last chance and discomfort

My neighbors up the hill invited me out to see a "show" at the local church. I agreed - oh, who knows - because Sid asked and was so earnest in asking and because I felt guilty I was going to leave her soon. I had second thoughts when the preacher opened with words like "audience participation". I thought of the revival I had gone to with Erin back in college (in all fairness, I thought I was going to a concert), and how the preacher asked everyone to pray specifically for the non-Christian friends they had brought so that the Lord may open their hearts and so on. I remember opening my eyes during the group prayer to watch the people that were leaving the O-dome, and wishing I could walk out with them. It was one of those things you need to experience once, but not more than once. So first a concert and now a play. It all feels oddly deceptive. Plus the five-minute plug for purchasing T-shirts and DVDs ("We accept Visa or Mastercard....").

So in "Last Chance" all these lily-white people die in catastrophes and if they've accepted Jesus Christ as their personal savior, they go to heaven (bright lights, trumpets blaring, lots of gasping), but if they don't, Lucifer laughs from the corner of the stage and hooded figures drag them off screaming. The play actually goes through eight of more of these scenarios without a variation to this standard formula. Personally, I was more than a little horrified that they were attempting to convert people through fear (if you don't convert, this is what will happen to you for all of eternity!) and disappointed that the people were either portrayed as sinners or saints (what happened to the gray area?).

I'm already feeling quite put-off before the play ends, but then the preacher instructs people to first raise their hands if they feel moved, and then to come up to the stage if they're willing to turn their lives around. And then, he instructs you to turn to your neighbor and ask if they've accepted Jesus, and if they haven't, to walk down to the stage with them because they're afraid. I was offended, but I think I would have been downright angry if Sid hadn't hugged me and begged to walk me down.

"No, Sid, I can't. I'm not comfortable doing this," I whispered into her ear, falling short of all the thoughts reeling in my head.

"Please, Ms. Chang, please," her whisper trailed off. I don't know how to explain it, but she was so damn earnest. And in that way, she was showing me love, and it wiped away my anger at being there and being duped and uncomfortable. I suppose this was the way with Erin, too.

I didn't budge, though.