"David in Theatre: Actor, Orchestra, & Audience"

1Sam.21:10-22:1a; 16:14-17,23; 2Sam.11:26-12:9,13

July 27/03 / Luncheon for Blyth Theatre participants

The Arts: More than Simply Amusing?

We are an amusement-driven culture; we've been warming up to it for centuries. Back in medieval times there were the morality plays and minstrels. The invention of the printing press made it possible for books, novels, tabloids, and magazines to proliferate. Orchestras started warming up, and people spent a night at the opera. Today there's a plethora of options by which to amuse ourselves: radio, CD players, television, videos, DVDs, the internet, along with live and movie theatres. The arts ought to be in their heyday, with so many modes of creative expression available. It has become easy for us, whenever we find ourselves with time on our hands, to indulge ourselves and our senses in some multimedia entertainment which we've never seen before and may never watch or hear again.

             But God has given us the arts to be more than a time-filler, or means of earning a livelihood for those for whom it's a profession. As we'll discover from the life of David, music and the theatre can be channels by which we receive healing, growth, and challenge, as we are addressed by God's message.

David the Actor: a Jew Hams It Up

Before David became Israel's most honoured king in all its history, he was a refugee. His first major theatrical role came about because he was fleeing for his life from King Saul. In 1Sam.20(31) Saul makes it clear to his son Jonathan that he views David as a threat to his son's kingdom, and intends to kill David. Jonathan communicates this to David, who flees roughly 30 miles west to Gath, in the territory of the Philistines, Israel's enemy. Gath was one of the 5 major Philistine towns. At first they welcomed David, probably happy to have among them a prominent military defector from their enemies. But as time went on, King Achish's associates began to get nervous. After all, Gath was hometown to a former famous Philistine soldier. In Canada we honour our hockey stars -- in Mitchell, Howie Morenz has his name at the town gates; in Parry Sound, Bobby Orr; in Brantford, it's Wayne Gretzky. But if you could've driven into Gath you might've seen a sign, "Hometown of the greatest Philistine champion ever - Goliath"! And people remembered who killed Goliath. They also had heard the Israelites singing a little ditty about Saul killing his thousands, and David his ten thousands (21:11). They brought this to the king's attention, and the Bible says David was very much afraid (21:12). What could he do? Here he was, surrounded, in their walled city!

             Challenging situations demand a creative response. David became an actor in order to escape. The Lord gave David an idea which might work if he was humble enough to try it. 21:13 tells us he "pretended to be insane in their presence; and while he was in their hands he acted like a madman, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard." Must have made quite a scene -- and it worked! The king decided he already had enough madmen hanging around, so allowed David to leave peacefully. The beginning of chapter 22 records: "David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam."

             That's one way, probably the principal way, in which the arts are used today: as a means of escape. Life can be hard, and tiring; sometimes we seem trapped in the monotony of the everyday, we find the workaday world tedious. Entertainment offers an escape hatch. 80 years ago, farmers might polish off a long week of stooking sheaves or splitting firewood by getting together some evening with a few neighbours around a piano and a fiddle for a dance in the house. It broke the humdrum and helped them forget the hardships of daily chores.

             Today, one role of amusement is to boost us into other vistas, to broaden our field of experience and stretch our imagination. What would it be like to go up in space and try to blow up a gigantic meteorite threatening our planet? Or to burrow deep into the earth and use a nuclear blast to restart the molten core spinning? What would it be like to have sailed on the Titanic? To be a soldier landing on the beaches at Normandy, or to live the veiled life of a woman in recent years in Iran or Afghanistan? Theatre and the arts can take us places we don't normally go, so we can come back to our daily jobs with a new appreciation for God's gift of human life. It's fun and meaningful to have an avenue of escape, it helps us not to be driven insane by the monotony of the routine. In our exploring, Paul gave the Philippians (4:8) these guidelines: "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable— if anything is excellent or praiseworthy— think about such things."

David as Orchestra: A Harp of Healing

Earlier in his life, David had spent much time alone with the sheep, being the youngest in the family and often drawing the joe-job of herd duty. But he didn't waste his time out in the back 40; when not warding off bears and lions or chasing ornery sheep, he practised, both slings and strings. He played the harp. In fact he came to play so well that word got around.

             Meanwhile, King Saul had disobeyed God's command and a prophet had told him the kingdom would be taken from him and given to another. Chapter 16(14) says, "Now the Spirit of the LORD had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD tormented him." Perhaps he was depressed, jealous, or bitter about losing the kingship. He certainly developed a violent streak. Maybe he was bothered by nightmares or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, having been in battle on numerous occasions. Or perhaps these were actual demonic attacks, since God's protective hedge had been removed when he disobeyed. Whatever it was, Saul's attendants were very concerned, and suggested they look for someone who could play the harp. 16:16 says, "...He will play when the evil spirit from God comes upon you, and you will feel better." Harp music is still known for its soothing qualities. Saul told them to find someone who plays well; one of the servants had heard that David knew how to play the harp, so Saul sent for him. Verse 23 notes, "Whenever the spirit from God came upon Saul, David would take his harp and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him."

             This is another way the arts can help us -- bringing relief, healing, and comfort. Laughter is commonly recognized as "the best medicine"; the endorphins flooding our system when we're in good humour have therapeutic effect. The tears that come at the end of "It's a Wonderful Life" are tears of happiness, and gratitude for your own loved ones. If you've heard a good concert lately, you know the emotional workout and peacefulness it can bring (though the upcoming massive Rolling Stones swarm might be a little different if 600,000 show up!). Music has a powerful "hook" for us, before you know it you're tapping your feet and singing along, you're climbing those mountains and fording streams right beside the Abbess in Sound of Music. You find yourself whistling "Zippity Do Dah" or humming "Who will buy this beautiful morning" after you watch Oliver.

