Plays On Word Radio
An in-depth look at the Word of God, the Plays On Word community, and the Plays - with original music - we perform, that are based on the Word of God. New episodes drop Fridays at 7AM EST! To find out how Plays On Word Theater can perform 'LIVE on YOUR STAGE' and to support this missionary & podcast visit: https://playsonword.org/
Plays On Word Radio
Ep 98: Laughter and Legacy on the Christmas Joe Tour - Embracing Humor and Timeless Biblical Narratives
"Have you ever laughed and cried at the same time? Today we blend humor, aging anecdotes, and biblical tales, sharing laughter and inspiration from our current 'Christmas Joe' Tour!"
Ever been confused for a roadie in the middle of a Christmas tour? That's exactly what happened to me in Cape May, New Jersey, and it's just one of the many amusing tales from our 'CHRISTMAS JOE' '24 tour that we're sharing with you this week. Broadcasting from our trusty 2003 Dodge Ram 1500 in Bowie, Maryland, we invite you along as we recount our whirlwind performances, including one memorable night at Faith Assembly of Christ in Capitol Heights, MD. And if you’ve ever had a humorous brush with the realities of aging, you'll find a kindred spirit in my DMV adventure in North Carolina. From graying hair to the unexpected audience reactions during our 'CHRISTMAS JOE' play, there's plenty to laugh about and reflect on.
But the tour isn't just about humor; it's also about the rich tapestry of stories that have stood the test of time. We’re bringing biblical tales to life, with an emphasis on the laughter and irony woven throughout these narratives. Join us as we revisit Sarah’s chuckles over Isaac’s unexpected birth and the twisty fate of Haman in Esther’s story. Plus, we delve into the heartfelt saga of Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz, exploring themes of redemption and lineage. Our audiences have been deeply moved, and communities from Capitol Heights to Cape May have shared profound responses that remind us of the power and impact of these timeless stories.
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Okay, plays All Word family. We are broadcasting from when are we? We're in Bowie, maryland, which is just outside of DC. We are on our Christmas Joe tour, christmas Joe 24 tour, and we completed our Christmas Joe play yesterday, uh, just out in Capitol Heights, maryland, which is, uh, a suburb of DC itself, and we were over at uh faith, uh assembly, assembly of Christ, and uh Bishop way who was on? I believe it was our second podcast. I think it was our second podcast. That's the church he oversees and we have a bunch of dear brothers and sisters there at Faith. And so we did the Christmas Joe play there.
Speaker 1:And the day before we were in Cape May, new Jersey and let me thank you, katie Kenny and Josh Taylor, for the intro. Yeah, we were. We were at Cape May, new Jersey, so we went up to New Jersey first and shot down to Maryland, then we came back. We're coming back to New Jersey today, we're about to head out right now and head to New Jersey, and we still have more plays to do. And let me tell you when we did the, what was it? The second Cape May Baptist Church, not the second Baptist Church, but the second Cape May Baptist Church.
Speaker 1:We did an event for them and it was really cool. There was a lot of people that came out. They didn't know what to expect expect. And one guy came up to me and he was like, so you and your, your troop here, your people, are they gonna need anything else besides what's up on the stage there? And you know, I'm kind of looking forward to this. I don't know what to expect. I said, well, yeah, it looks fine. And the the, the guy, he thought I guess he thought I was just a roadie or the sound guy or you know set up guy. He thought I was a set up guy just setting things up. And so I played along with it and I was like, yeah, I heard that the play is going to be fantastic. That's what they tell me. They tell me it's going to be really good, and I think the guy doing it is just spectacular. I usually play into that, and so I can see people doing the math in their head like, is that the guy I was speaking to earlier? Wait, is that the same guy? Because there is a little bit of a transformation that happens To my great surprise and my chagrin, of a transformation that happens To my great surprise and my chagrin. My hair is not as dark as it used to be when I was saturated with youth. Let's just say that no longer am I saturated with youth, and let me tell you how bad it is.
Speaker 1:I went to the North Carolina DMV to get my North Carolina license and I did the test thing which you got to do, and the lady at the counter, she, she like, filled out part of it for me. So do you wear glasses? Blah, blah, blah. And then, when it came to hair color, she put down gray. I was like what? Let me tell you, those of you that are comfortable in your gray, those of you that are seasoned in years and have more than a sprinkling of wisdom on the top of your head, I mean, this is something new for me.
