Hey friends,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jackie and I just wrapped up our annual Easter tradition: watching the 1973 film version of Jesus Christ Superstar<\/em>. I\u2019ve written about this movie a number of times because it is a foundational text for me. To steal a line from Las Culturistas, it\u2019s the culture that made me say culture is for me. (More specifically, it made me say that the culture of musical theater is for me.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n This being Easter, I am compelled to confess that I\u2019m not actually that knowledgeable about the genre. It\u2019s a combination of two fantastic art forms \u2013 music and collaborative storytelling \u2013 but I\u2019ve just never really been into it. I think it\u2019s because it\u2019s so raw, so earnest. Rock musicians are different because they\u2019re typically holding instruments. Even lead singers who don\u2019t simultaneously play guitar still have a backing band. But with musical theater, the performers are just letting it hang out there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s a perfect medium for certain types of stories: transgressive interpretations of well-known tales. And what could be more transgressive than presenting the Gospels with Judas as the narrator? It allows the audience to see themselves in the Son of God, in Mary, in Judas himself. The Bible, after all, is a collection of stories. They are essential texts for thousands of millions of people because they provide a core narrative: there was a social order, a young radical showed up talking of a better way, the powers that be got scared and killed him, but the idea lived on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last week, a coworker sent a group message inviting us all to see them perform at their church on Good Friday. I\u2019ve been there for two weeks, and part of me thought that my attendance would help deepen my connection to this community. Then I realized: no, I shouldn\u2019t go to a religious service in the same way I\u2019d check out a friend\u2019s 5 minute standup set at an open mic. The coworker\u2019s performance is part of a larger performance, a ceremony meant to evoke certain feelings and contemplation. I wasn\u2019t ready for that. Because as much as I talk about Jesus, I don\u2019t really know much about the institutions that claim him as theirs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I used to be angry about religion. A decade under the influence of Catholic school will do that to a brain. But I\u2019m tired of being angry about things that I\u2019m not currently experiencing. I\u2019ve spent so many days and nights gripping an outdated worldview that I missed the chance for love and joy. That\u2019s not to say my life has been devoid of those things. There just hasn\u2019t been as much as there could have been. What a shame, to have lived in fear, to have turned on myself and the causes I held dear \u2013 all because I thought somebody bigger was gonna yell at me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We don\u2019t need that kind of thinking anymore, gang. Let them yell. Let them crucify you. Because the secret is: we all get resurrected. Not as ourselves, unfortunately. Jesus didn\u2019t get to stay on Earth as Jesus. But he became something else, and we\u2019re still talking about him. At the very least, that\u2019s something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But at the granular level: the bits and pieces that comprise your body will just because bits and pieces of some other body. You may not be aware that you were here before, but you\u2019ll catch glimpses. You\u2019ll see yourself in others, see yourself in stories centuries old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n