...the salt of the earth

the "something funny did happen" story referenced in the first entry went something like this...

i signed up to be in a nativity-like play at the church i am currently attending with susan. the sign up sheet said they were looking for 400 volunteers and that the event would last from 5pm until 9pm. a 400 person, 4 hour nativity!

but as you read further on the sign up sheet, you find that it's actually a drive-thru chronicle of 12 scenes in Jesus' life: nativity, last supper, crucifixion, etc. you go out in 30 minute shifts-- because it's 18 degrees outside-- for a grand total of 2 hours in the bitter cold and this past weekend during our production, we actually had 4 inches of snow on the ground.

the real humor in this story starts when susan and i go get our costumes...
the organizers are thrilled to see susan. ("OH MY GOSH! WHEN I SAW YOU SIGN UP I THOUGHT 'SHE WILL MAKE A PERFECT ANGEL!'").....susan is playing the critical angel at the tomb, telling mary and mary, that Jesus has risen from the dead. susan's costume: DELUXE angel costume. satin. tassels. 4-foot white feather wings. halo.
i come in... ("oh hey.") i will be an attendee at the sermon on the mount. my costume: literally, a brown bed sheet with a hole cut in the middle for my head.

susan, in an effort to make me feel better, "well, it's not that bad. it reminds me of coffee."

so, last saturday, deluxe angel and coffeemate start our thirty minute rotations. it was nearly too much when susan, in search of directions to her scene was told, "just take a left immediately after the crucifixion."

as bummed as i was about being at the sermon the mount (versus like, an angel or Mary or an angel..) i found out that the sermon, overall, was pretty legit. Jesus highlighted the blessings of following Him and the importance of Christians "being the salt of the earth."

around, the third rotation, i have lost feeling in all my limbs and am hustling back into the church when i see one of the three wise men WIPE OUT on the ice. plastic crown flying across the sky in the moonlight. the church-play standard in frankincense (gold spray painted shoebox) sliding across the snow. apparently, there was not enough salt on the earth in the parking lot.