             Our Christian forebears urged us to use the powerful emotional effects of music for good. Paul cautioned the Ephesians (5:15-19) to be careful how they live - not being foolish or getting drunk or otherwise sinking into debauchery and dissipation; but instead to be filled with God's Spirit. In conjunction with this he mentions music: "Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." (During our last couple of weeks away on holiday, visiting other churches we missed our contemporary worship music - so uplifting and encouraging! Thank God for Christian musical artists who are sharing their talents with the church this decade, as well as those from former years.)

David as Audience: A Parable makes a Point

Though God mightily used him, David wasn't perfect. After he became king and settled into his royal digs, he fell into the sin of lusting and arranged for a man to be killed in battle so he could legally take his wife. In 2Samuel 11:27 we read, "But the thing David had done displeased the Lord." Murder and adultery both - God needed to get David's attention!

             One day the prophet Nathan showed up at the palace - not with a 2x4 but with a story. It had to do with a rich man who had great herds taking the one little pet lamb of a poor neighbour and making it a businessman's lunch when a travelling associate came by one day. Now, do you suppose David had had a pet lamb when he was growing up? Back in those formative days out in the sheep fold, do you suppose there might have been a little pet ewe lamb that was raised by David; "it grew up with him...shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms"? I can imagine David not only seeing this special favourite pet in his mind's eye, but recalling its name, the fond memories they shared together. If it had been a deer, he'd have called it, "Bambi". Then suddenly the knife - wrenched away to become somebody's tasty Mutton, Lettuce & Tomato sandwich!

             Art at its best addresses us in a language we relate to, we find ourselves "right there" in the tale, spell-bound. In Barnboozled, when the little jersey calf was led in, anybody who's had a 4H calf club project was immediately "hooked". When a church gets fun poked at it for reacting to off-track sexual trends, we can identify. The Drawer Boy spoke to all of us who've had relatives whose lives were forever changed by their wartime experience. When we relate to the presentation, we become engaged and stirred.

             Nathan's story hooked David at the heart, it pushed all the buttons. 12:5 says, "David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, 'As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity." Boy, is he fuming! He's out for blood. Who could even think of slaughtering such a precious, innocent pet?

             Here comes the cruncher: Nathan says to him, "You are the man!" Though David was just the audience, he suddenly finds himself the focus of Nathan's narrative. Good art does that. We surprisingly find ourselves the subject, somehow the piece at hand becomes a re-presentation of our own experience, there's a message for us through it. Prophetically it says, "Don't you recognize yourself?" Drama holds up a mirror, allowing us to see ourselves more objectively, it transports us beyond our usual biases so we at once notice our blind spots.

             Nathan spells out how David was the "rich man" in his story in case there's any doubt. Despite all God had done for him, David hadn't been content, but killed Uriah and stole his dear one. "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes?" (2Sam.12:7-9) David had shown contempt for God's promise earlier, also delivered by Nathan - the promise that God would build a house for David, a dynasty that would last forever (7:11,16).

             The arrow hit the mark. God's message shot straight into David's heart, and he saw his error. He confessed to Nathan, "I have sinned against the Lord." He owns the gravity of his fault. And thus repentance opens the door to hope and change.

             One of this year's plays in Blyth, the "Perilous Pirate's Daughter", gives us more apprecation for the hardships and struggles of the pioneers, and nudges us to take a second look at the role of the British in defending their empire. (We were especially conscious of this when we took two of our close relatives who were visiting from England to see it - and we'd purchased the tickets with their money! Kind of like pirating their funds to see their own country critiqued!) At the end of the play, the "pirate" theme comes home to roost when a thread is traced to the banks today "pirating" by using people's own deposits to pay them interest. We chuckle at the comparison. At the same time, we're reminded that relationships are more important than "stuff" - strongboxes and ships. We have to confess there's a little of the pirate in all of us, commandeering what wasn't ours to start with.

             Nathan used an art form to draw David beyond his defences and rationalizations to where he could see the darkness of his actions more clearly. Music and drama can also help us to snap out of our selfishness, our preoccupation with just us. Wilson Mizner has said, "Some of the greatest love affairs I've known have involved one actor, unassisted." But it's more than just actors that this can be said of: we all can use a reality check to avoid getting all wrapped up in ourself.

The Greatest Story, Author, and Climax

God can use a variety of vehicles to get a message across to us that will awaken our conscience and helpfully turn us away from evil, back to Him. Jesus Himself used a wealth of stories called "parables". Our belief as Christians is that, in this Master storyteller, God had walked onto the stage of human history Himself. As Philippians 2(7) puts it, Jesus "took on "the very nature (form - costume?) of a servant, being made in human likeness." He donned the garb of our own personhood, was beaten and bruised into distressing disguise, and became obedient unto death - He played out to the final curtain the script that was written for Him in prophecy centuries before. His suffering purchased our forgiveness, His death and resurrection make eternal life possible for us when we trust in Him.

             What happened between Bethlehem, Good Friday, and Easter was truly a divine drama. the final act hasn't yet happened. Some day Scripture tells us that the sky will roll up like a scroll, the elements will be destroyed and the earth laid bare; "strike the set!" (Rev.6:14; 2Pet.3:10) The Author will appear once more on the stage, and the Director will see if our name is in the cast of Eternity with God. All it takes is accepting what Jesus did and said to put our names in the Lamb's Book of Life (Rev.20:15). Will we accept the part He has for us in His script? Did we let Him be the "Author of our faith" and the "Author of our salvation"? (Heb.12:2; 2:11) No other knows us well enough to cast us where we truly belong. Let's pray.