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I remember when I was in the seventh grade and our youth group did a “fashion show” one Sunday evening…as a fundraiser…I think? Anyway, all the youth were invited to participate, and the leaders had set it up with one of the trendy clothing stores in the mall to let us find outfits to borrow and model for the people who came. All I had to do as one of the models was to walk down one aisle, walk across our small platform, pause, turn, show off the clothes, and then exit down the other aisle. Easy. But I was so nervous even doing that little bit, that I walked down the aisle, stepped on the platform, paused for a nanosecond, and got the heck out of there. And I did it all with a goofy grin on my face, not looking at anyone in the crowd, and twisting my fingers the whole time. As you might be able to tell, at that point in my life the idea of getting up in front of people…for anything…was not my idea of fun.

Then, when I was a freshman in high school, I had to have a fine arts credit of some sort. By that time, it was too late for me to join band, and I could not draw, paint, or sculpt worth anything. This left my only option as theater. So, by default, I signed up for Theater 1 taught by Mrs. Vicki Guess. And I don’t think I am being hyperbolic to say that this changed everything for me. After that, I no longer worried about standing in front of my class to speak. Not only did I not mind being on stage, I hoped I would get to be on stage. The rush of opening night was, for me, on the same level as stepping out on the football field or the basketball court for a game.

In the years since I first stepped foot in that theater class, I have had the opportunity to participate in numerous plays in college and various communities where I have lived. As one of the actors in these plays, one of the first things we do is a script read through. And it is exactly what it sounds like: after being cast and getting our scripts, we gather together and spend the evening simply reading through the script for the first time as a group.

There is a line in the song “Can’t Stop” by The Red Hot Chili Peppers that has stood out to me recently. The final lyric of the song says, “life is more than just a read through.” How often have I stopped at the read through? How often have I seemingly forgotten that the read through is just the first step in this whole thing? The read through isn’t the play itself; it doesn’t end with the curtain call. There is so much more to the play than just the read through.

I’m afraid that as Christians we sometimes believe that this life is just a read through. That the most important part is the final curtain call. That putting our faith in Jesus means we can go through the motions now because heaven is all that really matters. But faith is more than just a read through. The truth is that this faith is not about simply getting to heaven in the future. It is about bringing Heaven to Earth now. It is about so much more than getting together to “read our lines” and then carry on. It is about the rest of the production, the things that happen between the read through and the curtain call: the blocking, and the set building, the lighting and sound, and the action that tells the story along with the words.

And no, our actions - our works - aren’t what save us when it comes to our faith. But they are important. Our actions are our response to the story, to the lines we are learning and putting into action day by day. They are what come between the initial read through and our final bow.

So, as we continue to learn our lines when it comes to faith, may we move beyond our initial read through and into the acting that Jesus is encouraging us to do.

Grace & Peace y’all,
Blake