It's not related to Ministry. Not in any tangible sense.
I am a member of a couple of different performance art groups. It is fulfilling- even necessary to me- to be able to perform. I feel that drama is a powerful way to illustrate, and can reach people in ways that the spoken word often fails. Time and again, this has been reinforced to me, by evidence of people coming up to me after a performance.
So...I work with a core group of women. Our ages range from 23 to 41. We are from different educational, racial, and social backgrounds- and I can witness that there is Strength in Diversity!- I can also admit that sometimes our differences pose challenges. But the rewards outweigh the growing pains. We are 6 women who gripe to one another, lean on each other, lend and borrow from one another, create together, bicker, make up, and put on the show when the curtain rises. We may have our differences from time to time, but when the curtain rises, we put on a united front, and we do our thing.
Performing creates stressful conditions. Isn't it funny how sometimes it takes stressful conditions for people to pool their resources and make something work? There are people in my life whom I would not know- unless adverse circumstances hadn't shoved us into the same boat. Yet, my life is so much richer for knowing them, and I would not bail on a single one.
When the curtain rises- I want people to suspend disbelief. I want people to have to consciously remind themselves to exhale. I want at least one person to think: "Oh, I get it!" I want people to notice our different shapes, colors, ages, and mentally mark the fact that we are acting as one. I want people who think they'd never have the guts to perform, to start thinking about what they CAN do, to act as a force in some capacity. I want members of our audience to feel empowered as well as entertained. I want to inspire one person. Don't we all want to feel like we have the power to reach somebody? Shouldn't we try, using whatever abilities we were blessed with? That's what I want- to leave one person feeling nurtured, entertained, and inspired- when the curtain falls.
Fred Rogers.....Mike Wallace.....Josephine Baker.....Charlie Chaplain.....Gypsy Rose Lee....Charles Schulz......Nikolai Tesla.....Mother Teresa.....Sojurner Truth.....Julia Child.....Mikhail Baryshnikov.....Rudolf Nuryev.....Bobby Fischer.....Billie Jean King......Martin Luther King.....Charles Goodyear.....Tupac Shakur....John Denver....Jim Henson....Diana of Wales....Emily, Anne, & Charlotte Bronte....F. Scott Fitzgerald.....Kafka....Eminem....Lindsay Buckingham....Andy Warhol.....Stevie Nicks....Don Henley.....Marc Chagal....Michaelangelo....Vincent.....Mary Cassatt....Ruth and Naomi....Dr. Sears...Harper Lee....Dustin, Timothy, Melody, Harmony, and Coda....Faye and Jerry Walz....Father Lee Leubber....Sister Stephanie....Peter Maurin....Dorothy Day....St. Francis....Rabbi Brooks....Katherine Hepburn....Hilary Knight....Carlos Santana....the lady from Proverbs 31....Gregory Peck....Gabourey Sidibe...Alice Walker...Glenn Miller....Frank Lloyd Wright....Maria Tallchief....Florence Nightingale....Bill Cosby....Larry Flynt.... EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THE ABOVE, PLUS MANY MORE, MAKE ME WANT TO BE A BETTER PERSON.