Speaker 1:This is the first time, you know, I was identified as the gray haired dude. I'm like what? Wait a minute, hold on. I don't know if I like this. You know, lord, this getting old thing is. This is a dirty trick. I really need to speak to Adam when we get to glory. Come on, man, do you realize what your decision? Well, actually, I need to, not just Adam when we get to glory. Come on, man, do you realize what your decision? Well, actually, I need to not just be upset with Adam, because I played a role in it too, but you know where I'm going with this. Getting old is a dirty trick. Anyway, it was a shock for me. Those of you that are laughing right now, you understand. You understand where I mean. This is the first time I was identified as a gray haired guy. That means you know, I'm the, I'm the old guy. Now, how did this happen? Anyway, I'm so grateful to have you all to vent to. Anyway, we're doing the play and it was a lunch and a play. So it was the church function. They have a luncheon where they invite people to come out and as I'm doing the play the Christmas Joe play the people weren't sure if they should laugh or not. Or they could laugh, is it okay?
Speaker 1:There's a funny scene as Christmas Joe opens up the opening to Christmas, joe Joseph recognizes the shepherds and he is speaking to the shepherds that have come to tell their story to Mary and Joseph. You know, because they saw this amazing sight out in the field while they were shepherding the flocks at night, all of a sudden, an angel of the Lord appeared before them and the glory. Make sure you put the glow in it every time you say that. The glory of the Lord shown around them and it says they were afraid. I bet they were afraid. Just put yourself in their sandals for a second. They're sitting there minding their business. Not a lot happens in the in the. What is it? The shepherding industry? Let's just say that I mean once in a while you might get a wolf or a bear or a lion or something that comes through and tries to trash your product. I guess it's just as dangerous as working at Walmart today. But you know, still not a lot happens. They're sitting there minding their business out in the middle of the field at night, and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, they see an angel. Let me tell you when.
Speaker 1:Biblically, when people see angels, the response is way different than when people see angels at, like, the gift section at Hobby Lobby, the cute little Cupid angel with the wings and the rosy cheeks and the diaper. Biblically, from a biblical perspective, when people see angels, especially unmasked angels, what I mean by that is the angels that came to remove Lot from Sodom and Gomorrah. You know they look like men. You know they look normal, they look like men. They were masked but glorified state type angels. People try to bow down and worship these angels. They're like oh my goodness, I need to worship you and the angels response invariably is don't worship me, worship god alone. So the biblical response to uh that we get when people see angels is like whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Speaker 1:This is terrifying and these shepherds out in the field no doubt were terrified. It says they were terrified, they were completely afraid. I mean, there's no street lights, there's no airplanes flying over. Okay, you know, we see lights of airplanes flying over and stuff like that. Now it was completely quiet, no smog. You could see the stars. All of a sudden boom. Now there is a source of light and it's the glory of the Lord. These shepherds must have been absolutely amazed and they saw this. And the angel says to them don't be afraid, don't be afraid.
Speaker 1:That phrase is over and over in the scripture. Do not be afraid, don't be afraid. That's the message from God and the messengers of God. Don't be afraid. The people that need to be afraid are the ones that are against God. But God is always reassuring his people and maybe, maybe God is saying this to you right now, where you are, do not be afraid. This is a term that God, over and over, says to his people. We don't need to be afraid, as if God is somehow untethered or we are untethered from God. Let me make sure I get it right for you armchair theologians out there that are going to email me that we somehow are untethered from God. No, do not be afraid. He's invested in you to the point of death, to the point of shedding blood. He has demonstrated how much he cares and indeed desires you. So God by no means has allowed you to become untethered from him. Don't be afraid, even if you feel untethered. Don't be afraid, even if you feel untethered.
Speaker 1:There is a um. If you go out to the to um, to the area I grew up in, manasquan and and Brielle, and that area out there, there, um, there are like these buoys out past the inlet and they're like a mile buoy and I forget what the next one is, but there's these buoys. They put, so you know how far you are, and the buoys, they don't move, they're tethered to the ocean floor. They're not going anywhere. And at high tide it's tight. At low tide there's a little bit of slack, but they don't move much and we are tethered to God with an unbreakable bond. It's unbreakable Now.
Speaker 1:We can hinder our communication with God Absolutely. We go off the reservation and go off the rails and start acting in the flesh. What that does is that puts interference from us. You know, our fellowship with God, not our relationship with him. Though he doesn't cut the cord on us and say you're on your own because you made a mistake. No, that's not the criteria. He doesn't do that. But it does interfere with our fellowship.
