My Garden of Gethsemane Story
Since I was one of the men at my church with a beard, I was often asked to play one of Jesus’ disciples for onstage dramas.
One year we used pyrotechnics to blow open Jesus’ tomb during the Easter production.
As a safety precaution, we were told a flashing white light would appear up in the windows to the video control room just before the fireworks went off so we’d have time to get out of harm’s way.
I was getting a little pretend shut-eye during the Garden of Gethsemane scene when I noticed the pyrotechnics warning was going off!
Should I roll out of the blast radius or stay put? I figured that Jesus was unlikely to bust out of the tomb Michael Bay style since he was elsewhere on stage at the time, but I wasn’t entirely sure. I decided to stay put, but I was feeling very alert, if you get my drift.
The pyrotechnics did not go off; I don’t know if it was a malfunction, a prank, or someone just goofing off. But this disciple was certainly motivated to “watch and pray” during that scene!