Tuesday, July 02, 2013

Big and dramatic

This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it (Psalm 118:24).

Opera is typically performed on a stage before a live audience.  Like any theatrical production, everything must be intensified for the viewers all the way in back.  Makeup must be garish so that the actors’ faces aren’t washed out by stage lighting.  Facial expressions must be exaggerated and voices must surge with emotion so everyone present gets the full impact of the performance.  To label something as operatic speaks of larger-than-life heroes and villains, heart-wringing drama and supremely clever wordplay.  Star Wars has been described as a space opera with it’s over-the-top story, characters and special effects.  And many classic westerns are affectionately known as horse operas. 

Another brand of over-the-top storytelling is called pulp.  The term comes from the first half of the 20th century when lurid magazines were made from cheap paper stock called pulp.  These periodicals featured stories full of excitement, horror and suspense—little time was spent on character development or relationships.  Fiction told in the pulp style leaves you breathless as the hero plunges from one harrowing situation to another.  Raiders of the Lost Ark was made as an homage to this kind of story telling.

Why are stories of exaggerated emotion and hectic action so appealing?  It’s because life is usually just the opposite.  Bad guys don’t wear black hats and you can’t put an end to their villainy by killing them in single combat.  Most of your time is spent on boring and repetitious things; periods of excitement and intense emotion only come around every once in a while.  Our lives typically fall into a rut of bland sameness; entertainment that has the styling of opera or pulp offers the intensity that our days are usually lacking.

But life doesn’t have to be tedious, so bland that you crave a little spice to give it flavor.  God designed a world that is absolutely breathtaking if you just take the time to really look at it, listen to it, touch it and taste what it offers.  God has filled this world with people of amazing variety—each has a story waiting to be explored and appreciated, no two alike.  Of course, sin has corrupted God’s wonderful creation, corrupted each of us.  But with Jesus handling the problem of pain and fear and disappointment for us, we don’t have to timidly limit our exposure to everything life has to offer.  Followers of Christ can taste what it means to be fully and wondrously alive, each and every day.

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