Hot tears rolled down my cheeks during intermission.
“Do you want to leave the play?” my nineteen-year-old son asked.
“No, I’m going to see how this ends. Surely, there’s some value.”
People may not agree with me, but there was nothing redeemable about the musical, “The Book of Mormon.” I found it crude and offensive on multiple levels.
I’m not Mormon, and I rarely attend a play that I haven’t reviewed before hand. However, my son persuaded me while we were in London.
“It won a Tony Award. It’s been running for a long time.” My son later apologized for also going into this performance blind!
Really? This represents America’s best?
However, nothing is wasted.
I tend to live in a Christian cocoon. Rubbing elbows with our post-modern culture is always an eye-opener.
What I found offensive—swearing and overt sexual language—entertained the audience. They lapped up the Jr. High bathroom humor like it was creme.
That didn’t grieve me as much as the actors who mocked God. Religion as a whole seemed like a joke.
If this grieves my heart, how does the Lord feel?
Earlier that day, my son and I had gone to Westminster Abbey. Tourists, from around the world, paid to see the historical and majestic building where coronations are held, and royal weddings take place.
The tombs of kings and queens, and memorial plaques honoring famous people, were interesting. But the church seemed more like a museum than a place to worship. If ever there was a place to hear the Gospel message, why not here?
Watching The Book of Mormon that evening, only solidified my heavy heart for the misguided souls around me.
How can they believe in Christ if they do not hear? How can they hear, if we don’t tell them?
Soon thereafter, I heard the Rock song, Flaw, which includes these lyrics, “I have a hole in my soul. I can’t fill it. I can’t fill it. I have a hole in my soul. Can you fill it? Can you fill it?”
I don’t know the songwriter’s intent, but those words struck a chord in me.
We’re all born with a hole in our soul. And we can’t fill it with ourselves!
Neither can anything or anyone else on earth. Although looking at the carrots we chase, you’d think otherwise.
Only the Lord, God can fill the hole in our souls, and satisfy us. His Son, Jesus, has the holes in His hands to prove how much God loves us.
But God won’t force Himself on anyone.
He does, however, warn us, “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it” (Isaiah 30:15)
Tell me you’ve been there too because admitting I’m spiritually lukewarm and lethargic isn’t a piece of cake.
Wearing a navy blue cap and gown, my son strutted across the stage to receive his high school diploma last week. All I could see through misty eyes was a bundle of joy wrapped in a blue blanket that lay in my arms eighteen years earlier.
Even In This 