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| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 6784 Registered: 12-2003  |
I've had an unusually full week, so I haven't gotten around to posting this before now. I have to debrief, however, after Richard's and my seeing the play The Red Books at LLU Church last Saturday night. The play was written and produced at PUC, and I have to say that it was extremely well-written, well-acted, and well-researched. Truly, it was a very professionally-done play. The take-home for me, though, was the same feeling I used to get when I sat in progressive Sabbath-school classes where everyone loved to bring up the daring subjects and questions, but no one dared to have a real answer. The concept of the play was to "discover" Ellen White. A great many younger Adventists don't know much about her or about the issues in the church relating to her. The writers interviewed 200 Adventists spanning four generations and widely varying careers, from retirees to students. The exact words from these interveiws were used in the lines of the play. The cast of eight moved seamlessly from one character to another, and the characters were juxtaposed so their varying (or similar) experiences and opinions enhanced or contrasted with each other. This paragraph was printed in the "About the Play" introduction in the printed program: 'Red Books' reveals stories untold from Adventism's history—personal stories of faith and hope, as well as traumatic events that shook academia in the 70's. In bringing together the voices of a wide spectrum of Adventists, the play seeks to find our common ground in order to start the conversation about where we are, how we've come so far, and where we may be able to go—together. PUC president Richard Osborn also wrote an introduction to the play which appeared in the program. This is the final paragraph of his remarks: What happened? The writers and performers of this play have come to once again care about Ellen White. They have learned to respect her just as we do the Bible's prophets, even with their flaws. I hope that this play will reopen discussion about a PUC founder. Even those who have never heard of Ellen White before could be motivated to learn more. The experience, I believe, will be inspiring. The play openly reveiwed things previously not often disucssed in the church: the academic purge at PUC during the late 70s that accelerated due to Desmond Ford's research, and her plagiarism. One actor held a copy of Walter Rea's The White Lie during one passage of the play. Jesus Loves Even Me One actress played Ellen White. Frequently, when the actors interacted with Ellen's writings, they spoke to "Ellen" who stood with a picture frame around her face. One scene which I'll never forget because it so poignantly expressed my recurring question as an Adventist was this: Ellen stood framed, and a young woman stood in front of her. Ellen quoted one of her passages ending with the words, "Jesus loves even me." The young woman stepped close and said, "What does that mean?" Ellen said, "Jesus loves even me." The young woman said it again, more intensely, "What does that mean?" Ellen said in the same tone of voice, "Jesus loves even me." About six or seven times the young woman repeated her question, each time becoming increasingly agitated, even frantic, gripping the frame, her face moving closer and closer to "Ellen". But there was no answer except the same dispassionate, "Jesus loves even me." There was no message from Ellen about what Jesus' love actually meant, how He loved, what that meant for anyone. I SO related to that scene. Answered Prayer Another really poignant scene was of an unnamed SDA historian. The actor was holding a thick book open in his hands and saying, "They were disreputable! They were noisy, one woman was going into a bedroom with one of the men; Ellen was lying on the floor..." He was referring to the Damon trial. In the play this actor says to his "wife," "I can't read this! They were disreputable!" To which she replied, "You have to read it; you're a historian. You have to read it all." Finally, the man threw the book on the floor, emotional, distraught, agonized, and knelt on the floor. "Do you know what really bothers me?" he asked. "Every time I went to do more research, I prayed. I asked God to show me what I needed to know. And this is what I found...!!" And he bowed his head in deep pain and sorrow, strongly projecting great cognitive dissonance, anxiety, even betrayal. He was overwhelmed that he could have prayed and yet found that. He appeared to struggle with disblief…unbelief… I realized with a great feeling of sadness that God had answered his prayer—but he had been unwilling or unable to accept His answer, and whoever he is, he's still living with the unresolved tension of