Unfinished Business of the Committee
by Gabe Potter
By curtain fall, The God Committee wrapped up a lot of disparate storylines very nicely. If only it had left me with the same sense of resolution. Instead, it opened up all manner of disturbing questions:
- How dare I judge another human being based on my feeble understanding of that person and his or her life?
- On the other hand, how can I NOT to some extent “play God” when trying to discern the wisest way to relate to others, to serve them, and to minister to them?
- Then when serving and ministering, how honest can I be with myself about what really motivates my seemingly selfless deeds? I’m with C.S. Lewis: “I never had a selfless thought since I was born.”
Dr. Gorman is as close as The God Committee has to a traditional “villain” and it occurred to me that the reason he comes across this way, is his unfailing insistence on confronting us with cold harsh reality, a reality most of us would rather ignore. Gorman may lack mercy and empathy for his fellowman, but then every other member of the committee lacks objectivity, each of them tainted by loneliness, heartache, bitterness, envy, or fear. Is one deficiency any better than another? As Nella told us, “Nothing and no one in my life is pure.”
So here we are at the end of the show with questions, questions we must accept and yet not allow to hinder us. Because for all the introspection the play encourages, the most important question to answer is about how we’ll spend each day with the broken, fallible, all-to-human hearts we’ve been given. Will we abstain from participating in each day’s tough decisions, or will we bravely choose to act on whatever course our faith tells us is right? Will we use this day to bless or to curse? …To hurt or to help? …To discourage or to inspire? Like Randall Pike, we all know who we’ve been, but do we know who we want to be?
Gabe Potter (“Dominic Piero” in The God Committee)