Tonight is opening night of my show - the show I've been rehearsing for every night for the past eternity it feels like, and finally, opening night is here. I don't think I've blogged about it (I've been too busy rehearsing, ha!), so here's a little info:
Yep. That goth girl in the picture is me. It's a pretty funny show. Pretty hilarious, if I do say so myself. But even so, a lot of the humor comes at the expense of religion. Or at least, of "religious people". I really debated whether or not to even audition for the show. I don't want to be a part of something that makes fun of what I believe.
Basically, the story takes place a few years after 9/11. The character of my Dad - Arthur, had worked in the World Trade Center, and ever since that day, he's been deeply depressed and non-responsive to my Mom and I. My Mom, Sylvia, in order to deal with all of this perhaps, has gone on a "Jesus kick", and is rarely at home. She's always off saving sinners, protesting at the porn store, that sort of thing. Meanwhile, my character, 16-year-old Rachel, has taken to the philosophy that life is meaningless anyway, and has joined the Goth culture.
The play, obviously enough, is about a severely dysfunctional family. And a lot of the jokes are aimed at my crazy, Jesus-lovin', rapture-predicting Mom. So I read the script carefully before auditioning. And what I realized was that while a lot of the laughter comes from the character Sylvia and her stereotypical Christian "born again" antics, the true heart of the play is not centered at making a mockery of faith or proving it wrong or anything of the sort. The true message of the play is that, despite our differences of opinions and creeds, we need to love one another. And that's a message I can get behind.
Of course, it makes me sad that the portrayal of the "Christian" character in this play is a completely loony caricature of the typical, evangelical, "turn-or-burn" type of believer. And it makes me even sadder that most of the people seeing this play will not be Christians. Because that's what a lot of them really believe we're like. I actually think - as offensive as many Christians might find this play to be - it's a play with a convicting message to us. At least, it has convicted me.
What does it matter if we save the souls of the world if we're not loving those people in the process?
I was doing some reading in my Bible today. I've been studying the idea of joy. And I realized that the joy of Jesus indwells us and is made complete in us when we remain in his love, and we remain in his love by obeying his commands. (All this according to John 15:9-11.) Then Jesus goes on to say (in v.12) what his command is: We are to love each other just as Christ loved us. And how did Christ love us? He lay down his life for us. So, we are to love other people with this same sort of sacrificial love (which, it seems to me, is only possible if we are first intent on loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength). It's sort of like a big circle. First, we decide we want to love God, so God tells us that the way we do that is by following his commands. So naturally we want to know, what are these commands? To which we are given the response, "The entire law is summed up in a single command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" (Galatians 5:14) Love your neighbor as yourself. I don't know about you, but I love myself a whole heck of a lot. In fact, I'll go ahead and say it'd be pretty much impossible for me to love anybody else - even my husband - as much as I love myself, unless I am remaining in Christ, a branch securely fastened to the true vine, receiving all the strength and support and nourishment from him that I need to love others so sacrificially. As it turns out, though, the more we remain in him and truly love those around us, the more fruit we begin to bear. And the bi-product of that? Complete joy! And this joy only makes us fall in love with God more, which makes us want to please him more, so we spend even more time with him and are able to love others even more sacrificially, thus obeying his command...etc, etc., and so the beautiful cycle continues.
And that's the root of why I don't have a problem with this play, or with myself being in it. It makes me uncomfortable at points, yes. But I think that's largely because I can understand why the audience laughs at the "Christian" character of Sylvia. She is a little crazy. She's so caught up in her good intentions of saving the world from hellfire that she completely misses the opportunities to love her own family that are right there in her home. It reminds me of what I need to be doing. I need to be loving people. As much as I love myself.
Anyway, just something I've been thinking about...
Wish me luck tonight! (Or actually, don't. Tell me to break a leg.)
