Break Out of Our Comfort Zones—Part 9

The play The Return of the King, continues.

The man lowered his voice to a stage whisper, and the whole audience leaned forward to hear, “In the Kingdom of Light, everything’s right!”

Ah-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h, sighed the house. And for a moment, everyone in the audience knew this was no play, no myth cycle dragged out of the palace archives.

“Ah-h-h-h-h-h-h-h,” sighed the gallery again, a long sigh. If only there were such a place, such a real place.

The man offered his arm to the actor-king standing on one side of him and his other arm to Thespia who also stood near. She looked out on the audience and gasped—the people in the gallery were clothed in warm garments, their runny sores were healed, they were clean and healthy. This couldn’t be true. She blinked her eyes and stared again and realized she was seeing the people through the glow of the man’s light.

Tears ran down her cheeks, real tears, not player’s tears. If it could only be; if there really were such a place. “Wh-wh-who are you?” she asked, and he answered, “You know who I am.” Sobs broke her words,

“But h-how do w-we find this kingdom of w-which you speak?”

He turned, took both her hands in one hand, and wiped away her tears. The other players gathered close, and one put his arm around Thespia’s shoulders to comfort her.

“Follow me,” said the man. “The real kingdom is wherever I walk and whenever anyone walks with me.”

Thespia knew. He was wearing common clothes, the plain garments of the people, but she wanted to fall at his feet and bow. Tears blurring her vision, she turned from the man, faced the audience, and walked to the edge of the stage. She stretched one hand to him and one hand to the gallery, as if in introduction. “The King,” she said. “My Lord, the people.”

Suddenly, the lights blinked off-on; the man-made power was coming up. Someone in the boxes shouted: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A KING! DEATH TO PRETENDERS! And several began to chant: DEATH! DEATH!

The orchestra stopped playing and all the notes tumbled together and fell in a heap, and the man-made power suddenly came fully on and the lights blazed forth. The audience shifted in their seats and patted their clothes straight. What a strange play—it must be intermission—but then all these old myth cycles were odd.

They stood to stretch. And the magical moment was gone and the players exited, trying to remember what lines had been said and which lines remained to be said and who had the last cue; and the stage director didn’t know which act to call next.

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Sunday’s coming. Do you have your sermon ready? Is it relevant? Will it effectively motivate your congregation to walk more in step with the Master? What about that Sermon Series you’ve been thinking about?

Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?

David Mains and Mainstay Ministries can help. We offer a wide variety of Sermon Starters and Full Sermons that will give you Sermon Ideas to help you prepare for regular Saturday or Sunday sermons, Mid-week Bible Sermons, and Sermons for special occasions.

We also offer assistance as you create Topical Sermons, Sermons Series, and sermons for special times of the year. We have resources available to help you with Advent Celebrations, Advent Sermons, Christmas Sermons, Easter Sunday Sermons, Patriotic Sermons, and more.

For more information on how to create better Bible Sermons and how to turn Sermon Ideas into Sermon Outlines, and then into effective, meaningful Sunday Sermons, please click here to visit David Mains’ website.

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

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Break Out of Our Comfort Zones—Part 8

The play The Return of the King, continues.

“Doesn’t anything ever work in this wretched city!” In dismay Thespia realized she had spoken out loud. The actor/king leaned close to her, “Careful! Rumors say there’s revolt underfoot.”

But then Thespia realized that a light was shining in the darkened auditorium. The man she had seen in the gallery shadow seemed to be standing in his own light. She gasped and took a closer look; he seemed vaguely familiar. From the back of the hall, he raised his hand in greeting. Shyly, hardly realizing she did so, she reached out her hand toward him.

And the theater quieted as all watched the man walk within a center of radiance to the orchestra pit. He perched upon the rim, apologized to the musicians, and vaulted up to the stage. “This is where I make my entrance, I believe,” he said, and his voice was wonderful, filled with the echo of faraway hills and laughing country streams.

He stood in the middle of the stage and held out strong arms. “There is a real kingdom,” he announced, “and a real king.”

Without knowing that they moved, all the players took one step closer to his warmth. Some in the gallery rose to their knees.

The man motioned to the conductor. “Music,” he said, and the orchestra began to play. “Up tempo.” The beat quickened in the percussion section and wound its way in and out among the street people whose feet began to tap.

