Godspell has truly gripped my heart forever.
I am unbelievably honored to have witnessed something so wholesome, so intimate, so beautiful, and so powerful!
The kids we had the privilege of working with were exceptional. Our main character, Jesus, was played by a freshman! He did incredible. He worked so hard memorizing lines (basically the whole show is him quoting huge chunks of the book of Matthew). He was intentional, connecting with each cast member and stage crew. He would pray for people (including me - he came to my classroom before school of the Friday show to pray over me). He definitely shined the love of Jesus on that stage!
Our other main character, John/Judas (it's a Godspell thing), was played by a senior who I've known since he was a kid. He was hospitalized the week of the show with stomach pains. We were so concerned it was his appendix and that surgery would be coming. We reeled with that info and prayed, committing the show to the Lord again! Miraculously, surgery wasn't needed! We still aren't sure what made him so sick (I'm pretty certain Satan had a hand it some of the pain) but we are praising God for how God provided healing! The Wednesday before the show, we named our "contingency kids" and had them practice his lines. We ran it with the contingency kids Thursday and they absolutely blew me away! They were ready, in case! Friday night was the show and our Judas was there, ready to go. It was a trial night almost, to see if we thought he could do it the next day. He did great, but was still in some pain. But Saturday he did a really good job and was able to do all the shows!
Friday night, the room was crackling with energy.
No one knew what to expect.
No one knew what was coming.
It was electric!!!
The kids were fantastic ALL THREE SHOWS and I still smile thinking back to watching them on that stage, pouring their hearts out!
The matinee Saturday show had subtitles on the gym wall in Hungarian. There were probably a hundred people there. One of our Hungarian teachers in the Upper School (also an ICSB alumni I worked with in Fiddler on the Roof) gave a brief testimony at the end in Hungarian and was able to share the gospel.
Between the shows was probably one of my favorite memories. Kids rested, read, napped, played games, and chatted all around school. I was sitting in the upper part of our library where there was some air conditioning and had a bunch of students sitting around me as I crocheted. Several of the kids were students who joined us a few years ago from Ukraine and Russia, now seniors graduating from our school. I asked them, "Tell me the five minute version of (insert name)", although inevitably it became twenty minutes as they talked about their lives, dreams, memories of last homes, etc. Watching the other kids just sit and listen and hear each other's stories was magical and so memorable.
Saturday night's show was running very high on emotions - it was the last one for everyone together as this family, and it was the last one for the seniors, period. The show ended, people rushed to the stage to hug and congratulate the cast, and tears flowed like I've never seen before. I have also never cried as much hugging the cast as I did that night.
Godspell...was over.
We were able to get together randomly a few times before the end of the school year, and it was beautiful to see their faces again! But it will never be like that ever again.
Bittersweet, yet beautiful.
I've heard some amazing stories from those who came to see it.
-one new Hungarian family with younger kids came to see it as a family all three times. He works in the theater world and was completely amazed at the way the kids acted. He said it was real, not fake and put on. He also commented on their courage at being so authentic and vulnerable on stage and how it showed what ICSB is like for his son to see this kind of courage. His son has had a difficult year with a difficult class, but he has already seen the bravery blossom in his son since being at ICSB. I want to shout from the house tops, "That's Jesus!!!!!" A teacher that watched this family Saturday night said they sat long after it ended, with their hands covering their mouths, staring at the cast as they wept and hugged and celebrated on stage.
-as soon as the Friday show ended, the atheist mother of a former student came up to me and said, "That was absolutely powerful and so real! Thank you for all you did to make this show happen! Absolutely amazing!" And then came back the next night, too.
-I had parents of cast members come up to hug and thank me, with tears in their eyes, for the investment that was made in the cast this year. They agreed that they had never seen a show like this before and were so grateful their children got to be part of it!
-I was able to talk to three former students who I confiscated a soccer ball from before the show started (trust me, it's a whole deal with that class). I told them they could have it back after the show ended. They very respectfully came to collect the ball after and I asked them how they liked the show. All three boys (very tough and "cool") went on and on about how amazing it had been and how good the story was and they told me their favorite parts of the show, sometimes agreeing with each other and sometimes coming up with other favorites!
-a local Hungarian mom (not at our school) and admin for a community Facebook group advertised for the musical, came with her family, and wrote to share how amazing it was! She said her teenage daughter came again with friends to see it Saturday night she loved it so much. She also asked to write an article about it for the local magazine and wanted to be able to quote what the Hungarian teacher at the end shared (aka the Gospel)!
-my first grade class was heavily invested because they were hearing from me about it for months in advanced. I was able to lace many of the teachings of Jesus into things we were learning about in the classroom. Then I was able to give them a sneak of the show saying, "in this story you'll see _ say this or do this to show this meaning". When our Judas character got sick, I told my firsties to be praying for him. They did! And they asked daily how he was doing! When I was packing them up at the end of the day on Friday, I reminded them of show etiquette in case they came back timings, and one boy cried, "it's tonight?!?" Admin the next breath asked "Is Judas going to be able to be there? Is he ok?" I immediately started crying because of his genuine love and concern for these "big kids" and I told him yes he would be there to do the show tonight. I thanked him for praying and he told me that he and his brother had been praying every day for Judas!
-during the show week, I knew the cast could use some encouragement, so we wrote cards to each one of them in class with Bible verses and pictures. I had each cast member assigned to different students and their names must have stuck fast into their heads. We took the cards into the gym, found their costume boxes, put the cards in, and sat down to pray for the cast. Then, as I would mention names of the cast during the week, a kid would pipe up and say "I wrote to Mira!" Or "I wrote Stephen!" So, whenever I would see my students in the audience, I would tell the cast, "that's one of mine and they prayed for you a lot this week!" The intro of the show this year was very different then normal because the cast filtered into the gym and spread out chatting with people, since it was supposed to look like a park, before the actual show started. I got the privilege of watching the "big kids", with tears in their eyes, walk over to a firstie, squat down and introduce themselves, and thank the littles for praying for them. I was proud of them, all around!
-the Tuesday after the musical, one of my firsties came to school and told me, "I was reading my Bible this weekend and I started reading Matthew." I told him how wonderful that was because it's all about Jesus. Then I said, "You know, most of what was said in the musical is from Matthew." He responded matter-of-factly, "I know...that's why I chose to read it."
-three cast members (including Jesus and Judas) chose to spend a lunch break in the third grade class talking about what God did in their own lives through the musical.
- we received a signed and framed "family picture" of the cast as well as a handmade beaded bracelet that represented the costume colors of the kids in the family photo. Treasures.
-several cast members came and told me that they almost didn't do the musical. They said what caused them to stick it out was us teachers encouraging them and talking about what an amazing opportunity this would be. They 100% agreed that it was worth it!
-never have I ever seen such a unified and tight-knit cast! It was unbelievable! I heard from the Upper School principal that when Judas was in the hospital, the cast messaged each other and met on the stage in the gym to pray before school started that morning! What a group!
There are more stories, I'm sure.
As we sat and had lunch together the week after the show sharing some of these stories, one boy sadly commented about how he missed it. It was something that brought us all together. Yet the stories were decreasing. The ripples were fading.
I smiled and said,
"Yes, the stories of how it affected people are not happening as often now and yes the ripples may be fading. We will go our separate ways, and it will never be quite like this again. But this is your reminder to pick up another pebble and start making new ripples for Jesus in another way. The story isn't over."
