The composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz has given quite a bit to our community in my time here. We discussed his catalog back in our adult ed musical theatre series. We've used probably close to a dozen of his songs in worship in one way or another. The musical Children of Eden alone has given us two pieces for our choir and a couple of other offertory features. Today, we add to our Children of Eden bank with one we haven’t heard before.
This morning, we woke up to the dreadful and deeply disheartening news that our own Supreme Court has officially decided that a specific reading of Catholicism is more valuable than women. With the overturning of Roe v. Wade…well, y’all know. This is not a harbinger of good for the future of our country.
The first instinct was to share Helen Reddy’s glorious ”I Am Woman,” and you should definitely listen to it today. However, as I thought more about it, another song revealed itself to me.
The first act of Children of Eden is the story of the Adam and Eve family. The second act is the story of the Noah family. As pop culture is wont to do, and as good storytelling demands, there are characters added to flesh out the real fact that there would have been other people on the planet when these events would have occurred. Today we will visit with the woman who is the forbidden beloved of Noah’s youngest son, Japheth. You see, Yonah is of the cursed ancestry of Cain. She is a maidservant in Noah’s house, and Japheth falls illicitly in love with her.
When it comes time to board the ark and the rain begins to fall, she is to be left behind to die in the flood, and, in a generous act of musical theatre brilliance, we are given the gift of a glimpse into the heart of this side character. And it’s just what I needed to face the news today.
“Orphan in the storm…that’s a role I’ve played before,” she sings. “I’ve learned not to tremble when I hear the thunder roar. I don’t curse what I can’t change, I just play the hand I’m dealt. When they lighten up the rations, I tighten up my belt. I won’t say I’ve never felt the pain, but I am not a stranger to the rain.”
She sees her fate literally coming down upon her, and what is her reaction? “Bring it on.”
A moment in history like this one feels desperately harrowing. It could very well be another 50 years - or more - before women are legally considered people enough to make choices for their own bodies. Hell, it’s illegal to have a late-term miscarriage now. NOW. It’s appalling.
And in reaction, we have only one choice. “Shoulder to the wind. I’ll turn my face into the spray, and when the heavens open, let the drops fall where they may.” Bring it on.
Yes, it is Pride month, and I’ve been specifically only sharing queer voices for it. That’s not the case today, although musical theatre is certainly adjacent. Today, it’s my chance to be an ally instead of a recovering victim. We have a big storm coming here, folks, a fight that we must win. It doesn’t matter that it’s insurmountable. It’s time to hold on to our frayed bootstraps and go to war.
Ultimately, Yonah is snuck onto the ark as a stowaway, and you know what? It works out. In the face of the literal wrath of God destroying all the people on earth but the few who fancy themselves more correct than others, she chooses to rebel. And what does God do? Nothing. Japheth and Yonah end up a blessed couple. God had nothing to do with the judgment on her, and she knew that, so she stood against the PEOPLE who did.
God has nothing to do with this judgment today. We must stand against the people who say that this is the will of God.
“I am bound to walk among the wounded and the slain, and when the storm comes crashing on the plain, I will dance before the lightning to music sacred and profane.”
We are not strangers to the rain, my friends. It’s time to get wet — or better yet, it’s time to get sneaky. I don’t know the answers to any of this, but I’m not above stowing away on a self-righteous boat to bring to light the irrationality of using God as an excuse to harm any human.
It has begun to rain.
Ready?
Bring it on.
LET.
IT.
RAIN.
Oh, God, what have we done?
Give us your strength as we work to reclaim justice in and for your name.