November 13, 2012
Dear St. Paul’s Family,
As many of you know by now, the girls and I have landed roles in the Cherokee Community Theater’s upcoming production of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol: The Broadway Musical. The girls are part of the town choir, and I – if you can believe it – am playing the Ghost of Jacob Marley.
Try to imagine your pastor dressed in a ghostly white vest, tailcoat, and knee socks, encumbered by drooping chains, locks, keys, and cash boxes. I’ll even be wearing a pigtail wig. The role also involves singing, of course, which means that the song “Link by Link” has been irrevocably scarred into my brain. (“Link by Link / My chain was getting longer / Link by Link / I should have heard it clink / Link by Link / Each year a little stronger / Link by Link by HORRIFYING Link!”)
Oh, and did I mention the part requires flying?
That’s right, I’ll be entering the stage suspended about twenty feet in the air, then bouncing ethereally around the set during my encounter with Scrooge. (And by bouncing ethereally, I should rather say “clumsily thumping around like a medicine ball on beach sand.”) Yes, this pigtailed preacher will be flying. Which means hell will soon freeze over, followed by the Cubs winning the World Series.
Now I know what you’re thinking. You take one look at me and say to yourself, “Wow, that preacher really looks like nineteenth century Londoner.” Okay, maybe not. I look as much like Marley’s ghost as I would, say, Annie. Which is why I had to chuckle a bit when the director Andy Linn offered me the part with the comforting caveat that the theater’s makeup department would be purchasing “lots of white powder.”
During one of our earliest conversations in rehearsal, Andy asked me to channel my inner instincts as a preacher to understand Marley’s character. Dickens used Marley’s life as a morality tale, a kind of sermon illustration for Scrooge, from which he could learn the mistakes of living a radically self-centered life, obsessed with the accumulation of money. Marley’s repentance is fueled not by genuine remorse, but by a bitterness brewed over years of regret for knowing neither the error of his ways nor the consequence of his choices.
Like a good preacher, Dickens used an image as an object lesson to drive home his main point: in this case, a chain. If you live a life of selfishness rather than generosity, it will be as if you are encumbered by heavy chains around your soul. (“Or would you know,” pursued the Ghost, “the weight and length of the strong coil you bear yourself? It was full as heavy and as long as this, seven Christmas Eves ago. You have laboured on it, since. It is a ponderous chain!”)
Since I’ve been living in Marley’s skin over the last two months, it seemed natural that I would connect Dickens’ tale with this stewardship sermon series called “The Spirit of St. Paul’s.” This Sunday, as we observe Commitment Sunday and bring forward our pledge cards for 2013, it is my prayer that the same transformation that occurred in old Ebenezer will take place in any one of us who chooses the path of generosity:
“I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future!” Scrooge repeated, as he scrambled out of bed. “The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. Oh Jacob Marley! Heaven, and the Christmas Time be praised for this! I say it on my knees, old Jacob; on my knees!”
Let us surrender to the power of God who has come to set us free, laying aside the heavy shackles that have turned our hearts inward upon themselves. And let us experience the joy that comes from abundance and charity, and a life of service to God and others.
Grace and Peace,
Magrey
The Rev. Magrey R. deVega
St. Paul's United Methodist Church
531 W. Main St.
Cherokee, IA 51012
Ph: 712-225-3955
Email: mdevega@sp-umc.org
TICKETS FOR “A CHRISTMAS CAROL”
Tickets for the general public went on sale yesterday, and tickets will be going quickly. There will only be eight performances during the six-day run, November 30, December 1, 6-9. Tickets are $12 adult and $8 children under 12, and can be reserved online through cherokeect.org or by calling the community theater box office at 712-225-4440.
SALVATION ARMY BELL-RINGING
We are once again ringing bells for the Salvation Army, and 90% of the proceeds will stay right here in the county to help people with emergency needs. We will be ringing at Hy-Vee, Fareway, and K-Mart, and the dates begin Friday, November 23, followed by every Saturday until Christmas Eve. Sign up sheets are in the narthex for time slots from 10am-2pm on those days, and for more information contact Mary Jo Carnine.
FREE LECTURE BY PHILIP GULLEY
Philip Gulley, a Quaker pastor and bestselling author, will present the annual Morningside College Wright Lecture at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 14, at Grace United Methodist Church, 1735 Morningside Avenue in Sioux City. The lecture is free and open to the public. Gulley has published 17 books, including the “Harmony” series of novels that chronicle life in the Quaker community of Harmony, Ind., and the bestselling “Porch Talk” series of inspirational and humorous essays. His most recent book is “The Evolution of Faith: How God is Creating a Better Christianity.”
