Civic Opera - Thank God For Curtain Calls

Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day." Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies...."

Let's go now to the Civic Opera House. We came to opera later in life. A benefactor gave us tickets, and now we're subscribers. It's not that we're mavens, but we are enchanted. Maybe it's the magic of portraying something true and wonderful about the human condition in spite of implausible plot lines that require huge leaps of faith. I know it's the simple and profound joy of being surrounded by beauty. We have no pretense about sophistication. We simply want Puccini to stir our souls. And he does. After a recent performance of La Boheme, we met friends in the lobby and the gentleman said, "No matter how many times I see it, and even though I know what is coming, it always gets me." If the musical Rent--the contemporary update--is half as mesmerizing, it's no wonder it's an award winner.

What gets us is the final act where, after a long and bitter winter, Mimi returns in spring to her first love, Rodolfo, in order to die in his arms. Of course, I cried. But you know what? I cried again at the curtain call when Mimi came to take her bows. I cried for joy because she was alive. Silly me?

The hardest thing we face in life is dealing with loss, and the greatest loss we face is death. Our tears at the opera find their ultimate reference in the tears we shed at death. Jesus too. "Jesus wept." At death.

We too weep. For losses in life, and for deaths. But we grieve not as those who are without hope, because Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life." There will be a curtain call at the end of the age, and then, like Mimi, we'll see them alive again in a plot more wonderful than Puccini's: Justine, Annie, Grandma...alive again in everlasting life. And then we'll weep for joy.

Prayer For gifts of grace and reminders from the world around us that tune our hearts to resonate with the rhythm of your story, Lord we praise you. Comfort those who mourn, and give us all the hope of life everlasting in Jesus name, Amen.