Speaker 1:You can be in relationship with somebody and not be in fellowship with them. I'll give you an example. When I'm in, when I have heated fellowship with my spouse, my, my lovely wife, there aren't. Yes, I know some of you are shocked, but there are times when we have heated fellowship. Let's just say that, um and if, uh, so if I'm like I gotta go for a walk, I need to go for a walk, I gotta get out the house for a minute. So I go for a walk or I go for a drive or something. I'm not in fellowship with my wife, but I'm in relationship with my wife. She doesn't cease to become my wife and the asterisk to this right here would probably be that most of the time it's probably my fault anyway, because we're having heated debate, fellowship or whatever it might be, um, but if I'm not in the same room with her, we don't have, we're not having fellowship. That's really my point.
Speaker 1:Yet we are in relationship and when we willingly allow the flesh to rise up and to cause problems in our relationship with the Lord Well, not really our relationship, but our fellowship with the Lord Our fellowship can be damaged. Relationship, our fellowship with the Lord, that our fellowship can be damaged. And it's usually us. You know, we're not, we won't, we're not hearing from him. Clearly, he has no problem hearing us. He doesn't move, we're the ones who have moved our location.
Speaker 1:It is absolutely 100% key for us to not be afraid. It's easier said than done, though, like if I was with those shepherds out in the field. Oh, man, and I know the story, you know how many times do you say, oh, I wish I could go back in time and know what I know now. Well, if I go back and if I had a time machine and I went back to this event, I think I'd still be afraid, man. I'd be like what Yo look at this. Also those of you that know me'd be like, yeah, but you'd also be looking at it like wow, this is awesome, this is amazing, and there is an element of absolutely amazement. I would love it. I'd be like I knew it. I knew it, I knew it. This is, this is better than I imagined.
Speaker 1:The half wasn't even told. And so we back to our play. Let me get back to the play here. When we I'm doing the play and you know, they weren't sure if they could laugh or not. But Joseph, he's telling his story to these shepherds and he says you know, if you would have told me nine months ago that I would be here in Bethlehem with Mary and a baby, and then he laughs I wouldn't, I wouldn't believe, I wouldn't believe that. And then he says you know what? She tried to tell me that, yeah, mary tried to tell me Nine months ago. She tried to tell me she was pregnant. And then Joseph pauses. First he looks at Mary like in disbelief, then he pauses and then he looks at the shepherds and says I didn't have nothing to do with that. And people laugh.
Speaker 1:Of course, there's your, there are a few. I don't want to call them scripture snobs, but a couple, a couple, there's usually a few people or a couple, at least. One person. That's like I can't believe he did. That. That's not in scripture. One person, that's like I can't believe he did. That. That's not in scripture. Listen, you can't tell me that Joseph didn't think he's a dude. You can't tell me he didn't think wait a minute this, how can this what? You tell me you're pregnant. I didn't have. No, I wasn't me, I didn't have nothing to do with that. That is a, that's a dude, that's a guy. Response right there. You can't tell me See, we put, we often put these scripture guys on pedestals that are unattainable Of you know, we can't even, we can't relate to them, because they're in scripture.
Speaker 1:Yes, they are blessed among people because God has chosen to put them in their names in the word of God, which lasts forever. I mean, that's an incredible privilege. Yet there are people in the scripture that are flawed human beings. Thank God there are, because I relate to the flawed human beings. I can't relate to perfection the way I can with somebody who's not perfect. I can grab on to that. I'm like, yeah, yeah, I get that feeling, I understand it. So, joseph, I'm telling you, joseph, absolutely no doubt.
Speaker 1:That thought went through his mind. I didn't have anything, I didn't have nothing to do with this. And then he says Usually that makes people laugh. And then once in a while you have the snob sitting back, pulling on their chin, sitting in their BEMA seat, wanting to judge the way I'm telling this story. But that's a whole other thing. And so, but for the most and I'm not saying that that was what was happening here, because most of the people, I think everybody that interacted with me afterwards, they were blessed and they really enjoyed the scripture, the telling of the story. I was so blessed by the response from the people at Cape May. They were such a blessing to me and Katie. They came up to us, they seemed so grateful and they were so receptive to what we were doing, to the message. And we do. You know, we do take some liberties to connect the dots and there are certain things that are funny that I believe the Lord put in scripture.
