"Nothing Worse Than Bad Christmas Plays"

Which is not the case at our church. The title line is actually a line from the play itself...a zinger for all those churches out there doing bad Christmas plays. Believe me...I know. I've been in quite a few of them myself. Thankfully, this was not one of them. In fact, it was quite the opposite.

Last night was the last performance of The Creche Collector and it was bittersweet. On one hand, Sarah and I have had the time of our lives. I can't tell you how wonderful it is to finally feel connected in a church and to be doing something you feel gifted to do. Over the course of these last few months of preparing this play for production, Sarah and I have come to feel more and more at home at NW Church. During the final week of rehearsals and performances, I really feel that new friendships have begun. Yesterday was especially memorable as we sat around the table with our new friends talking and laughing. I haven't laughed like that in a long time and it felt good. Really good. I told a few of our new friends how I was feeling and that it really felt good to be in this place. They reiterated with kindness and basically said, "You're stuck with us now." The other side of the coin is that we are just dog tired from the whole thing and it's good to finally get some rest.

This experience has also been different in that it's been amazing to work with the director/writer Jeff Berryman. We've been attending his Sunday morning classes (which are challenging and just awesome) and we've been meeting with him as members of the church's artists group. This was different. I've worked under many directors but I don't think I've learned as much as I did working with Jeff. He teaches as he directs and I learned alot. I hope to hang out and learn a whole lot more before it's all said and done.

Tomorrow night is our cast party. It's been good to rest today but I think we've missed seeing these good folks that we've basically been living with for the past 2 weeks (although we did run into a couple of them at church this morning). I'm looking forward to the party. I am also looking forward to seeing where these new relationships lead. Sarah and I have been lonely for friends here in Seattle. I hope that these will be healthy and happy relationships for all involved.

PS: The picture I've included is of Sarah as Aunt Pookie trying to get her lighter to work as she deals with Cole about the stolen creche.