Good Shepherd Triumphs Again!

Well, Raven S. Wolf's Lamburger machine has once again been destroyed, thanks to "The Good Shepherd of the Outback." The original VBS curriculum and drama was written for COTS in 2008, but we resurrected it this year for our second "VBS in the Village," held at the Rec. Center at Economy/Crestview Village housing projects on the northeast end of Ambridge. Somehow, it seems, no one managed to take photos this year (the one here is me in my wolf costume from 2008), but Barbi Davis managed to capture the climax with her Android and post it to YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBUpM59cXqI&feature=share

Although the actors were not as prepared as I would have liked (and due to illness and work schedules we actually had to switch some of the roles from night to night), I think the dramas went well, and the kids were very engaged in the story of the Shepherd, the Hireling, the Lamb who went astray, the Sheepdog, the Predators, the Wooly Bullies and the rest of the flock. I dare say it's one of the best pieces I've written, and once I've had an actual Australian review the dialect and slang, I'm hoping to make it widely available in some fashion. Let me know if any of you are interested!

Pirates, Saints, and Bees--Oh, My!

After a long stretch of little creative energy, I suddenly find I'm SWIMMING in writing projects! Some are work related, and others are "just for fun" (or profit, if any of them would sell!)

First off, we re-staged our "Pirates in Paradise" VBS program (originally written and performed in 2007) this summer. Because we opted to do the VBS in the evening, and wanted to keep the final night as the presentation to the parents, I had to rewrite it to fit the storyline into four episodes rather than five. Since I was rewriting, and had a couple other actors who wanted to be pirates, I created a few new roles, and I was able to polish parts (and write some parts which had originally been ad-libbed). At any rate, that inspired me to think more about these characters and about the sequel I had proposed writing for last year's VBS (which we pulled the plug on due to insufficient volunteers). The original Pirates VBS deals with teaching the pirates to claim the Royal Pardon, forsake piracy, and store up treasure in heaven; at the conclusion most of the pirates do so, rechristening their ship "The Heavenly Pearl" and setting off to tell others the good news. So, the sequel focuses on the converted pirates' missionary journeys (and the Pirate Captain's attempts to somehow get back his ship). I spent a good part of vacation jotting down notes and working out the plot and I feel like I'm ready to write it now.

Of course, that is far from pressing. On September 23rd, we will be re-launching !TNT! (Thursday Nights Together), a family based program for which my wife and I will be leading the youngest component (K-4th grade) through a study of the Beatitudes. Last Spring we did a child's version of Alpha, and the featured character (puppet) was a young owl named Alphie who had a LOT of questions he wanted answered. This session, since we're doing the Beatitudes, I thought the featured character should be a Bee. Though as I'm thinking about it, the "Bee Attitudes" are probably very different from the Beatitudes. The Bee character that is developing is someone who stays very busy, always working to make more honey, and not too good about sharing it. So he will prove to be more of a foil to my wife, who will have to correct him and teach him to be more humble and relaxed about things.

At the same time, we are revamping our "Church School" to become "Children's Worship," following more closely the pattern of what is going on in the "adult" service upstairs. The storytelling time (serving as the sermon) will be surveying what our Bishop has recommended as the 100 Essential Bible passages, and we are hoping to do so creatively, with Godly-Play style interaction and some puppet shows. I have offered to write a puppet show for the Joseph story. We also hope to have the children present a puppet show for the adults on All Saints Day (observed). Speaking with our rector this morning, he would like us to focus on the heavenly worship as described in Revelation... which I did a couple years ago for the closing semester of KidzLife. So I'll be dusting off (or adapting) some of my "Visions of Patmos" material, and figuring out how to do that with little children as the puppeteers.

What I LEAST need to work on (and am having the most fun with) is actually a writing project of my wife's. She has been kicking around an idea for a "mid-grade mystery series" (think Nancy Drew, or better, Trixie Belden), set in 1976. I started helping her with researching (and remembering) the time period, and I've gotten very into it.

Then there is the adult play dealing with Simon the Pharisee/Leper and the Woman with the Alabaster Flask who anointed Jesus at Simon's feast. I began that last spring, and haven't done much with it lately, but it feels important and like something I really need to do.

The question is, WHEN?

Camels and Pigs

In addition to the Pirate storyline in VBS, we had a "Story time" built into the curriculum. When we did it in 2007, this was one of several stations that the children would rotate through, and I designed it as more of an interactive teaching station. This year, because of space constrictions, we were not able to break into groups and had to do everything as a big group in the same space, which inhibited the "interactive" piece of it. We decided to use a version of "Godly Play" to tell the story three of the nights, and do puppet shows the other two.

