If We Are Really His Children
An Ode to Our Summer Musical
It’s seven o’clock in the morning. The toddler is cranky; the infant cries. I cannot seem to find a way to permanently get rid of fruit flies. The wife has got some place to be, but I have work and I’m running late. I don’t expect any sympathy. Compared to Jane Eyre’s, my life is great. Over mountains, over oceans, Heaven’s been good to me. We talk about our sweet liberty, but we’ve had liberties all day.
What a struggle we Americans have, especially American Christians. We have to deal with things like finding a college major that interests us, make sure we can get a job out of college in order to stay rich, and then figure out how to do what we “love” so that we never have to “work” a day in our life. After all, it’s our “calling,” right? Freedom in Christ: doesn’t that mean that we get to do life in a way that suits us personally? We make emotional prayer requests out of the deep dark struggle that “my job just doesn’t really satisfy me,” or “I just don’t feel fed at that church.” Oh, what a letter the apostle Paul would write to us!
Maybe I should talk about the talent and brilliance behind the production of Jane Eyre, the musical which The WordPlayers just produced. Maybe I should talk about how professional and astounding it was, and how every cast member was spot on. Or maybe The WordPlayers’ excellent delivery of an already beloved story should change our daily perspective. To watch this woman’s life play out, to see what she faced and what she held onto, and how she finished, should give us pause. I’ll sum it up with the line near the end, when she states that, looking back, they realize that “God had tempered justice with mercy” all along.
Christians who have gone before us would be offended at what some of us declare “unfair.” I have complained deeply to the Lord — even quoted David in my pleadings for mercy — over trifles like choosing between multiple job opportunities, or whether or not to keep dating a girl. David was running for his life.
This is not a guilt trip, but a chance to let a great story like Jane Eyre, extremely well told by The WordPlayers, inspire us to new levels of bravery, hope, and selflessness. Levels that would make the world around us believe that there is a God, and He is good. Levels that would bring life where there is death and darkness, joy where there is sorrow, and peace where chaos has previously reigned. Let’s be different. Different now. Different like those faithful ones who went before us, and like Christ Himself. That those with whom we rub elbows would no longer ask, “If we are really His children, why isn’t He here?”
Ethan Norman
Artistic Associate, The WordPlayers