I haven't heard a production...
Illustration
I haven't heard a production of Marc Conneley's play, The Green Pastures, for a number of years now. It's too bad, because it presented the Gospel in an idiom to which many people responded.
The setting was a black Sunday school in the South and, although the characterizations are surely unacceptable today, some of its symbols still pack power.
For example, when God, de Lawd, in the play, has denounced Israel for becoming at ease in Babylon, actually renounced Israel forever, the scene returns to God's office in heaven. There is a figure pacing back and forth outside God's office door. He doesn't say anything; he doesn't try to enter. He just paces as a reminder to God of his long-suffering love.
From that point, the plot moves on to the climax; God decides to try to reach the people on earth -- this time through Jesus. Of course, God does not have to be reminded of forgiveness and love. We do!
The setting was a black Sunday school in the South and, although the characterizations are surely unacceptable today, some of its symbols still pack power.
For example, when God, de Lawd, in the play, has denounced Israel for becoming at ease in Babylon, actually renounced Israel forever, the scene returns to God's office in heaven. There is a figure pacing back and forth outside God's office door. He doesn't say anything; he doesn't try to enter. He just paces as a reminder to God of his long-suffering love.
From that point, the plot moves on to the climax; God decides to try to reach the people on earth -- this time through Jesus. Of course, God does not have to be reminded of forgiveness and love. We do!
