Monthly Archives: December 2007

I haven’t been writing lately. I’ve been putting words down in other forms…sermon outlines, meeting agendas, mission/vision statements, action plan bullet points. Lots of creativity in all that, I know, but it’s different.

With this brand of cinnamon syrup, my lips tingle, and I’m wishing for something I’m not finding. There’s rain on the pavement, even though I can’t see the street from here. Cars sound like they’re rolling across something like smooth wax paper, kicking up streams of water behind the back tires. Gray, bulbous clouds hover over the electrical wires running down toward the freeway. My house sleeps, quiet like Saturday mornings, my wife already at work, the kids snoozing the lazy snooze of Christmas break. I type out a prayer, waffling back and forth between praise and incredulity, wondering out loud where He’s keeping the magic. The magic’s there, I know, but I seem to be fresh out.

The day holds a wrestling match with righteousness, tomorrow’s sermon topic. A simple thought that came to me as I emerged from sleep three days ago has become a mantra demanding to be addressed. Speaking of Joseph, the nearly forgotten foster father of the Christ, the text says simply, “He was a righteous man.” There’s a bomb to toss into a cynical postmodern world. All things are possible with God, Gabriel tells Mary. I guess Paul was making a theological point when he growled that no one was righteous, not one. Sorry, Paul, Matthew begs to differ. Joseph was.

Ah…you know what I mean.

Words. Sentences crafted so that images come slanting out of them all decked in new thought, new insight, new ah-ha’s. Not many of them heading my way just now, but I miss them.

I’ll write again sometime…

Well, I can honestly say that this is the first Christmas Season I’ve ever spent thinking more about the coming of Jesus than the coming of presents and all the other trappings of our cultural celebrations.  I suppose it has something to do with preaching my way through the story for five weeks.  We’ve talked about the vision of the Magi, the trust of the Virgin, the song of the Angels, the awe of the Shepherds, and the hope the Christ-child brings, and through it all, we’ve been searching for our place in the story.  As it turns out, we’ve taken turns being the Magi, Mary, the Angels, and the Shepherds, and our default position has been that the story is about the birthing of the Christ into our own lives all over again.  There’s hope in that kind of thinking, and it’s been good.
So why do I have all this new anxiety wanting to crowd into my hours?   I’m busier than I’ve been in years.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind work, but there’s something about the frantic pace of trying to keep up that doesn’t feel right.  Jesus never seemed hurried about things.  He worked long days with people, and was no doubt exhausted, but he never seemed to stress in the way that we Americans do with all our running around, buying and selling, going as hard as we can go so that all the things on our lists get done.  Slowing down isn’t exactly the antidote, thought that’s part of it.  It has more to do with a way of thinking.  I keep saying to myself that the success of everything I’m doing doesn’t depend on me, but on God.   I control nothing but my own thought and action, and even that is suspect half the time.

So today, full day that it is, will find me breathing more deeply, working hard to prepare the ground for whatever is going to grow, but I will not go anxiously.  “Fear not.  Be anxious in nothing.”

Okay.  Taking it at face value…

WINTERLAND: THE QUEST FOR CHRISTMAS, the Northwest Church’s Christmas musical for 2007, closed Sunday afternoon after five performances. Each performance was very full, and audiences seemed to enjoy the experience. Most were surprised at the size of the show: a two-hour, 32-cast-member folk musical featuring 18 new songs, about half of them featuring the full chorus. In the end, the performers sang their hearts out and worked harder than any musical cast I’ve had the pleasure of working with. It was a real joy to see these performers stretch and grow throughout the process, and our audiences seemed to really appreciate their work. There were the usual mishaps…missed lines, forgotten entrances, and the occasional missed notes, but most people never noticed.

Most of my friends who came to see the show had a single observation: it was a monster show. One person said it made them tired just looking at it. I’ve been calling it my little Christmas musical, but as those who experienced it know, there was nothing little about it. All I can say is that the process yielded a story and a journey that might not have been exactly right artistically, not exactly what I intended (as I said in my director/pastor notes), but one that leaves me with great satisfaction and joy for this particular moment in the development of this story idea.

My hat is off to the production team and the cast. Absolutely amazing attitudes among the people who do this for the sheer love of it, as well as for the great opportunity of inviting people from the community into the life of the church, and hopefully, into the life with God. How God works in these things is His to know, and I am happy to leave it in His hands, knowing that good will come.

It’s a kernel of a thing right now, this story, but who knows what it might be after rewrites. But I will always count it a privilege to get to rummage around in these ideas with my friends at Northwest. What a gift they give me each year…

Enjoy a few more pictures over at the photo blog.

Winterland: The Quest for Christmas opened last night to an audience of 200 or so, and it was a great time.   There were a few mishaps, as is perhaps to be expected, but the audience was responsive, laughing and listening throughout, and at the end of the night, it was a joyful evening all around.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens to this little play.  The music is strong, I think, and the story has the beginnings of something with merit.  How rewrites will go is hard to say, but I’ll bet there will be more than a few.

Hope to see you there.

Four more performances…