what he believed vs. what he discovered. Postmodernism One of the last characters featured confessed that s/he had been struggling with what to believe and had fallen to getting dead drunk in the evenings. One night, lying on the floor in a drunken state, this person had a sort of epiphany. With a flash of insight s/he realized that the present is where s/he was. God was in the present. He didn't have to keep struggling to find the "right" answer. S/He could just be, and God would make now work for him. In that moment, this person gave up his modern mindset and became postmodern. No longer burdened with finding the "right" answer, s/he could just be, and God would use him wherever or whatever he happened to be doing or thinking. (In other words, there is no absolute truth. There is only each individual perspective. That's all the truth needed.) The ending of the play featured a long table. Each actor approached, one at a time, giving his or her own pesonal "take" on Ellen. The perceptions were all different. There was no consensus about doctrine, right, wrong, or about Ellen herself. But as each actor stated his impression, he set down on the table a potluck hot dish. When the last person, an Asian, came in, spoke, and set down a rice cooker, they all stood behind their own dishes. Someone said, "Let's eat!" As they began to remove the dish lids, the lights went out, and the play was over. It was as unresolved as any discussion of Adventism or Ellen ever was during my Adventist days. To the Adventists there, I'm sure the play was cathartic. Older people remembered the firings during the Ford days. Younger people were amazed, having never heard about it before. Yet all essentially agreed that what mattered was internal acceptance and community. No one would think of abandoning Ellen. They depicted one former Adventist, but that character said that they wanted no part of Adventism. They had seen better Christians outside the church, and they were happy outside. When urged to return and make a difference, the response was, "That's not my battle," and the character walked away. It was blatantly obvious to Richard and me that the play made no mention of anything or anyone past Desmond Ford. In other words, the past 27 years of events related to Ellen in the church were never mentioned. No hint of Dale Ratzlaff. No hint of the thousands of people who are discovering the gospel of Jesus and leaving the church. As Richard said, "To them, we don't exist." Indeed, the past seventeen years since Dale first published Sabbath in Crisis have seen the most significant exodus from the church for the sake of the gospel (I believe) in history. The political things are "safe" to talk about. They're in-house problems. People leaving for Jesus, however, is something over which they have no power. All in all, I'm glad I saw it...but it left me feeling empty and depressed in the same way Sabbath school classes often left me feeling. There are no good answers…because they're not willing to admit Truth. Truth is only in Jesus. Colleen | ||
| Jorgfe Registered user Username: Jorgfe Post Number: 782 Registered: 11-2005 |
Colleen, Wow. After that, I don't even know what to say. It is so true though. The whole SDA Church is basically in a state of denial -- and there they stay. They have become so emotionally deadened from it, that they can now view it as "entertainment"! It is truly amazing. And who did Ellen say was mesmerized? Gilbert Jorgensen It has been 162 Years, 10 Months, and 22 Days since October 22, 1844 | ||
| Agapetos Registered user Username: Agapetos Post Number: 1051 Registered: 10-2002  |
Colleen, I'm shocked. This perfectly describes what it's like to sit in on or take part in progressive conversations! We tried to tackle "the difficult questions", and we always left without any answers. The only true solution was the one that we were never able to consider. | ||
| Cease_striving Registered user Username: Cease_striving Post Number: 10 Registered: 7-2007  |
Colleen, I find it interesting that the play ends with a potluck. The lack of definitive answers concerning EGW leaves them hungry for the Truth they refuse to seek. Incidentally, the play is going to coming to San Diego this Friday and Saturday. I have no plans to attend, as it will be at the church I last attened, and I do not want anyone pressuring me to "return to the fold." Cease_Striving | ||
| Agapetos Registered user Username: Agapetos Post Number: 1053 Registered: 10-2002 |
One of the things that annoys me about potlucks is that because "church time" is over, you can't talk about God or pray together. It is like spiritual things get checked at the door, and everything goes to the surface/casual talk level. I love to eat in the presence of the Lord together and not stop the dialogue with Him after "church" is over.  |