The two stories we decided should be done with puppets were The Rich Young Ruler and The Prodigal Son. Trying to think in terms of how best to tell these stories using puppets, I keyed in on the animals in the stories; in the case of the Rich Young Ruler, I decided to tell the story from the perspective of a camel, as if ANYONE knows how impossible it is to get a camel through the eye of the needle, it would be a CAMEL. With the Prodigal, the obvious animal choice was to tell the story from the point of view of the pigs that the Prodigal was hired to feed at his lowest point.

Having neither a camel nor pig puppet, having no budget, and running out of time to make anything from scratch, I ran down to my favorite thrift store (Red White and Blue) in hopes of finding some second-hand stuffed animals I could use. The pigs were easy to find, but, as you might guess, there were no camels to be seen. I ended up piecing together the head and neck of a snake, the mouth of a donkey, and the body of a leopard (all pinned together and covered with a tan cloth) to create the camel.

Driving home from the thrift store, I was given the voice and character of the camel, as well as the name, "Canticle, the Cantankerous Camel." It was a low voice with a southern twang (something in the neighborhood of Foghorn Leghorn, without the constant repetition), and as a beast of burden, he had a lot of complaints about people with "lots of STUFF!" The voice and character came so strong, I ended up writing the piece as a monologue, with Canticle talking about Camels' place in New Testament society and in Jesus' teaching, and then recounting the story of the "this Rich Kid with all this STUFF which BLINDED him to th' fact that he GOD ALMIGHTY was standin' there RIGHT in FRONT'v'HIM! WHADDIDHE DO? He TURNED AROUND and walked AWAY! 'TseNUFF to makye wanna SPIT!!"

I couldn't tell how well the story went over on the other side of the puppet booth--there was a lot of chatter in the room at the time--but individual kids who saw the puppet before and after the performance really seemed to respond well to him.

The pigs' story failed to materialize, but I think that was just as well. I decided that needed to be more interactive, so I used a version of the Prodigal by Bob Hartman, which involved the audience in saying certain rhyming words and making certain gestures throughout the story. We did use puppets to act out the story, but that was more of a backdrop to the Hartman interactive storytelling piece.

The Heavenly Pearl Sails Off Again!

We just concluded the 2010 version of "Pirates in Paradise" VBS. The curriculum and original skits were written and first staged here at COTS in 2007, followed by "The Good Shepherd of the Outback" in 2008. Last year, we had planned to create a sequel to the "Pirates," but that didn't come off due to a shortage of volunteers in the morning. This year we made two strategic decisions; the first was to offer VBS in the evening (so as to get more volunteers), and the second was to stage the VBS in the Recreation Center of a couple housing projects on the north end of town. Although my personal preference continues to be for a morning VBS in our church building, it is hard to argue with the results--we had 20+ volunteers each night and a total of 60 kids who participated in the VBS this summer. What exactly this leads to remains to be seen, but I am hoping to see our church commit to some sort of follow-up, with the possibility of eventually planting a church in that neighborhood.

The biggest creative challenge in revising the script this year was in shortening the storyline from five to four days. Previously, in doing a morning VBS, we had the closing program for the parents the evening of the final day, and it was felt by the team that we needed to the keep the final evening as a summary of the story for the parents' sake, wrapping up the actual storyline on Thursday night. In retrospect, I think I would argue for returning to the five-day format, as there were very few parents who actually attended, and I think it best to send the kids off with an exciting conclusion to the story, rather than a recap in which nothing dramatic happens.

I also added two more pirates, because we had two individuals who were inexperienced actors but well-know to the kids in the village (or at least, better known than the rest of our team). It seemed worthwhile to get them up front for the dramas, but I will be dropping back to my original three pirates in the future (the Captain and two crew members. Amongst other things, the stage got very crowded with five pirates (ESPECIALLY in the cramped space of the Rec. Center), and there was no good way to work the additional characters into the climax of the show.

Personally, the biggest challenge was for me to assume the role of Milligan, the island host to the visiting children and Pirates. This character was originally written for a friend named Travis, who is extremely gifted as an actor, a teacher, and someone who has a natural gift of rapport with children. Travis also has a wonderfully peaceful demeanor, which is required for this character--he does not allow the pirates to ruffle or rile him up in any way. My own approach to acting is generally to throw myself into a character, generally very different from myself, and it helps if I can channel my own nervousness about being onstage into a nervous or angry character (which is why I originally cast myself as the Pirate Captain, Harry DuPillage). Breaking down the "fourth wall" to relate to the audience, remaining relaxed and trying to calm others, all while wearing shorts and beach shoes (which I would NEVER do offstage, except on the beach!) was QUITE a challenge to me as an actor. I think I succeeded, overall...

