Pippin 2013

Pippin is back on Broadway.

Check out this video promo:



I could not possibly be more excited about this!

I was introduced to this powerful show in 1984, when I was a student teacher at Lee High School. (That's right - a student teacher. I've got layers, people.) Buddy Murphy directed the school's performance of this 1972 musical, and I was privileged to work with him and his students on it. I fell in love with the music, the script, and the powerful message of a young man searching for meaning in his life. How far will he go?

Here is a clip of Ben Vereen performing the opening number in the original production:



And now it's on Broadway, for the first time since I've even known it existed. Before you ask - oh yeah. That's gonna happen, God willing. Gotta find my corner of the sky.

Fail!

It was one of those days.

Yesterday it just seemed that I was a little out of sorts at work. Just a tad off. For example, I left a cup of coffee in a colleague's office and then accused everyone of hiding it from me. Goodnaturedly , mind you, but I did throw out the idea that they were messing with me.

And then I got the message above from our scanner.

Al that happened was this. Very innocent. I got ready to scan a document and have it sent to my email. I punched in the file mane and hit the button. But it wouldn't scan. I tried it twice, and both times the machine printed out the report above.

So I charge over to our department's machine expert and ask her, Has this ever happened to you? What should I do about it? Should I call the help desk?

Um, no. Instead of calling the help desk, maybe I should just ENTER MY EMAIL ADDRESS so it'll know where to send the stinkin' file!

Oops.

Everyone in the department was roaring with laughter. It's always fun when the department head looks like a fool. Ha. Ha.

Kind of reminded me of the time when I had bad arithmetic on a staff chart. Again...oops.

I'm sure there's some sort of lesson here. Something to do with making sure you are connected to the source. But that's for another day. For now, it's enough to say that you've gotta be able to laugh at yourself, or you'll go crazy.

So laugh away...I did.

One enduring echo

One enduring echo. This phrase has been echoing through my brain since this morning.

I had the privilege of worshipping in Tallahassee this morning at Element 3 Church. During the worship music, the lyrics of a song just jumped out at me. I got a glimpse of my purpose that has stayed with me all day.

The song was Great Is the Lord by Starfield. You can listen to it here:



The last verse is what is resonating with me. If you didn't notice while listening, here is what it says:

When death becomes 
The end of all my labors 
And Christ alone my rest and reward

May all I've done
Be one enduring echo
Resounding on to shout
Great is the Lord

Yes, one day I will face death. Maybe a long time from now, maybe not. So when that day comes, what do I want? Well, of course I am looking forward to my rest and reward. To being in the presence of Christ and one day to receive my resurrection body and reign with him. That's all fantastic! But if that's all I want, I'm pretty selfish. Is that why I've committed my life to Jesus? Just so I can get a reward at the end?

I think if that's the case, I've missed the point. I've been saved not just for me, but for the kingdom. This verse brought that home. My biggest prayer for that day should not be about my reward, but the glory of the One who made me and rescued me.

The echoes are all around me, shouting, Great is the Lord. My sister's life is echoing this, and has been for almost 17 years. My mother's life for over six years. Aunts. Uncles. Grandparents. Friends. I can hear the echoes all around me.

And so that's my prayer. May what I do tomorrow shout, Great is the Lord. So that it can echo long after I'm gone.

That is a legacy worth living for.

23 days...

...until the most glorious day on the calendar. Easter!

Easter is the day we celebrate the ultimate victory in creation. God himself took on flesh and spent around 30 years on earth announcing his kingdom's arrival. And then, on the anniversary of his people's great rescue for Egypt (Passover), he took the form of a suffering servant and established his reign by dying in our place. And then on the third day he completed it all by rising from the dead, bringing the dawn of his new creation.

It is too amazing for words!

And yes, I am so excited about it that I'm writing this today. We start celebrating Christmas in October these days, so why should we only celebrate the day that gave Christmas meaning early too?? Early...and late...and always!

It was put so well by N.T. Wright in his book Surprised by Hope:

Easter is about the wild delight of God's creative power...we ought to shout Alleluias instead of murmuring them; we should light every candle in the building instead of only some; we should give every man, woman, child, cat, dog, and mouse in the place a candle to hold; we should build a real bonfire...the thing about Easter is that it is neither ethereal no esoteric. It's about the real Jesus coming out of the real tomb and getting God's real new creation underway.

Is it any wonder people find it hard to believe in the resurrection of Jesus if we don't throw out hats into the air...Is it any wonder the world doesn't take much notice if Easter is celebrated as simply the one-day happy ending tacked on to forty days of fasting and gloom?

But we should be taking steps to celebrate Easter in creative new ways: in art, in children's games, poetry, music, dance, festivals, bells, special concerts, anything that comes to mind. This is our greatest festival...Take Easter away and you don't have a New Testament; you don't have a Christianity; as Paul says, you are still in your sins. We shouldn't allow the secular world, with its schedules and habits and parareligious events, its cute Easter bunnies to blow us off course. This is our greatest day. We should put the flags out.

So I'm putting the flags out! I'm anticipating. And I'm planning - maybe for the first time - to give it the celebration it deserves.

He is risen! Let's party!