Friday, July 3, 2009

The All-Singing, All-Dancing Passion of the Christ - Part 4




My favorite church play was (and still is) the Passion play.

This year, my church put on a biggie-size one. I mean, really, really biggie-size: the Sunday I heard about it, they were calling for three hundred men, women, and children to don the bed sheet and Birkenstocks and join the back-up choir. I was ecstatic. This was going to be the ultimate antidote to all the dry sermons that I had endured, and a grand second act to all of the plays I had admired. It was going to be epic.

And it certainly was epic. A sweeping Miltonian opening scene, in which dark-skinned acrobats leapt, somersaulted, fell and then fought against the cosmic forces of good for lordship over the universe. Entire historical sequences, such as the Red Sea crossing, interjected as nothing more than a scene-setting device. Choreographed commotion surrounding the birth and celebration of baby Jesus (which looked a lot like the presentation of Simba into the Circle of Life). Two dozen hyper-muscular angels and demons hovering around a crucifixion sequence of grim visual realism. It was as if Cirque de Soleil had been sent through five years of Sunday School. Jesus never spoke an audible word, but all of his deeds were amplified by a wall of sound and music, which told you exactly how to feel and when to feel it. Right up to the epic, stirring conclusion, when Jesus stepped out of the tomb. The entire stage was suddenly wreathed in fireworks and blazing with white lights. It was epic.

And, after all of those histrionic outbursts, I somehow left feeling a little disappointed.

Don't get me wrong. The gospel is the Greatest Story Ever Told. The gospel is Epic. But not epic like actors pumped-up to look like the guys that Bruce Willis fought in every movie from the 1980's. Not epic like Chuck Norris's (or John Eldridge's) beard. Not epic like Braveheart. Not epic like the Iliad. And, sorry to say, not epic like Cirque de Soleil

To be continued...

Click here to read the previous post in this series.

By: Chad

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