Here are a few images from the rehearsals…

Ian Prichard as Scrooge...

A tavernmaid tries to wish Scrooge an 'appy 'oliday...

Scrooge converses with The Ghost of Christmas Past...

Londoners in a tavern enjoying the holiday spirits...

The show goes up on December 1 for five performances… If you are in the Denver area, come check it out.  Admission is free with a food donation to Open Arms Food Bank and registration is open at www.freehumbug.com…

Josh, as Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls

This is Josh.

Got a story about your own misjudgement? Know a decidedly “unartistic” artist? Share…

Love.  Love.  Love.

Theatrical productions are rife with opportunities to collaborate… It is the single most compelling reason, in my thinking, to do full-scale theatre in the context of arts ministry: It gives purpose, context and accountability to collaborations.

Purpose…

I did a gallery wall at LVC last year as a prelude to launching our arts ministry… It was… nice…

But it lacked any sort of real purpose. The submission ranged from photographic art to pencil drawing to graphic design to painting… It looked diverse and aesthetically pleasing, but floundered thematically in the realm of “inspirational art,” lacking any kind of cohesion.

Our Godspell production, on the other hand, has a great deal of thematic cohesion… While focused largely on Jesus, Himself, it is also filled with themes and images of community and those themes are filling every creative aspect of the production.

Context…

I’ve observed that artists produce best in the context of a larger project. We’ve seen it in our Night In Bethlehem programs that we do with the LVC kids’ ministry… Activating about 70% of the adults and students in our church is a daunting task, but the larger scope and context of the project is part of the allure to volunteers… They can see that they are participating in something much bigger than themselves… There’s a sort of transcendence in it that keeps us coming back to it year-after-year.

A theatrical project gives the same opportunity to use our gifts and talents within a larger context.

I’m not a dancer. So, when it comes time to do a musical, I need a choreographer. Watching her work with the cast and watching that aspect of the show come together is a huge thrill for me. Even when my contribution is limited to operating the iPod…

Accountability…

If space-aliens were to break into my house and judge the whole of humanity by what they found, they’d conclude that earthlings have a strong aversion to finishing projects. Most of the creatives that I know personally have a similar struggle…

Projects with deadlines are either going to make us or break us…

That is, of course, the risk that is inherent in allowing artists to lead artists… I’m pretty sure that our pastor at the LVC has spent a considerable amount of time in prayer about Godspell… specifically regarding it timely completion… He has graciously declined to say so… out loud… but I know that it worries him.

Fortunately, I have the collaborative effort of a stage manager, an assistant director and a production assistant… to keep us on track and on schedule…

We haven’t missed a single deadline… Which reminds me:

Be sure to bring in a few left-brains when you start a big project.

Finally, remember what the Bible has to say about getting together:

Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their work:
If one falls down,
his friend can help him up.
But pity the man who falls
and has no one to help him up!
Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
- Ecclesiastes 4: 9, 10, 12

If your in the Denver area and would like to attend our production of Godspell, you can find out more and register for free tickets at GodspellColorado.com.

Jesus, as he is portrayed in the film version of Godspell...

I have to launch into this with a disclaimer:

I’m not a big fan of the clown imagery in Godspell.

Can I have my eternal life back now?

Seriously, as a follower of Jesus, I find the idea that Jesus is a clown a bit disrespectful. I don’t really think that was the Tebelak’s intent in writing the character that way, but calling someone a “clown” is not generally a favorable comment. Tebelak is no longer around to question about this, so I’m going to speculate on his intent and extrapolate (what I believe is) a better alternative.

The notes by Stephen Schwartz that have been added to the Godspell script since Tebelak’s death, give us some basic instructions about the character of Jesus in the show:

It is important that Jesus be the leader at all times… Even when a game or parable is initiated by another, there should be a clear sense that it is done for and with the master’s approval… It is easy for the show to appear to be “Jesus and His Nine Zany Friends;” this is wrong… (if He is) too “serious” or passive, the balance of the show is distorted. He is, if you will, the Chief Clown, in that He must drive the action at all times…

Jesus… must be the most charismatic individual in the cast. High energy, charming, funny, gentle but with strength. He is the sort of person others instinctively follow.

