Breaking the Fourth Wall

May 26, 2009
 
Dear St. Paul’s Family,
 
Attention, pop culture fans:  What do Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Fiddler on the Roof, and Wayne’s World have in common?  How about this:  in each film, a main character turns to the camera and addresses the audience.  
 
The technical description for this screenwriting device is the removal of the “Fourth Wall,” the invisible yet presumed perspective through which an audience observes the story.  Normally, action takes place within “three walls” of a set, and the fourth is invisible.  But when a character notices the audience and draws them in through dialogue, the wall is torn down, and the audience becomes part of the story.
 
Now what does this have to do with Pentecost Sunday?  I’ve often said that Pentecost is my favorite Sunday of the year.  Whereas Christmas and Easter have become heavily commercialized by marketers, Pentecost remains the church’s day.  You can’t buy a Happy Pentecost card, decorate your yard with inflatable tongues-of-flame lawn ornaments, or bite the ears off a chocolate Peter.  (Unless it’s Peter Rabbit.)
 
But I really like Pentecost because it breaks down the Fourth Wall of the biblical narrative.  We might observe the rest of the Bible from a comfortable distance, but not so in Acts.  We don’t live in Old Testament times, when God’s voice was clearly audible in burning bushes.  We don’t live in gospel times, seeing Jesus face to face as the Word made flesh.
 
But when Pentecost happened, God was revealed in spirit and power, in subtlety and strength, just the way we experience God today.  And at that precise moment, God the Divine Screenwriter turned toward the camera, peered through the Fourth Wall that separated us from the ancient story and said to us, “This is your story now.”  
 
We are the living embodiment of what happened at Pentecost.  It is now a story about us, living into the unfolding story of God’s power, wind, and flame, to the farthest reaches of the earth.  
 
Join us this Sunday for the celebration of Pentecost, as we experience together the God of Acts, the God who birthed the church, the God who sets us aflame today: Invisible but active.  Subtle yet strong.  Almost imperceptible, but very, very real.  The sermon is titled “Inextiguishable Fire” and you are invited to wear red colors to mark the occasion.  Together, let’s experience the power of the Holy Spirit.
 
It’s still great to be the church,
 
Magrey    
 
The Rev. Magrey R. deVega
St. Paul's United Methodist Church
531 W. Main St.
Cherokee, IA  51012
Ph:  712-225-3955
http://www.cherokeespumc.org



Acts 2:1-12
1  When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.
2  And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.
3  Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them.
4  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
5  Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem.
6  And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.
7  Amazed and astonished, they asked, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?
8  And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?
9  Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,
10  Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,
11  Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.’
12  All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’
 

SUMMER SCHEDULE
As a reminder, we begin our summer worship time on June 7.  Services will begin at 9:30, with Christian Education classes taking a summer break.  The regular schedule will resume on Sunday, July 13.
 
PRAISE BAND
Be sure to join us next Sunday as we have the praise band once again lead us in worship.  If you are interested in volunteering for this exciting new ministry as an instrumentalist or a vocalist, please contact David Klee at klee@bvu.edu.