Recognizing the Spirit
“I will pour out my spirit / on all flesh, on all humankind; / your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, / your elders, all of them, / shall have prophetic dreams, / and your young people shall see visions...” — Joel 2:28b.
Constantin Stanislavski was a Russian actor and director of plays who lived from 1863 to 1938. He is probably not widely known outside of theater circles but his name is important to theater professionals.
On the other hand, it’s likely most people have heard what Stanislavski did. He invented the ‘Method System’ of acting. ‘The System’ has had such famous adherents as Marlon Brando, Anne Bankcroft, Robert De Niro, Nicole Kidman, Paul Newman and Cate Blanchett to name but a few.
What ‘The Method’ really does is invite those who study it to a holistic approach to acting. It asks actors to build a character, first from the outside in and then again from the inside out. This system expects an actor to delve into the character’s psychology, class, education, behavior, familial life and spiritual life— engage completely in who a character might be. Stanislavski sometimes described ‘The Method’ as ‘Spiritual Realism’— Spiritual Realism. (Slight pause.)
Once of my mentors in theater, Louis Simon, actually studied with Stanislavski in Moscow. Simon was near seventy when I met him. He was a Jewish boy who grew up in Salt Lake City surrounded by Mormons, studied at Yale in the late 1920s and just when the depression hit left for Russia, a letter of introduction to the great director in his hand.
In pre-Soviet times Stanislavski had been a friend of both Tolstoy and Chekhov but was, by then, the moving force behind the great Moscow Art Theater. My friend never tired of telling the story of his first encounter with Stanislavski.
Louis presented his credential to a protective stage manager at the theater and was told to sit in the back of the house, to say nothing and to just watch the rehearsal in progress. Stanislavski, the master, would find time for him at some point.
Now, the scene being rehearsed on that day took place backstage at an American vaudeville show. The situation called for a group of chorus girls to be chattering, gossiping among themselves. Having finished their dialogue, the action then called for the chorines to dance out of the sight of the audience watching the play but, therefore, onto the unseen vaudeville stage, into the sight of another audience watching the vaudeville show.
Now, Stanislavski was a big stickler for realism. He realized these were supposed to be simple, young chorus girls. So, he had instructed many of the actresses to chew gum as they spoke their lines.
Again, stressing realism, he also understood, once they had finished their dialogue, they would be dancing onto another stage and on that stage it would be inappropriate for them to be chewing gum. After all, even if the audience for his play could not see the girls as they danced at the unseen vaudeville house, they would be seen— really seen— by this other audience for whom they would be dancing.
Stanislavski was stumped. Given that they should be chewing gum backstage, he could not figure out how the girls might get rid of their gum before they danced onto this unseen stage. (Slight pause.)
Suddenly, Stanislavski turned toward the back of the theater and shouted at the top of his lungs: “Where is my American?” He, of course, meant my friend, Louis.
Louis cautiously moved to the front of the house. “You see what’s going on here?” asked the great director. Louis nodded. “They are chewing gum, as they should be, given who they are. But they can’t be doing that once they are dancing on stage, yes?” Louis nodded.
“You are an American, yes?” Louis nodded. “You have seen a little vaudeville, yes?” Louis nodded. “How... would they get rid of the gum?”
Now, as stated, Stanislavski was a stickler for realism. He had built a backstage set that looked like a real backstage area. So, on one the side of the set for the play Stanislavski was rehearsing there was an entrance to that vaudeville stage— the side of a proscenium arch.
Thinking quickly, Louis leaped up onto the stage with the actresses who were standing around waiting for an answer about what to do with their gum. He move to the side of the set and pounded on what would have been the proscenium about belt high. “Each of them must take the gum out of their mouth and stick it right on the arch about here as they dance by,” he announced triumphantly.
Needless to say, in a flash, Louis had sized up who these people might be and, given what they needed to do, projected their likely action. Also, needless to say, he simply thought it through. He was present in the moment and, thereby, aware of what was necessary. (Slight pause.)
