AN ANGEL IN OTHER WORDS  

Luke 1:26-38

 

[Since spoken communication differs from written, some of the grammar and syntax of this transcript may seem awkward in written form. To keep integrity with the spirit of the original delivery, the transcript seeks to stay close to the exact words spoken.]

~An Advent Narrative for 2 actors

Jeff V. [From pulpit]--Begins a sermon on the annunciation, as follows:

Advent is the season of waiting. It is a time when we contemplate that great waiting room that is our human life. But it is a place where--and this is the point of our sermon today--we are not unaccompanied. Where God sends us companions--sends us messengers--in our waiting. It is a place where God companions us, ultimately, by sending us a Word that is indeed God's very flesh.

As I think about that, no surprise: I think of the beloved poem, Dante's Divine Comedy...and the fact that Dante, the writer who is also the main character of the poem, is accompanied by a messenger and a guide who is sent to him by his beloved girlfriend Beatrice, who is in heaven. And the name of the messenger, the guide, is Virgil, the Roman poet. Dante and Virgil travel through the wilds of hell--the place where there is no change, no repentance, and no growth, because free will does not exist there; people have given it up.

And so Virgil leads Dante to the bottom of hell--which is not flames; it is a frozen lake called Cocytus. I won't describe how they get from hell to the next stage, but suffice it to say it is via a rather unmentionable body part of Satan, who is stuck in the ice there. So Virgil and Dante make it to the next phase, which is called purgatory. And interestingly, in purgatory Dante realizes that what felt like going down in hell, is really going up, from the point of view of purgatory, and heaven. Isn't that interesting?

[At this point, a courier rides in on his bicycle (with basket of newspapers) down the aisle, whistling. Stops. Listens to the sermon. Reads a newspaper. Jeff V. notices, is distracted. Stops at one point, then continues to read manuscript....]

And the point is that Dante can only understand all of this because he has a messenger--a guide, who helps him make sense of the journey. So today in the gospel lesson, we think about the role of the angel, of Gabriel. It's interesting that the word, as I said to the children, the word for angel literally means, "messenger" in this story.

Gabriel--[Interrupting] B-O-R-I-N-G. Dante, Dante, Dante.

Jeff V.--Can I, um, can I help you?

Gabriel--Now there's a question.

Jeff V.--I'm in the middle of a sermon here.

Gabriel--A sermon. Oh, is that what you call it? A sermon. It's Middle English, from the old Anglo-French root sermon: speech, conversation, meaning from serere to link together.

Jeff V.--Um, the ushers, in the back? I may need your help here this morning.

[Gabriel starts to put his newspapers on the communion table during the following dialogue.]

Gabriel--Merriam Webster dot com. No, really. Merriam Webster dot com. You got etymologies there; they have the audio files on how to enunciate all these words. It's really, I mean, it's a wonderful invention.

Jeff V.--[Referring to his putting papers on the communion table.] That's...that's the communion table there. It's a holy thing, OK? Who are you?

Gabriel--How did I get here?

Jeff V.--No, I didn't ask that, I asked who are you? And why are you interrupting my sermon?

Gabriel--How did I get here? [Brief pause, looking at the ceiling. Then as if surfing.] I mean, I came riding in on a word, man. That's how I got here.

Jeff V.--Looks to me like a bike. Are you lost?

Gabriel--I mean Words, baby. Words. (Tosses a newspaper up in the air; papers flutter). That's all we've got. That's all it takes: words. You know, do you realize [addressing congregation] YOU, all you people, as you sit listening to this Pablum. [to himself; quickly, compulsively] Pablum, that's an interesting word. It comes from the 1930s brand name from a breakfast cereal. It's a truncated form of pabulum, Latin, which means to feed on something dull, or insipid...undemanding intellectual fare. But I digress....[Again turning to congregation]....As you listening here to this Pablum, do you realize the vast power, the meteoric might of just one word?

[Gabriel takes off helmet. Puts on communion table, then stars to walk up to the pulpit.]

Jeff V.--What word?

Gabriel--Any word. Any word, don't you see? The President of the United States--he's got his little red phone on his desk. And he picks it up. The power of the "hello," and the world hangs in the balance. The captain of the firing squad, his one word: "Fire." The nuclear capability of the word "Love." Or you Jeffrey Vamos, the word you said to a certain Catherine Thomas on May 16, 1992: "I do."

Jeff V.--That's actually two words. And how did you know my name?

Gabriel--Don't get technical with me. OK? Don't test me. You know, ask me a question.

Jeff V.--OK, OK, here's a question. Who are you?

Gabriel--We'll get to that later. Ask me another question.

Jeff. V.--OK. What question should I ask you?

Gabriel--Ask me, "What are the three most powerful words in the universe?" In Hebrew, it's just one, but in English it's three. In Greek it's one, too [pause] such an inefficient language, English....

Jeff V.--What three words are the most powerful words in the universe? Yeah, tell me about them, sure.

