Keep a Close Watch

“Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.” 1 Timothy 4:16

Besides being pastor of a rural church, I also coach the local high school drama club. We try to produce two one act plays per year as well as learning stage techniques and character formation. I try, by the end of four years to have offered my students the equivalent of a first year level of high school theater course work. Since we meet one hour, once a week, that seems an attainable goal.

Back StageDoor

"Back StageDoor"(“Let one who serves Me follow Me; then where I am, there too will My servant be. If one serves Me, the Father will honor him.” John 12:26)
When You debuted in my life I happily followed,
frankly reading all the reviews that glowed about
the show and how the audience never went home
unsatisfied.

Don’t get me wrong, I wrote the same reviews,
and have changed few opinions about the quality.
I’ve simply come to realize that product placement
and glowing reviews were not what You sought
or what I thought You peddled.

You were good to me while I misunderstood,
and never changed the script to match my adolescence.
You still are my standing ovation, words,
dialogue, plot and climax from another world
and misinterpreted well by wooden ears.

Foolish as I am, I’ve stopped attending the show;
I’d rather find You where You are hidden in plain sight.
The show is pleasant and You are present as closely
as the alley after the show.

But I think I know why You take Your bows night
after night
thought we miss the point.

You send us serving, and find You post-performance
chewing the fat with the old man wearing holey gloves
just outside the stage door late.

It is the walk around downtown earliest morningwith You that turned my ear to hearing. When You
took your bows to be face to face with the suffering
who have no home.

I’ve stopped going to the show, I’ve memorized it already,
and can’t wait to meet You where You are Word and
worldly, feeling and healing the wounds just outside
the backstage door.