Last Friday night, Rennie treated me to a night at the Elida High school’s presentation of Beauty & the Beast. These aren’t always his favorite things to do so it was a very neat treat for him to ask me out to “the theater”!
However there was another special thing about this one. Our former pastor’s wife was the director and Pastor Randy played Maurice, Belle’s father.
I loved everything about the evening.
The atmosphere was buzzing,
We sat near people we knew.
We watched children with excited expressions.
The set was so well done and costumes fantastic.
But of course, I loved the watching the story come to life!
One character after another made their first appearance on stage, adding their personality and flare to the dynamics.
Belle, who was fabulous.
The villagers
Lafoo & Gaston
And then came Maurice! Belle’s father! My pastor!
I watched as he played a role and yet was the part. A father, proud of a precious daughter (and son, each married and now there is one grand child), and creative inventor (especially of sets for special settings).
I had seen him partner with the staff at church to create some inspiring spaces for transforming worship interaction. I got to see it up close often because I worked as an administrative assistant for 4 of his 8 years at our church.
It occurred to me even as I watched him perform, that so much of what he has taught me over the years was how to take a creative mess and turn it into a powerfully influential environment. Not just with scenes for the worship gatherings, but with people too!
So many times I watched people come in to speak with him!
Always people with a story.
It is story that sets the stage for our creative messes to wreck havoc with our intended directions. Yet it also provides the scene that twists the plot and invokes a call for right to triumph and beauty to win the beast.
Only to have the storyline turn again…
Broken promises
Misunderstandings of characters in the play
Broken hearts
Lost dreams
Just like Maurice in the musical, Pastor Randy lived with people in their stories. Accepting wherever they were in their story as a place where God was working. Not because he was preparing them for the next place, but because he was working out a storyline with them now.
Good or bad,
Happy or sad
Beauty or beast
God was at work in the moment!
The musical took several turns that threatened to destroy the happy ending.
The villagers blindly followed the leadership of an egocentric, self indulging bully.
Lumiarie, Cogsworth and Mrs Potts were beginning to think they would be consumed by the curse and never be free to live out their hopes and dreams.
Maurice was declared crazy- for speaking truth. (Hmmmm! As a pastor I believe he might have experienced that too!) (It’s sad what we do to our leaders.)
Belle alone sees beyond the ugly, through the mean, into the heart.
In the moment she thinks it is all for naught,
That love is lost
And evil has won,
She sheds the tear and declares truth!
I love you!
Magically love restores all that was wrong with the world!
If only that were true in our stories!
And yet, as Pastor Randy so often reminded me through his life and his message, when we humble ourselves in the mess of the story, and seek the author of the play and declare truth… Something amazing does happen!
The story sometimes stays a mess.
There is usually a bully or a beast stirring up conflict.
But something begins to change in us.
We become more of who we were made to be.
We begin to see more deeply.
We love and live more honestly!
We influence the other characters in our story.
Thanks Pastor Randy & Rhonda! Not only did you do a marvelous job with the musical, but you reminded me of the gift you have been in my life and my church.
Thank you for loving Rennie and I where we were in our story! Thank you for helping us see more deeply and love more honestly!
Bravo! You played your roles magnificently!
We love you!