Stanislavski, seeing this, nodded appreciatively. “So, you have come to study with me, yes?” Louis nodded. “This... will be a fruitful time, I think,” said the Russian. (Slight pause.)
And these words are found in the work known as Joel: “I will pour out my spirit / on all flesh, on all humankind; / your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, / your elders, all of them, / shall have prophetic dreams, / and your young people shall see visions...” (Slight pause.)
As Christians, we make all kinds of statements about the Spirit of God. But, as Christians, there is one primary claim we make. In Jesus, the Messiah, the Christ, God broke into the fabric of the existence of humanity in a special, specific way, broke into time in a way which helps us see the grace God offers.
In short, the claim is simple. Christ lives. Christ is with us. The Spirit of God is present to humanity and the fullness and the reality of the Christ confirms this. But how can we, how do we, how are we able to be aware of that grace, that Spirit? (Slight pause.)
I think in looking at the words of the prophet Joel, there are few better examples which proclaiming the nature of the enduring grace God offers. And please remember, from a Biblical prospective prophecy has nothing to do with foretelling the future. Prophecy is about sharing a word concerning the truth God offers to us.
Indeed, the gist of the passage is clear. No matter how dark the present moment, unforgiving judgment does not have the final word. God’s final and gracious Word is one of hope and redemption and grace.
Still, this begs the question what should we being doing with that? (Slight pause.) I want to suggest that Louis Simon had it right in his first encounter with Stanislavski. Think the situation through.
Think things through from the outside in and then again from the inside out. Think any and all situations through. But, most importantly, think through the situation called life with God. How is the Spirit a part of that? What does that feel like? (Slight pause.)
I want to suggest that The Spirit is with us when we hope, when we praise, when we love. The Spirit is not found when we buy into fear, anger, distrust or ignorance. When we buy into fear, anger, distrust, ignorance we are not concentrating on the Spirit and, just as important, we are not concentrating on healthy relationships.
Spirituality, you see, is based on healthy relationships. We meet the Holy in relationships. The late practical theologian, Henri Nouwen, writes that spiritual life means (quote): “the nurturing of the eternal amid the temporal, the lasting within the passing”— the lasting within the passing.
Hence, we need to both be welcoming the day, each and every day, and be welcoming to the one next to us. We need live fully in the present moment, be present to one another, while acknowledging eternal life promised by God as real. This is a spiritual path. (Slight pause.)
Will, as the reading suggested, God pour out God’s own Spirit on us? (Slight pause.) I maintain the Spirt of God is with us now and is with us for eternity. I maintain this is a key message of the Gospel, a message clearly communicated by the resurrection, a message made known to us in the living Christ.
I believe the challenge for us is not one of searching for the Spirit. The Spirit is with us. The challenge for us is doing the work— the psychological, educational, behavioral work— which will lead us toward both being more aware of the presence of the Spirit of God and enhance our spiritual life as we find ways to cooperate with the Spirit of God— the Spirit of God, which is always present to us. Amen.
10/24/2010
United Church of Christ, First Congregational, Norwich, New York.
ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Benediction. This, then, is an précis of what the pastor said before the blessing: “I said this earlier— the Hebrew word Ruach means Spirit, it means breadth. This should be a reminder to us that our belief is in a living God who is present to us.” [1]
[1] At the Children’s time the Mr. Tom Rasely, our Music Associate played on a set of bongo drums and the Pastor invited all the children and some adults who had been invited forward to experience this to place their hands under the drums as Tom played them. They were able to feel the air “exhale” from the drums. The Pastor noted that Scripture tells us that everything that lives should praise God and, therefore, even these drums which breathe praise God. The pastor then pointed out the Hebrew word for breath, Ruach, was the same as the word for Spirit. So, perhaps you could also feel the breath of God in the drums.
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