In the Presence of Greatness

We called it the days of Camelot. The years where a ministry, a ragtag group of people came together and had an impact on the church…and on our lives in a way that we never could have imagined.

I’m talking about the drama team at Willow Creek Community Church. I accidentally auditioned for it when I took a friend and then I ended up being in this thing for 25 years. And it was the time of my life. I got to write and act and travel and serve with people that forever changed me. We were all changed.

And it’s because we took risks. Together. Twice a month, on Tuesday night, we would work on our acting skills, doing improvisation. Every week it was a different game and every week we had to take a deep breath, jump in and try something new. Enter a scene, develop a character, come up with lines and a story, all in a moment’s notice. From serious to comedy to physical to faceless. But we all did it. Because we didn’t want to miss out and because we wanted to get better.

The other two Tuesdays of the month, we did community. We sat in a circle and shared our lives. No acting, no improv. Just talking and sharing, sometimes crying and always praying. Which, believe it or not, made us better actors. When I entered the stage for the weekend service to perform a drama, I knew I was headed out there with someone I knew - deeply - and it made what happened on that stage…magic. And if we weren’t in the drama that weekend, we stopped by to wish everyone luck. To pray for them or see them afterwards to cheer them on and tell them well done! 

Our ministry was always about more than the acting. In fact, I think we redefined ministry and community. We shared our lives. We attended each other’s weddings and funerals, adoption parties; we shared in sickness and in health. We knew each other’s families from summer cook-outs and Christmas parties and fall retreats. We challenged and supported each other throughout those years. We lived out iron sharpening iron both on the stage and off. It was the closest I had ever come to living an Acts 2 life.

Last Sunday was Superbowl Sunday. To say I hate football is an understatement. I do everything I can to avoid watching it. But this year I got an invitation to watch it with a few of my old friends, dear friends from that drama team of yore. Although the party was in a neighboring state, I didn’t even have to think about it - I was going to be there even if I had to watch football…which we did. UGH!

And the moment I walked in, indescribable joy filled me. My heart turned into a helium balloon. I was floating as I looked and hugged each person. We didn’t talk much - because of the dang football game - but I didn’t care. I got to sit with them, look at them and remember. Remember all that we had done together. All the memories that we had made together. All the work that God had done in us and through us together.

The stars of that day, for most people, were the football players and Taylor. But, for me, it was the people that I sat with and the others who weren’t there; the people who had given me an extraordinary moment in time. The people who had irrevocably changed me. So while everyone else was cheering for these football people, I was savoring the moment, recognizing, without a doubt, that I had been and was in the presence of greatness.