Shakespeare was a theatrical genius.   His plays and poetry shaped modern English.  But it was his was showmanship that made his plays a staple of Sixteenth Century British pop culture.   Long before we talked about performance art, Shakespeare placed his audiences in the action.  And he concocted lavish, though sometimes dangerous, special effects for his Globe productions.

If you go to London today, you can tour the reconstructed Globe.  Whether you like Shakespeare or not, do not miss it.   It was there I learned that the phrase “in the limelight” referred to a volatile lime mixture ignited in lamps to spotlight prominent actors.  It was “in the limelight” that Shakespearean actors brought kings and yeomen, saints and blackguards, witches and wood nymphs to life.   The limelight is the place of drama.   Yet the limelight is also the place of testing.  A prominence where our qualities are observed, examined, and critiqued.   The place where we should be most authentic, but are most tempted to play a role.

Canadian rockers, Rush, drew from Shakespeare when they mused.

Living on a lighted stage
Approaches the unreal
For those who think and feel
In touch with some reality
Beyond the gilded cage

Cast in this unlikely role
Ill-equipped to act
With insufficient tact
One must put up barriers
To keep oneself intact

All the world’s indeed a stage
And we are merely players
Performers and portrayers
Each another’s audience
Outside the gilded cage.

Neil Peart, “Limelight” on Moving Pictures

When we are thrust into the limelight, when that moment of fame, notoriety, exposure, prominence comes – not matter how expansive, will we be merely a player?  Performers or portrayers?  Or will we act out what is real?   How we answer this question says a lot about how we live out our Christian faith.   Others are watching, assessing, critiquing, deciding based on whether our walk is consistent with our talk.    While we sigh and roll our eyes when someone declares they are “spiritual but not religious,” perhaps the trap for many professing Christians is to be “religious but not spiritual.”  

Are we each other’s audience, playing a role, that any critical eye will unmask? Or are we living coram deo, before the face of God.  Is He the only audience we are concerned about?   The men in the Scriptures who received the most dramatic judgment of God were “religious but not spiritual.”  They professed great piety, but possessed no love for Christ.   The men of Jeremiah’s day were more religious than any of their forefathers, but also more apostate.   The prophets noted that the faithless worship was a stench in God’s nose and a trampling of God’s courts.   And the Pharisees were merely whitewashed tombs.  Jesus warns.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”

Matthew 7:21-23

Are you religious but not spiritual?  Are you all profession, but no possession?   Is your Christianity

Cast in [an] unlikely role
Ill-equipped to act
With insufficient tact
Full of pious barriers
To keep [yourself] intact?

Pharaoh’s heart was hard.   Moses confronted him time and time again.  But as the plagues unfolded, Pharaoh moved from raw defiance to feigned deception.   After the plague of frogs, we meet a Pharaoh who acknowledges the Lord, the power of prayer, the sovereignty of God, and shows respect for God’s servant, Moses.   Yet nothing changed in his heart.   And in the end, he showed his true colours and rebelled against God’s command.   He appeared to be softening, but nothing had changed.   The hardest hearts belong to those who exhibit theological acumen and piety yet have no living faith.  

What about you?   Are you “religious, but not spiritual?”   Do you have theological knowledge and pious practice, but no living faith in Christ?   Join us as we examine Exodus 8:1-15 and consider Pharaoh “religious, but not spiritual” response to the plague of frogs.

We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship.  Get directions here or contact us for more info.  Or join us on Facebook Live @PottsvilleARP or YouTube.