Tebelak’s use of the clown imagery was influenced by Harvey Cox’s essay and lecture entitled Christ the Harlequin, in which Cox emphasizes joy, festivity and holy mirth, saying:

The recent focus of theology has been on doubt, unbelief, or on the church’s mission to the world. All this is very important, but what has been missing is the joy of serving.
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,838029,00.html#ixzz1CMCiLgyB

This also correlates to Tebelak’s view of the Church, which I’ll tackle in another post, that the experience of following Jesus should be one of joyful volunteerism and fun. He even goes so far as to contrast this with the dutiful piety of the Pharisees.

The other obvious reason for using a theatrical device like this is to cast off the “religiosity” that has come to surround the image of Jesus. I’ve said before that I find it difficult to relate to most (if not all) of the iconic images of Jesus. And it was for the sake of relating to people that Jesus put aside His equality with the Father and “became flesh” (Philippians 2:6-8)…

Jesus should be, above all else, relatable… or we’ve missed the boat. It is not blasphemous or irreverent to portray Jesus as a real guy, with real feelings in a theatrical setting… I’m not talking about a “Buddy Christ” who winks at wrong-doing, but rather a relatable Jesus who is touched by our weaknesses and loves us in spite of them.

A Jesus, worthy of worship… worthy of sharing…

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death–even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name…  (The Bible, Philippians 2)

So, we’ve decided to make sure that we’ve removed the religious trappings from Jesus’ appearance… No beard, for starters, and embrace a “normal” and simple style… a T-shirt-and-jeans-Jesus who might meet you at Starbucks or McDonald’s…

Which, by the way, I’m off to another meeting about our Godspell production…

I've alway struggled with the image of Gentle Jesus, Meek and Mild, chasing the moneychangers out of the Temple with the power of his perfectly-groomed beard...

“Who do you say that I am?”

I wonder if Peter ever wondered how he seemed to always end up in these situations: on the receiving-end of some hard question or seemingly impossible command…

From the outside, it’s pretty obvious: Peter couldn’t contain his enthusiasm. He volunteered for most of the hard questions… He volunteered to step out of the boat…

Sometimes, I’m like Peter: my enthusiasm puts me out here on the limb, answering hard questions and fending off critics… And today, the Master is asking me that same hard question that He asked Peter…

“What about you, Tim. Who do you say that I am?”

You are the Messiah… The Only Son of the Most High God…

“So, how do you think that Superman shirt looks on me?”

I confess, I’ve never really understood the controversy of the Superman shirt in Godspell… It is Jesus’ traditional costume in the show… It sets him apart from the rest of the players.

So, I had someone spell out the argument for me… It goes like this:

Jesus was the Humble King… He was always Clark Kent and never Superman. He described Himself as “meek and lowly” and he never set Himself up as the Hero. The people in that time were looking for a Hero to overthrow the Romans, but that was never Jesus’ intent. His humility was His defining virtue and He never put on any show of strength…

You get the idea… and for my part, I see that Jesus was all of those things, BUT He also did some things that set Him apart as the Hero:

Jesus questioned the Pharisees… Moreover, He refused to answer their questions and even rebuked them publicly. Normal Jewish people in the first century didn’t ever do that…

Jesus threw the money-changers out of the Temple… He went to worship and found people selling sub-standard sacrificial animals in the Temple court. He picked up a whip and went to work, turning over tables and chasing the scoundrels out into the street…

Of course, anyone with enough zeal and cheek could have done these things… It wouldn’t take Superman…

But then He healed the sick, brought sight to the blind, made the lame walk… He even demonstrated that He was empowered to forgive sins…

Then there was that whole scene of raising Lazarus from the dead…

Sounding more and more “super” to me all the time…

He also said some incredible things about Himself:

“If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen God.”

“I am the Vine, you’re my branches.”

“I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, no one comes to God except through me.”

And as if just for dramatic effect, Jesus took 3 of His followers up the mountain and revealed Himself in His radiant glory…

My concern is that the Superman shirt is too weak as a metaphor… It never crossed my mind that the comparison might be too strong.

I think that it is an over-simplification to say the Jesus was always Clark Kent… Jesus is and was fully God and fully man… A complete representation of Jesus will show Him to be both human and divine:

Jesus humanity is more apparent in Godspell than His divinity… It’s not that His divinity is denied – it’s established at the very beginning of the show… But the theme of Godspell is the community that Jesus built around Himself and His teaching, so it’s His humanity that is emphasized.

