Day 51 - Everlasting Arms

Today is the day. After a break which has lasted over a decade, it is opening night for an amateur dramatic production which I am involved with. My first visit to university was to read Performing Arts and Business Management, returning many years later to study Practical Theology at Winchester, through the Integrated Training Course. However, whilst it is a return to the familiar, the smell of greasepaint, the roar of the crowds (capacity is under 100, so possibly not too much of a roar), what is markedly different this time is that I will not be one of those “treading the boards”.

I agreed back in February to take on the task of directing a play, for a society who have not been able to perform in over two years, who were not certain whether we would be able to cast the play (we did), whether we would sell tickets (we have, perhaps not as many as they used to, but at least a score of people for each performance), whether we would get to curtain up.

As I write this the week before you are reading it, the last one of those uncertainties remains uncertain, but if eight weeks ago I had allowed all those doubts and unknowns to take over we would not be where we are right now. One of the roles was re-cast as a cast member was not able to focus on the production, we lost our Stage Manager halfway through the production (and yet found a replacement the very same day). There have been testing times over the last two months, as we have emerged from lockdowns and restrictions, as we have been trying to work out what a new normal might look like for our society, and yet one thing has remained constant. God and his love for us.

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23 (ESV)

Whilst who we are, how we view ourselves, the roles we are playing; both on stage and at work and home, whilst all these may have changed and will continue to change, He is always there waiting for us; “the eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.” Deuteronomy 33:27

When we feel like life has changed and we mourn for what used to be, we can trust in God to remain around us, beside us, underneath us. He will walk with us and lead us on, to bear fruit in His name. “Underneath all things are the everlasting arms, underneath all this is love.”

Oliver Kinchin