“In the Kingdom of Light, there is no night.” And the man smiled at the gallery, at all in the house and at the players onstage. The beat waltzed its way to the tiers of boxes, and even a few of the wealthy patrons began to clap: Ta-dum-ta-dum-ta-da-da-dum.

“In the Kingdom of Light,” the man chanted, “the day shines bright.”

The music was infectious. Now many chanted back, “In the Kingdom of Light, the day shines bright.”

Ta-da-ta-da-ta-da-da-dum, played the orchestra. The man raised his hands for quieter music.

“Have you ever heard of a kingdom where outcasts were welcomed?” the man asked.

And the people answered, “No-o-o-o-o!”

“Have you ever heard of a kingdom where every orphan had a home?”

“No-o-o-o-o-o-o-o!”

“Or where those who loved light could live in it? Or where those who sought for a king found him?”

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Sunday’s coming. Do you have your sermon ready? Is it relevant? Will it effectively motivate your congregation to walk more in step with the Master? What about that Sermon Series you’ve been thinking about?

Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?

David Mains and Mainstay Ministries can help. We offer a wide variety of Sermon Starters and Full Sermons that will give you Sermon Ideas to help you prepare for regular Saturday or Sunday sermons, Mid-week Bible Sermons, and Sermons for special occasions.

We also offer assistance as you create Topical Sermons, Sermons Series, and sermons for special times of the year. We have resources available to help you with Advent Celebrations, Advent Sermons, Christmas Sermons, Easter Sunday Sermons, Patriotic Sermons, and more.

For more information on how to create better Bible Sermons and how to turn Sermon Ideas into Sermon Outlines, and then into effective, meaningful Sunday Sermons, please click here to visit David Mains’ website.

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

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Break Out of Our Comfort Zones—Part 7

Well, Thespia, the most beautiful player of all, was open to the young King’s moving her out of her comfort zone. Let’s return to that story. The play The Return of the King, has begun.

“P-s-s-s-t, Thespia,” the prompter hissed. “Entrance!”

She stepped onto the stage, her hair tumbling in captured stagelight, glowing like a halo. There was a gasp from the gallery and applause from the boxes. She closed her eyes and evoked the memory of the roseate sun, rising, rising—and stood shimmering beneath the overhead spotlights. “Oh, we are mortals and have forgotten how to laugh. Who will show us where laughter is hiding?” Thespia’s lashes glistened with tears because it was true, so true.

Perhaps Thespia’s power came from the gallery, from the men and women and children sitting on the floor and wearing ragged, tattered clothes. They, too, wondered where the laughter had gone. Most players acted to the boxes, to the rich patrons dripping with furs, sitting in plush chairs, their stomachs full. But Thespia played to the floor, to the people. She looked at them with pity. Eager, the whole mob lifted their heads to the stagelight, their mouths open, their eyes wide with wonder.

Thespia loved to make them laugh, loved their unsophisticated whooping, howling, and floor pounding. She loved to make them weep, to spill the overflow of sorrow that became dammed in the dark horrors of Enchanted City.

Tonight beyond the circle of reflected stagelight, she thought she saw a man standing, but he was. in the gallery shadow. Strange. Why don’t the ushers have him sit or leave?

Two stage beats, a pause. At this moment, the actor/king stepped from the wing. This was one of the play’s dramatic moments, the actual return of the King; but suddenly, the lights flickered and dimmed. A groan went up from the theater.

“Power out! Oh-h-h-h-h-h. Power out!”

Even the players on stage moaned.

“Lights! Lights! Lights!” shouted the street people.

———————————————

Sunday’s coming. Do you have your sermon ready? Is it relevant? Will it effectively motivate your congregation to walk more in step with the Master? What about that Sermon Series you’ve been thinking about?

Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?

David Mains and Mainstay Ministries can help. We offer a wide variety of Sermon Starters and Full Sermons that will give you Sermon Ideas to help you prepare for regular Saturday or Sunday sermons, Mid-week Bible Sermons, and Sermons for special occasions.

We also offer assistance as you create Topical Sermons, Sermons Series, and sermons for special times of the year. We have resources available to help you with Advent Celebrations, Advent Sermons, Christmas Sermons, Easter Sunday Sermons, Patriotic Sermons, and more.

For more information on how to create better Bible Sermons and how to turn Sermon Ideas into Sermon Outlines, and then into effective, meaningful Sunday Sermons, please click here to visit David Mains’ website.

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

Share and Enjoy