A small, visual reminder of the power He is containing seems appropriate to me.

So, what do you guys think about the Superman shirt? Does it represent Jesus?

NEXT UP: The Chief Clown… Why dress Jesus up like a clown? Is there a point to it?

There have been some questions about the show from friends, from production leaders that I have recruited and from my pastor…

Valid questions and concerns along with non-issues that grow out of a misunderstanding of the show’s actual content… some of the misunderstandings are centered around the 1973 film version of the show and some of them grow out of rumor and innuendo that has little ground in fact but has, nonetheless, persisted in evangelical and traditional Christian circles for nearly 40 years.

About a month ago, I jotted down a few thoughts in the form of a single post with the title, Defending the Godspell, but as the questions have piled up, I decided that it needs a bit more treatment than my typical 500-word format will allow… The single post has grown into a fairly protracted discussion that I have moved from the GodspellColorado website to this one for a number of reasons…

First, this is primarily a discussion between Christ-followers and the GodspellColorado site is primarily used to promote the show to non-believers… We Christians have a reputation in the world at-large for being argumentative and some of the issues with Godspell are polarizing among believers… I would rather have the “family” disagreement apart from the scrutiny of people who would not understand or care about the outcome of the discussion.

Secondly, I want to welcome the input of the community that has grown up around WorshipOnPurpose… The majority of the questions are going to come from a more theological worldview and I’d like to hear the thoughts of other artists and Christian leaders…

So, the first discussion is coming in a day or two… Prepare ye…

NEXT UP:  Jesus in a Superman shirt… The controversy that I still don’t understand.

So, when I first saw Hannah dancing in the back of our church during our Sunday worship time, I was thrilled and awed… This is one of the roots of our worship: one of the oldest practices of worship in the Bible… And it is also a foundational art form, found in the most primitive cultures and honed into one of the most challenging modern performing arts…

Hannah just flat-out rocks it.

She and I have worked together to add dance to our Night in Bethlehem event at LVC… By “worked together” I mean she does the choreography, recruiting, costuming and leads rehearsals… and I put it in the program. It is, by far, my most favorite moment in the evening… The energy, mood and emotion that the dance adds is amazing. And unlike the drama, which is scripted, or the costumes and sets, which are contrived, the dance draws from ancient forms and ancient music to present one of the most authentic moments as well.

But Hannah’s involvement at NiB is just the tip of the iceberg… Her primary outlet for dance as worship is at the Celebration Ministry of the Arts (CMA) a dance school and performing group here in the Denver-metro area. Hannah teaches preschoolers and participates in the organization’s performing company, both locally and abroad.

Of particular interest to me is the group’s numerous trips to perform and minister in Japan… Hannah tells me:

“Dance is a good fit for ministry in Japan. The culture there has a very high respect for the arts… They also like Americans, which makes it easier too.”

But Japanese culture is also very intolerant of individuals who defect from traditional beliefs… Christian converts are often disowned by their families. This makes sharing the Gospel a particular challenge. The troupe travels through the country, performing at churches and occasionally in public venues…

They dance and they talk about Jesus…

“I only know of one occasion where there were actual conversions, mostly we just ‘sow seeds’ by sharing personal stories of what God has done in our lives…”

I mention to Hannah that many of the artists that I’ve talked are largely unactivated in their church… We’ve worked together at LVC, but only on the one project… She is sympathetic:

“I’m working on a dance workshop at the church that I’m attending now… It’s the first opportunity I’ve had to do that and it’s very exciting. But CMA was actually started by dancers who wanted to worship through dance but had no outlet for that in their churches…”

I can’t help but be disappointed that Hannah isn’t doing her workshop at LVC… I think that it’s also interesting to add that CMA has almost 500 dancers in four locations around Colorado…

As a parent, I’m curious about CMA and why parents would choose a “christian” dance school over the many that are scattered around… I sometimes have observed a disparity between the quality of arts inside and outside the church… And I wonder:

Can the “christian” alternative be as good?

So, I visit the CMA website and watch the videos… and I came across this little nugget about their performing troupe:

Our performing company consists of women who are technically trained in classical dance, but most importantly, have the hearts of passionate worshipers.

