August 8
Shakespeare
When they lived in New York City, the Turners went to Broadway plays whenever they could fit them into their busy schedules, but their real passion was attending off Broadway productions of Shakespeare. These productions are an acquired taste, but one the Turners had acquired. Some of the actors were getting their start in such productions-others were finishing out careers that never really took off. But it was New York and the plays were done with excellence.
The Turners always made an event out of their theater evenings. Dressed in their finest clothes, they’d travel by limo to their favorite restaurant and to the theater. They did more than enjoy their evenings out-they savored them.
When the clock struck retirement age, they sold their apartment in the city and bought a country house in upstate New York. They loved the tranquility of the country and the solice of the slower pace of life, but they missed their theater. In the early part of their retirement, they would take excursion trips into the City just to go to the theater, but as they got older, they didn’t have the health to travel, so they settled into their recliners and settled for whatever entertainment they could muster up with their remote control. One afternoon he saw a story in the Weekly newspaper about a High School production of Macbeth and asked his wife if she’d like to go. Of course, she jumped at the opportunity.
On the way home, she broke the silence by saying, “Well, it sure wasn’t like it was in the city.” “No, you’re right,” he replied. “but it was Shakespeare.”
The church isn’t anywhere near perfect. It is filled with flawed people-but it is the body of Christ-a place where imperfect people like me and you can stand beside one another before a God who is worthy of our worship and connect with Him and with each other.
Jim L. Wilson, Fresh Start Devotionals (Fresno, CA: Willow City Press, 2009).
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