Dear St. Paul’s Family,
As many of you know by now, the girls and I have landed roles in the Cherokee Community Theater’s upcoming production of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol: The Broadway Musical. The girls are part of the town choir, and I – if you can believe it – am playing the Ghost of Jacob Marley.
Try to imagine your pastor dressed in a ghostly white vest, tailcoat, and knee socks, encumbered by drooping chains, locks, keys, and cash boxes. I’ll even be wearing a pigtail wig. The role also involves singing, of course, which means that the song “Link by Link” has been irrevocably scarred into my brain. (“Link by Link / My chain was getting longer / Link by Link / I should have heard it clink / Link by Link / Each year a little stronger / Link by Link by HORRIFYING Link!”)
Oh, and did I mention the part requires flying?
That’s right, I’ll be entering the stage suspended about twenty feet in the air, then bouncing ethereally around the set during my encounter with Scrooge. (And by bouncing ethereally, I should rather say “clumsily thumping around like a medicine ball on beach sand.”) Yes, this pigtailed preacher will be flying. Which means hell will soon freeze over, followed by the Cubs winning the World Series.
Now I know what you’re thinking. You take one look at me and say to yourself, “Wow, that preacher really looks like nineteenth century Londoner.” Okay, maybe not. I look as much like Marley’s ghost as I would, say, Annie. Which is why I had to chuckle a bit when the director Andy Linn offered me the part with the comforting caveat that the theater’s makeup department would be purchasing “lots of white powder.”
During one of our earliest conversations in rehearsal, Andy asked me to channel my inner instincts as a preacher to understand Marley’s character. Dickens used Marley’s life as a morality tale, a kind of sermon illustration for Scrooge, from which he could learn the mistakes of living a radically self-centered life, obsessed with the accumulation of money. Marley’s repentance is fueled not by genuine remorse, but by a bitterness brewed over years of regret for knowing neither the error of his ways nor the consequence of his choices.
Like a good preacher, Dickens used an image as an object lesson to drive home his main point: in this case, a chain. If you live a life of selfishness rather than generosity, it will be as if you are encumbered by heavy chains around your soul. (“Or would you know,” pursued the Ghost, “the weight and length of the strong coil you bear yourself? It was full as heavy and as long as this, seven Christmas Eves ago. You have laboured on it, since. It is a ponderous chain!”)
Since I’ve been living in Marley’s skin over the last two months, it seemed natural that I would connect Dickens’ tale with this stewardship sermon series called “The Spirit of St. Paul’s.” This Sunday, as we observe Commitment Sunday and bring forward our pledge cards for 2013, it is my prayer that the same transformation that occurred in old Ebenezer will take place in any one of us who chooses the path of generosity:
“I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future!” Scrooge repeated, as he scrambled out of bed. “The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. Oh Jacob Marley! Heaven, and the Christmas Time be praised for this! I say it on my knees, old Jacob; on my knees!”
Let us surrender to the power of God who has come to set us free, laying aside the heavy shackles that have turned our hearts inward upon themselves. And let us experience the joy that comes from abundance and charity, and a life of service to God and others.
Grace and Peace,
Magrey
The Rev. Magrey R. deVega
St. Paul's United Methodist Church
531 W. Main St.
Cherokee, IA 51012
Ph: 712-225-3955
Email: mdevega@sp-umc.org
TICKETS FOR “A CHRISTMAS CAROL”
Tickets for the general public went on sale yesterday, and tickets will be going quickly. There will only be eight performances during the six-day run, November 30, December 1, 6-9. Tickets are $12 adult and $8 children under 12, and can be reserved online through cherokeect.org or by calling the community theater box office at 712-225-4440.
SALVATION ARMY BELL-RINGING
We are once again ringing bells for the Salvation Army, and 90% of the proceeds will stay right here in the county to help people with emergency needs. We will be ringing at Hy-Vee, Fareway, and K-Mart, and the dates begin Friday, November 23, followed by every Saturday until Christmas Eve. Sign up sheets are in the narthex for time slots from 10am-2pm on those days, and for more information contact Mary Jo Carnine.
FREE LECTURE BY PHILIP GULLEY
Philip Gulley, a Quaker pastor and bestselling author, will present the annual Morningside College Wright Lecture at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 14, at Grace United Methodist Church, 1735 Morningside Avenue in Sioux City. The lecture is free and open to the public. Gulley has published 17 books, including the “Harmony” series of novels that chronicle life in the Quaker community of Harmony, Ind., and the bestselling “Porch Talk” series of inspirational and humorous essays. His most recent book is “The Evolution of Faith: How God is Creating a Better Christianity.”
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