At the moment, I am well into rehearsals for our pantomime Dick Whittington at Tyldesley Little Theatre. Those who know the Amateur-Dramatics side of me and the Christian side often say to me. “Well - acting is very much like preaching isn’t it?”
Short answer? Er - no because on stage I hide behind a character. There may be part of me in there somewhere, but I’m in someone else’s shoes.
A young woman with a lifelong physical disability couldn’t sleep. The next day she was going to be centre stage at a church bazaar to receive donations for her higher education. She doubted everything about herself: her credentials, her spiritual life – everything. Still not being able to settle the next days, she went to her desk and picked up a pen.
This is what she wrote:
Just as I am, without one plea,
But that Thy blood was shed for me,
And that Thou bidst me come to Thee,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.
Part of course of Charlotte Elliott’s classic hymn “Just as I am”. But that’s it - ‘Just as I am.’ Jesus calls us just as we are. He did that with the disciples. The Pharisees by contrast, were good at performance art: long prayers on street corners, (obvious) large donations in the collection.
Jesus calls us to be genuine. “Just as I am”. The hymn was written in 1835. But whether in 1835 or 2024, Jesus still calls. And equips. Just as I am.
[written by Ian Hunter]