Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV)
Once a year, my kids and I spend an amazing week together with about 60 other people doing a local, teenage theater production. The director’s goals are to help the kids have an fantastic experience of theater, grow in their acting and friendships with each other, and encounter good literature. In the past few years we’ve done plays built around classic literature, the biblical story of Elijah, Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew,” and C.S. Lewis’s “The Four Loves.” This year we are doing a comedy version of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.” Yes, that “Hamlet;” the one whose main plot line of avenging a death using manipulation and ruthless ambition leads to almost everyone dead. However, the play we are doing is not the traditional tragedy. Instead, it is a comedy spoof that doesn’t exactly stick to the original story. By the time you add in a pop psychologist, secret agents, a seriously lost puppy, a couple of parodies from “Gilligan’s Island,” and some song and dance numbers, a true Shakespeare fan might not be impressed. But the messages of the play and the experience the kids will have are well worth the “adapting.”
I would appreciate your prayers for this week and all that it entails.
Perfect and Glorious God,
Thank you for the many ways in which you have given us to tell your Story. Thank you for all the various arts you have helped your created children develop so that we can use them to encourage each other to grow in grace, love, and good deeds. Thank you for this opportunity for these young actors and their adult guides to spend a week preparing this production and growing in artistry and in friendships. We pray your blessings upon this week. Help us to focus on things that have excellence and are worthy of praise and to do all we do for your glory. We pray there will be no sickness, no injuries, no family tragedies, and nothing else that can inhibit the cast from telling this story. In a world that is full of heaviness and darkness, we pray that the humor in this story will help to lighten hearts and minds of those who attend the play. We pray your hand of protection and blessing be upon each of the cast members, crew members, and adult volunteers and their families, in Jesus’s name, AMEN.
Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” (Hebrews 10:24 NIV)
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. (Philippians 4:8 ESV)