I am part of this fall's civic theatre production of the broadway musical RENT because I am a bass guitarist.
I am also involved in this production because I am a Christian.
Let me explain that.
First let me clarify that being a Christian is not about acting a certain way, or trying to earn God's favor, or being good enough to achieve something. This is a common misunderstanding.
Being a Christian is about being forgiven by God in spite of what I deserve and in spite of how I act.
Being a Christian means accepting that my failings and my evil and my guilt have all been handled for me.
My failings, evil, and guilt separate me from God, yet the Bible explains that God has made a way for these obstacles to be removed. They are not ignored by God. In fact, he knows my failings better than I will ever know them. He knows them personally because he suffered for them in my place.
The obstacles I created have been removed by God because of his love for me.
As a Christian I believe that God paid the price I owed for my failings – and he did it through a kind of suicide. He himself assumed responsibility for my wrongs. God revealed himself in the person of Jesus Christ in Palestine 2,000 years ago. Then, beyond revealing himself, God suffered for me by this suicide in which Jesus experienced the separation I deserved.
I am a Christian only because I accept Christ's death in my place, as a gift that makes possible my intimate friendship with God, now and forever. I live my life to express my thanks to God for this gift, and to explain this relationship to those who don't yet know him.
What does this have to do with RENT, Jonathan Larson's Broadway musical that opened in 1996?
I am also involved in this production because I am a Christian.
Let me explain that.
First let me clarify that being a Christian is not about acting a certain way, or trying to earn God's favor, or being good enough to achieve something. This is a common misunderstanding.
Being a Christian is about being forgiven by God in spite of what I deserve and in spite of how I act.
Being a Christian means accepting that my failings and my evil and my guilt have all been handled for me.
My failings, evil, and guilt separate me from God, yet the Bible explains that God has made a way for these obstacles to be removed. They are not ignored by God. In fact, he knows my failings better than I will ever know them. He knows them personally because he suffered for them in my place.
The obstacles I created have been removed by God because of his love for me.
As a Christian I believe that God paid the price I owed for my failings – and he did it through a kind of suicide. He himself assumed responsibility for my wrongs. God revealed himself in the person of Jesus Christ in Palestine 2,000 years ago. Then, beyond revealing himself, God suffered for me by this suicide in which Jesus experienced the separation I deserved.
I am a Christian only because I accept Christ's death in my place, as a gift that makes possible my intimate friendship with God, now and forever. I live my life to express my thanks to God for this gift, and to explain this relationship to those who don't yet know him.
What does this have to do with RENT, Jonathan Larson's Broadway musical that opened in 1996?
I am drawn to RENT because the characters in the musical remind me of the disenfranchised and hopeless to which Jesus Christ was drawn in his ministry. The suffering HIV-infected artists, addicts, and members of the LGBTIQ community of late 20th century New York City shed their dreams for existential phrases like 'no day but today' in defiance of their hopelessness. It is into this kind of Bohemian quest for purpose and meaning that Jesus Christ brings his message of a bigger picture and a fulfilling relationship beyond suffering. Jesus called it the 'kingdom of God' and his message is that this kingdom is now near. If Jesus had appeared to us in the late 20th century, his friends would have been like those he selected 20 centuries earlier – people like the characters in RENT. He accepted them just as they were – he could not have loved them more. He died for them, and he offered them, just as he offers us, a purpose and meaning beyond today – beyond any day.
7.22.14
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