Gabriel--[Looking out to congregation; pausing to contain his enthusiasm] LET...THERE...BE. Ginomai, in Greek.

Jeff V.--Ginomai?

Gabriel--Yeah, ginomai. Let...there...be. I mean, don't you see it there? Let...there...be. As in "Let...there...be...LIGHT." And there was light. Do you realize the vast generative power of just those words? Everything came through them...came through it. All of existence flared into being.

Jeff V.--Can you tell me your name, sir?

Gabriel--Isn't it obvious?

Jeff V.--Well...not obvious--not obvious to me.

Gabriel--[muttering to himself] Gab-Gab-Gab. Gaby-Baby.

Jeff V.--What? What? What??

Gabriel--Those are nicknames. Gabriel...My name's Gabriel.

Jeff V.--OK, now we're getting somewhere.Gabriel. OK, why are you here, and why are you interrupting our worship?

Gabriel--Interrupting? Interrupting your worship? Isn't it obvious I'm all about worship. You know--this moment...this right here--is what everything is all about?

Jeff V.--It's not obvious to me.

Gabriel--Is it not corny that I've come here this way; I mean, is it not patently a cliche. Did you not expect that my name would be Gabriel?

Jeff V.--OK. Alright. OK, I get it, I get it! Advent...the season of Advent...messenger...Gabriel. Nothing is impossible with God. Expecting the unexpected.....

Gabriel--"Expecting the unexpected." What a cliche: expecting the unexpected. I mean, it sounds like a tagline for an amusement park, or a prom theme. Oooh, the tunnel of mysteries.

Jeff V.--I'm really glad you're not in my congregation.

Gabriel--Come on. Ask me another question.

Jeff V.--OK. Why are you here?

Gabriel--No, ask me another one. Ask me what she was like.

Jeff V.--Oh, OK. What she was like. You mean....What she was like? Is that what you mean? Are we expected to believe that you came here, riding your bike through time? And you have arrived here, in order to....

Gabriel--Yes! Ask me! Ask me what she was really like.

Jeff V.--What, were you like her messenger boy to her or something? [Feeling clever, now]. You know, follow the star, straight ahead, left through the field, their cow stall on the right?

Gabriel--Don't be stupid; don't, don't! Alright? Don't test me. [Pause] People were lucky to have a swatch of bread then. About a fifth of the women died from childbirth. I knew her though. Alright? I really knew her. And, I mean I delivered her what it was that created this. All THIS: the organ up there; all you; the pulpit; you know, this building. A whole world given birth by one word, out of all the words that swirl in our minds, one word hit the target.

Jeff V.--OK, well, what word?

Gabriel--Do we know? Does it really matter? What matters is whose it was.

Jeff V.--OK, then, whose was it? What kind of a word are you talking about?

Gabriel--Jeff, listen. I've cupped a word that was like a seed. No, not even like a seed, like a...a...like a match. I have cupped a word in my hand that was like a match. [Gabriel holds out a match. Jeff runs to get fire extinguisher.] A spark, a torch, a wild conflagration of a word. And she--wait, no, no, this is important--she lit it. [strikes the match] I held it, and she lit it, with one word. Three words. I mean, can you not see it, there? Let...there...be. Let...it...be. "Let it be with me according to thy word." Let it be. [As if experiencing something magic; breathless and almost whispering:] Ginomai. The same word from Luke. And get this: it's the same word in the Greek translation of Genesis. Let...there...be. There she was, she said, "Here I am. Let your new world begin me. In my womb." My job was just to hold the word out to her, hold it out there like the wrapped dripping, doused branch of a word that it was...and she said...and she said. Let...there...be...light. Ginomai.

Jeff V.--So Gabriel, let me ask you a question. Why are you here? I mean, I thought....

Gabriel--I'm sorry. Am I disturbing your, your worship here?

Jeff V.--No, I mean, I thought your job was done here. Don't go!

Gabriel--I didn't mean to interrupt. I didn't mean to befoul or contaminate your worship service.

Jeff V.--Don't go. What did you want to...You must have come here to say something to them?

Gabriel--What did I want to say? Well let's try this, Jeff:

"I have cupped a word in my hand that was a seed." Or try this:

"Don't fear the herald that stirs this place. Christ is born every footstep forward."

No. That's not even it. That's not it.

This. This is it. [Reaches into his satchel] That is my message. [Tossing Jeff some matches, and starts to walk quickly away.]

Jeff V.--A box of matches?

Gabriel--I'm just going to be on my merry way.

Jeff V.--Don't go, come on. You're my Virgil, man!

Gabriel--That's it. That's it! It's up to you. [Gabriel rides bike out of sanctuary.]

Jeff V.--Don't go! Come on, I just....

Jeff V.--[In silence.] And he held up a word to her, like a match, like a torch, and through her, "Yes" God lit a world through her womb. He has held up a word to me and to you like a match, like a divine torch. So what will you say? [Strikes a match.] Let there be light.

Amen.

 

December 14, 2008

The Reverend Jeffrey A. Vamos

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