In An Effort To Culture The Flock…

Night3Legacy VBS Night Three is in the books. The kids are learning about the Passover traditions and customs. They’re talking about godly leadership. They’re making snakes. They’re seeing how God’s promises to his people of old ring true for his children today. And Jerry’s costume is getting weirder every night. We all should have expected Pope to wear his nametag, even as an Egyptian soldier.  And, thanks to Jim & Pat and Ronnie & Kerri, the Red Sea crossing turned out to be a pretty cool effect.

PassoverMeal JerryKarels Everything’s a skit CrossingTheSea RedSeaCrossing

Of the many, many shocking things that happened during last night’s performance of “Moses: Bound for Holy Ground,” one stood out head and shoulders above the rest. Of the many surprising, incomprehensible occurances—and there were many—one still has me scratching my head this morning. Something happened last night that perplexes me and, yes, even troubles me greatly.

It wasn’t the walls of the Red Sea closing in before all the Egyptians could walk through. It wasn’t Moses’ staff shattering into six pieces when I hit the rock. It wasn’t Tracy Sharp lying on the stage behind the rock with a pressure hose that shot water 15 feet up in the air, surprising everybody on stage and the first 12 rows. It wasn’t the Israelites flicking 24 Bics and holding their lighters up in the air during the singing of “Cool, Clear Water.” And it wasn’t that Aaron fielded a cell-phone call in the middle of that song in a bit that Bill Crawford must have lifted from either Branson or the town square western shootout show at Six Flags.

The absolute, without-a-doubt, most surprising and disappointing thing that happened last night is that of the 500 people in that auditorium watching the show, exactly zero people laughed at the “third base” line out of Abbott and Costello’s “Who’s On First?”

Who’sOnFirst?How is that even possible? Are we that uncultured? Are we so far removed from our recent past? Are we that dismissive of our shared history? Or are we just ignorant? Can it be that in a group that large, the majority didn’t immediately identify with the bit? Is that realistic? I’m embarrassed for all of us.

The scene in question was about halfway through last night’s show when the Israelites were complaining about having to eat manna and quail. Scripture tells us that manna means “what is it?” So we played with that a bit. The main complainers, Oren and Ethan, were questioning Moses about manna.

“What does it mean?”
“What is it?”
“That’s what we’re asking?”
“What is it?”
“That’s what we want to find out.”
“What is it?”
“I don’t know!”

And then all the Israelites together shouted “Third Base!”

You could have heard a pin drop in the auditorium.

Shocking. Embarassing.

Abbott&CostelloSo, in an effort to culture the flock a bit today, please take the time to click on this link which will get you to the classic audio of Abbott & Costello’s “Who’s On First?” It’s four-minutes long. I suggest you listen to all of it. If you’re familiar with it, you’ll love listening to it again. If you’ve never heard it before, I don’t understand how you’re allowed to live in this country. This is the kind of thing they should require before issuing driver licenses and voter cards.  Do it for the children!

Click here and then click on “listen to an audio.”

Do it for the children.

Thank you.

And does anybody have some duct tape?

Peace,

Allan

2 Comments

  1. Heather Stepp

    My husband laughed… he stopped almost immediately though when everyone around him looked at him funny. Culture is leaving our world. 🙂

  2. Kipi

    Of all the reactions that didn’t go the way we thought they would, this is the one that surprised me the most. I thought that with as many 40 somethings and older that it would have received at least a good chuckle. Oh well, the audience rarely reacts the way we expect.

    Allan, I’ve had two families tell me that you are Moses to their kids. And you thought it was over. 🙂

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