If nothing else, we certainly hammered the memory verses into the kids. A portion of each skit involves Milligan teaching the verse of the day to the the children and his pet parrot, Paolo. But Allie, who acted as M.C., would review the verse before the skit, and Pam, who led the music, would have the kids all SING the verses after the skit. Not that any of that was a bad idea (I was especially appreciative of the fact that Pam WROTE some original music to put to some of the verses), but these kids should CERTAINLY know by now that they should store up "treasure in heaven" rather than "treasure on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves"--or Pirates!--"can break in and steal."

The story ends with the majority of the pirates abandoning piracy, claiming the King's Royal Pardon, and voting off the Captain and any others who want to remain pirates, rechristening their ship from "The Bloody Gem" to "The Heavenly Pearl" and sailing off as missionaries to spread the news of the Royal Pardon to pirates and other sinners they may encounter. Which prepares us for "The Continuing Adventures of the Heavenly Pearl" and a missions-themed VBS I have yet to write!

How I Spent My Summer "Vacation"

Many apologies to anyone who has been trying to check this blog to see what I'm up to. I assure you my "radio silence" has been due to more, rather than less, activity. For two weeks in June and all of July, I was involved in Ambridge Arts Camp, a companion to Ambridge Sports Camp, run by Ambridge Youth Ignite and my friend Eric Geisbert. Each morning from 9 to noon, kids were invited to participate in a different sport each week, then from 1 to 3 in the afternoon (after most of the kids enjoyed a free lunch provided by the YMCA and hosted by Church of the Savior) we gave them a chance to explore their creativity. For the first two weeks we focused on visual arts, studying eras and artists from the past (that's a photo of me teaching the kids about Matisse), letting the kids draw, paint, sculpt, and do art with various materials and methods. The next two weeks we taught them drama, and the final two weeks, we focused on music. I was director for the visual arts and drama weeks, and Sadie Rankin directed the music weeks, during which time I worked with the kids on writing lyrics for two original songs. It was all very fun and exhausting, and we all got stretched in a number of ways! Four of us plan to offer more classes in the fall, and Eric is hoping to offer one sport not otherwise available in Ambridge, so we're looking for ways to continue this ministry and these relationships throughout the school year.

On a somewhat sadder note, we had to cancel our VBS due to lack of adult volunteers. I still plan to work on the scripts and other materials in hopes of doing it at another time, but clearly we did not have the people to make it fly this summer. Many things seem to be in transition with our children's ministries at COTS, and it falls to me to discern what direction we need to take. Your prayers are welcome in this endeavor.

Surviving the Apocalypse

Well, we did it! Three nights worth of puppet shows adapting Revelation in a single night. It was incredibly rough, we were short by about four puppeteers (requiring a lot of running around and simply holding up the puppet who was speaking, without having a chance to actually get your hand in and move the mouth; my worst moment was juggling the woman clothed in the sun, her male child, the red dragon, AND one of Michael's angels at the same time), but we made it through. Thanks to all who helped, thanks to all who prayed, and a special thanks to Pam, who managed to find and execute a number of key musical cues (what's heaven without music?)!

I'll have more to write as I reflect on this. For now, I have to try to re-organize all my puppet materials and devote those energies to the puppet class I'm teaching for the Center for Hope over the next few weeks. And puppetry may make an appearance in Arts Camp later this summer. (I don't think we will do much with it in VBS, though we'll probably bring back Paolo the Parrot in some form.)

The most discouraging part of our final program was attendance. We had been drawing fewer and fewer kids as the end of the year neared, but based on other closing programs (when we mail out invitations and encourage the kids to bring their whole family), I was anticipating we would have a fair turn-out. We had only six kids. Clearly we need to take some time off (and with some key team members away or otherwise engaged this fall, it is looking like we will have a half-year hiatus for the ministry) and re-evaluate what we are doing and who we are trying to do it for. Hopefully the neighborhood survey we will be conducting this weekend will help us start to analyze what is going on. We shall see...

"Gazing on the stars and walking in the dust"

Several months ago I caught a piece on NPR where they were discussing a comic featuring a pirate with an eye-patch, a peg-leg, and a hook for an arm. Behind this pirate were two other pirates talking about him, and, after reading through several possible captions (which apparently listeners had sent in), the guest gave the official (or winning?) caption of what the one pirate was saying to the other. Pointing to the pirate in front, the one says to the other admiringly, "I could never be HALF the man he is!"

The main character in this upcoming VBS drama is a recurring character from our "Pirates in Paradise" VBS I wrote two years ago. At the conclusion of that storyline, the majority of the pirates voted to quit being pirates, accept the Royal Pardon, and devote themselves to spreading the word that even pirates can be forgiven and make a fresh start. They changed the name of their ship from "The Bloody Gem" to "The Heavenly Pearl," voted off their former captain Harry DuPillage, and elected as their new captain the former first mate, Dick Dead-Eye.

