The first draft of the script for the Lenten reflection is almost complete and I’m beginning to consider potential cast. I want this event to be an act of worship and therefore want it to have integrity and power. In order to do this I require experienced performers who will dedicate time and energy to characterisation and delivery. This means I will be sourcing them from the student theatre community in the city. I have joined the student theatre umbrella that oversee this aspect of student life and will be posting out an audition notice shortly.
This is an important step for me and my potential ministry in this place. If I am to ‘rehearse the message’ (see Holy Theatre post) then the people I invite to be a part of the growing community could very well be involved in this event. This has led me to reflect on what am I looking for in these actors? Do I ask for those with a faith, however, vague and undefined? Or do I just ask for actors and use this an evangelistic opportunity? If I am to set up a community of actors and look at how we in the theatre do church I will need some professing Christian actors, or do I?
There is, of course, an element of waiting to see what God has planned and just following Him into this. He knows who He wants and I just need to invite them. We cannot control or predict what God is going to do. Do we stop planning then and become ‘reactionist’ rather than ‘proactivist’? No! God commands us to dream dreams and see visions. We must pray, listening to the gentle prods of the Spirit who will guide us.
This Lenten reflection then has a longer significance than I thought. If I am to invest in this venture, which I believe God has called me to, then the support network that will see this venture through must be gathered sooner than anticipated. I need the wise counsel of others and their prayers as I audition and rehearse with the actors for the Lenten reflection. The script must be filled with the Spirit so that in embodying the text the actors are transformed and are called into worship by them. My relationship with them is to be honest and real and in all that they say and imply I must be looking for what God is doing and to join in his mission.
As I think through the next couple of months (and even years), I’m excited. I have, however, in the past, been someone who sees the next step and runs off into the distance, thinking I know what God is doing. In this situation it is even more important that I watch to see where God is directing me, step by step. It’s amazing at how God uses situations and conversations that seem irrelevant at first, to guide us and show us His plans.