“Consuming Catastrophe: The Comedy of The Heart; A Play in Ate Parts”.
Kids wrote that. For real. Little kids. Titling their art show at a local (Nashville) church. Based on the parable of the mustard seed and the kingdom of heaven.
If you're in Nashville, you should go and tell me how it is!!! Art Crawl. Sept. 4, Downtown Presbyterian Church, 6pm. Isn't the title intriguing enough?
It makes me want to think and write and reflect on the depth of what they're pointing to. Really pretty incredible. Much of what we take in (consume) is disastrous. The awful manufactured foods we've gotten used to eating (watch "Food, Inc."). The stuff we use as entertainment, whether it's fear-mongering or demeaning or doubting. I'm thinking of the news and the movies, the magazines and TV shows. We bring so much mess into our very beings-- some inadvertently pressed upon us, but most of it a voluntary response to our gnawing hunger for connection, significance or understanding.
It's a comedy in the same way Shakespeare constructs humor. It's ridiculous to an extent that is truly sad. I think of "The Taming of the Shrew" (hoping to see it at San Diego Shakespeare festival in a couple weeks!), and really, it's an atrocious concept. In desperation to marry off the eldest daughter, a father pays a man to do whatever it takes. The suitor/ groom takes a turn as a virtual ogre to turn a shrew into a lover. Come on, it's absurd. It's tragic. It's an out-and-out brawl with human hearts and sensibilities at stake. It's also pretty funny. So, too, are our hearts engaged in comedic consumption. We're a mess, concocting ridiculous solutions for ourselves. Yet, we look at that mess, and as followers of Jesus, we somehow believe that the ending turns out well! It's even a CLASSIC comedy, ending in marriage of Christ (the bridegroom) and his Church.
Hilarious as that is, we really don't need to take ourselves so seriously. God invites us together to play and to eat the broken bread that truly nourishes.
I wish kids wrote things more often.
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