Dick Dead-Eye, as played brilliantly by our Assistant Pastor Ron, was a bit of a buffoon. Instead of a parrot, he had a chicken pinned to his shoulder, and when the children laughed and pointed to it, he pretended not to see, as the chicken was on the side where he wore an eye-patch (and hence, his name "Dead-Eye"). He also had a hook for a hand (though I can't recall which hand it was, and there is a good chance he changed it from day to tday). Elevating Dick to Captain of a missionary ship, and having his experiences parallel those of St. Paul will require some rewriting of the character (which will be somewhat eased by the fact that Ron, unfortunately, is unable to reprise the role, as he will be a real-life missionary in Brazil), but I hope to keep some of his fun-loving spirit intact.

"The one-eyed man still has one good eye," as Mark Heard sings in his song "Schizophrenia" (which focuses on seeing both the good and the bad in life). It seems a bit insensitive in the third person, but those I have known with handicaps of various sorts (including Ron, who lost his tongue to cancer several years ago), seem to be able to look on the brighter side of life and make light of their infirmities (if they are able to cope at all and not fall into bitterness and depression). That is how I imagine Dead-Eye Dick handling his disabilities. There are those who insist on referring to the Captain now as "Richard the Seer" (based on his growing reputation as a Christian leader, church planter, miracle worker, and visionary), but I see him as being a more earthy character who answers to both names. He is appreciative of the fact that he's "still got one good eye" (and one good hand), and he looks forward to the day when he lands on the King's Shore and receives a fully restored body, but in the meantime he gets by best he can, and doesn't pretend to be more than he is.

"Over on the west coast we have Treasure Island"

I was thinking the other day about VBS and the need for female roles in the drama. Pilgrims come in pairs, so of course there will be a female Puritan to help hound our reformed pirates as they try to be missionaries. But I was thinking of other possibilities and remembered reading about Mary Read and Anne Bonny, and I got to thinking of a female pirate. The ex-pirate missionaries first goal was to reach other pirates with word of the Royal Pardon they had all claimed, so I thought on the first day they could take the gospel to some other pirates, and a female pirate could be one of their first converts. Then I tried coming up with a name for this female pirate, and I got to thinking of the book of Acts and Paul's missionary journeys (which is my primary source of inspiration for this venture) and I remembered Paul had a female convert early on in the city of Philippi named Lydia, so a female PIRATE convert might be... LYDIA the TATTOOED LADY!

The Continuing Adventures of the Heavenly Pearl - Early Thoughts on VBS

When last we saw our pirate friends (VBS two summers ago), the crew had voted nearly unanimously--the notable exception being the Captain Harry DuPillage--to accept the Royal Pardon and give up being pirates. "Dick Deadeye" had been named the new captain, the ship had been rechristened "The Heavenly Pearl," and the crew (minus Captain Harry) had set off from Paradise Island to spread the word about the Royal Pardon to others.

This summer, we intend to see how things are faring for our pirates-turned-missionaries. Missions will be the theme for this year's VBS, and each of the five days (August 10-14) will focus on a different aspect. Monday will focus on the call to "Go into all the world" and the Holy Spirit's role in directing the mission. Tuesday will focus on the Power the Holy Spirit gives in speaking out and confronting the powers of the evil one. Wednesday will deal with Perseverance in the face of persecution; Thursday will deal with the place of Wisdom in missions (and the fact that God's wisdom is seen as foolishness in the eyes of those who are perishing); and Friday we will focus on Endurance and "fighting the good fight and finishing the race." All of this will be shaped to reflect the missionary journeys of St. Paul as recorded in Acts.

Last year we found it was very effective to involve the children in the action by making them members of the "flock" and seating them inside the sheepfold. To apply this same principle this year, we will have them all sit in the boat as members of the crew. Although none of our actors from two years ago look like they will be available this year, I suppose we will write the same characters and simply recast the parts. In addition to Captain Dick Deadeye and first mate Andrew (and former Captain Harry, who will be stirring up trouble still trying to get his ship back and talking the crew into returning to piracy) we will be adding two new young men: Tim and Mark, who will be joining the crew and tracing the story arc of St. Paul's young traveling companions by those names (John Mark being one that turned back for awhile and was eventually restored; Timothy being the faithful son, servant, and successor to Paul).

Along the way we will meet other characters in port: Kingsmen, legalistic soldiers who don't trust these former pirates or their liberal application of King's pardon to others like themselves; Magicians whose authority and livelihood is threatened by the extension of the King's authority into their realms; Pirates who want to continue their lives of crime; Barbarians who believe in their backwardness that the missionaries are gods; and Sophisticates who don't believe anything, but love talking speculatively of how certain beliefs, if held, would alter their lives.

Specific characters and relationships need to be fleshed out and story arcs must be integrated into the overall plot, but this is where things stand as of now.