And I think that says it…

Because as artists who are christians, we ought to pursue training and practice to hone our technique… It is in our hearts, focused on God, committed to Jesus and full of passion, that we worship… No matter what our medium….

For more information about Celebration Ministry of the Arts, click here…

I’ll be posting some video of Hannah, performing with CMA later this week…

Troy is different… I know Troy very well… in real life.

Sitting down over Chick-fil-A sandwiches, while my daughter terrorizes the boys in the playland, we talked for a half-hour about projects that we’re working on at LVC, our families and painting his house.

Troy has this off-grain sense of humor that makes me vaguely uncomfortable in public… He doesn’t mind being the center of attention… It totally freaks me out. He’s one of THOSE people who has never met a stranger, while I’m one of those people who learned to never talk to strangers…

After several years and a number of outings with him and our kids, I’m more accustomed to the way he reaches out to everyone he encounters… He’s charming, really… But being in public with Troy is still very similar to the experience of riding on a parade float…

So, I wave helplessly at the passers-by and ask my questions.

I already know quite a bit about Troy… He’s been interested in photography since he was a small child, growing up in Michigan. His first pictures were captured with a MagiMatic camera; images of the outdoors and Canadian geese whose heads were often out of frame. He studied later at the Art Institute of CO and spent a number of years working in a portrait studio before starting his own business about 2 years ago…

I have worked with Troy at LVC as well… He does free portraits for guests at our Night in Bethlehem event and has submitted work for our galleries. He has also done work for 2=1 (a marriage ministry) and CO-AID (a non-profit that does work in India and Haiti).

What I’ve been wanting to share with you guys for a while is Troy’s work with Shiloh House, a foster-care home for boys that have difficult and often troubled backgrounds…

He shared his vision with me more than a year ago:

…To photograph the boys at Shiloh House… To affirm them in who they are by portraying their hearts through imagery and portraiture (that) uses their ideas…

Which is the sort of thing that Troy does with high school seniors and brides-to-be and other characters he meets… His portrait work begins with building a relationship with his clients, finding out what they like and who they are; then going out to locations where they feel comfortable and shooting pictures…

There is a strong sense of collaboration with his clients… Capturing their loves and aspirations and stories is as important to Troy as getting the light and composition right…

Relationship is vital to his work and that personal understanding comes through in the images he captures… His portraits are intimate and compelling…

He has been working with Shiloh House, shooting their events, as a part-time member of their volunteer staff…

It seemed to take forever to get through the paperwork and training. They do background checks and training about interacting with the kids… It was quite a process…

I had the opportunity to be around while Troy was doing a shoot… His outgoing nature is at its best in these situations to draw out his subjects, to make them feel at ease, to be their friend…

No doubt, this is a tremendous experience for boys who come out of poverty, neglect and abuse…

You can see more of Troy’s work on his website: www.TroyRowe.com or become a fan on Facebook.

All of Troy’s images are copyrighted and used by permission.

LVC does a Christmas event called Night in Bethlehem that has been our signature holiday outreach for the past 3 years.  I wrote the dramatic scripts and direct the theatrical presentation, among other things…

The event is the most ambitious project that I’ve ever been connected with in church. It activates about 80% of the adults in the church for one capacity or another. It has been overseen by a volunteer project manager, our children’s pastor and myself every year… and we generally like each other again by February or March…

This year, we’ve recruited a few additional leaders and our first official meeting is today…

The rest that I’ve been able to capture the last four weeks has been really awesome and it has changed the way I view the Bethlehem project… Because, in all honesty, I’ve always seen Bethlehem as a roadblock to other projects that I’d like to dive into.

I’ve found a different perspective this year and I think that the key to that was taking a break.

Creativity and vision both rely heavily on having enough time and space to develop and propagate. In the hustle and bustle of my daily life, I have very little free mental time to create or cultivate vision. Bethlehem is a sort of creativity-eating monster, there is consistently a problem to solve or a question to answer… and the collaborative nature of the project consumes most of the energy that we have to be creative…

Taking a deep breath before the proverbial plunge has lots of advantages, primarily in allowing some time to envision the next big thing… something that I won’t have a chance to do again until after Christmas.

How do you make time for creativity and vision?