Speaker 1:Scripture is extremely humorous in places. I think the Lord invented fun. He didn't invent making fun of people, but he invented fun and anything that is enjoyable people, but he invented fun and anything that is enjoyable and laughter. Laughter comes from the Lord. Man, and just look at the story of Sarah and Isaac and Abraham, abraham and Isaac, abraham, sarah and Isaac. You know, god shows up when Abraham's 99 and he's like he tells him I'm going to come back next year, man, at this time your wife's going to have a son and Abraham's like whoa, I've got to see this one. And Sarah left. And the Lord it's interesting.
Speaker 1:The Lord says to Abraham Abraham, why did Sarah laugh? He didn't even address Sarah. He addressed Abraham Abraham. Why did Sarah laugh? He didn't even address. He didn't even address Sarah. He addressed Abraham Abraham. Why did Sarah laugh? And I'm sure Abraham probably looked over at Sarah like what are you doing? And Sarah was like I didn't laugh. Now she's lied, now she's lying. And the Lord, now the Lord addresses her and says oh, but you did laugh.
Speaker 1:And sure enough, the next year, sarah, who was 90 years old, gave birth, gave birth to a son. Wait a minute, man gave birth to a son. Wait a minute. Man Gave birth to a son and she named him Isaac, which means laughter. You can't tell me that's not funny, man. Every time she called his name, she was reminded that she laughed. And look at the. It's just joy, laughter. That's a gut laugh laughing from your gut, man, you know, you just can't. You can't stop laughing. God, our God, is funny. He has a sense of humor. I think it's funny. Tragic, but it's funny.
Speaker 1:The story of Haman in the book of Esther, when Haman's trying to, he wants to destroy the Jewish people and he has a gallows built and the. The funny line is when, when Haman is found out, uh and and um, esther at the dinner says it's this vile Haman, he's the one who's set my people for destruction. And then he's falling all over the couch and he's and the king was sizzled. The king was so hot he got up and walked out and as he's walking, as he walked out, haman's like my only hope is to really talk to the queen here. So he's falling all over her. Say to the king there's, haman had a gallows built. Haman had a gallows built and the king's like hang him on it.
Speaker 1:Hey, you the irony in that whole situation. I kind of laugh. It's tragic, yes, but there is some humor in that. The Lord works all things. Come on now, finish that line for me. You all know it. You can see the Lord's hand working in that whole situation.
Speaker 1:I think I laugh till I cry with joy when I see in the play. Somebody came up to me after the play and they said hey man, how do you, how do you cry like that? What are you rubbing in your eyes to make you cry like that? And I'm like I don't. I'm not rubbing nothing in my eyes, man, no, no, it's emotionally moving.
Speaker 1:When all the women in Bethlehem they scoop up Obed, the baby boy that Boaz and Ruth had, there's such joy and tears are coming out of everyone's eyes and all the women proclaim Naomi has a son, naomi has a son. And Naomi the one who thought everything was lost, everything was gone. She had no hope. She had no husband, no hope of a future, no sons, nothing left. Yet God was in the background and God restored all that was lost. And now Naomi's holding a baby boy as tears are coming out of her eyes. You can't help but laugh and cry at the same time, because God is so good and you see the hand of God in the difficulty of Naomi. Not that he caused it, but he allowed it. And in the background he was working for restoration. And this baby boy, obed, would grow up and have a son. His son's name would be Jesse. Jesse would grow up and he'd have a son, and his son's name would be David, the one shepherd who became a king not just a king, but the king Upon whose throne the Messiah himself shall reign forever on. And Naomi and Ruth and Boaz all these have been included in the word of God. All these people.
Speaker 1:So, as we move forward, as we're giving this was supposed to be a short Plays on Word broadcast. I'm actually recording in our mobile studio. Yes, it is a 2003 Dodge Ram 1500 pickup truck, so if you hear the wind in the background, that's because I'm in the pickup truck, not driving while recording. I think that's against the law Recording a podcast while you're driving, but I am recording this podcast in our mobile studio and it looks like we're out of time. We have something really special for you next week and I pray that until we get together again next week. All right, amen. We have. Please, don't miss next week. I need you to forward this one on and tell everybody you know about next week. All right, until we get together again next week. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord, turn his face towards you and give you peace, hallelujah.
