and music director, who worked tirelessly and incredibly patiently to bring a bunch of amateurs to their best; the ticket-sellers; the folks who made food for intermission; the ushers; the folks who ran lights and sound cues; the musical ensemble; and then of course the cast, made up of everyone from people who had studied and even done theatre professionally, to those who thought, "Hey, I'd like to try that," and stepped on stage for the first time in this show. Our leading man, for example, had never acted, save one play in 8th grade! Some of the cast inspired and energized us with their acting skill, some with their incredible singing voices, some with their good humor or kind words behind the scenes, but every person on that cast had something special to offer the others. In the last week, especially, I gazed around at all these people, cast and crew, doing their part, putting their unique talent to work in the particular area that they could, and I was amazed.

And I couldn't help but think of the Body of Christ. What a beautiful expression of the way the Spirit has gifted each of us in different ways, and when we put all of our talents and passions together, we can bring delight to hundreds of folks over the course of a weekend, making them laugh and cry and smile and say, "I can't remember when I've enjoyed myself so much!" What a beautiful thing it was to watch! What a lovely expression of the way God uniquely gifts and equips us! And what a privilege to be a part of it.

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

 Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot were to say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body’, that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear were to say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body’, that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you’, nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’ On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it. (1 Corinthians 12:12-26)

The cast!