The technical requirements of the play “Phantom of the Opera” are not supposed to be front and center when the audience takes its seat. However, the props have their place in the lore that has contributed to making it the longest-running Broadway show in history.
By far and away, the falling giant chandelier is the scariest centerpiece.
But I was intrigued by a boat that moves across stage carrying the captivated Christine. How in the world did that work?
It’s one that our youngsters would figure out: it’s a remote control. When it was first introduced, interference from police and fire radios would give the controller fits as he helplessly watched the boat veer off to the side of the stage.
But now, it magically carries the damsel through a fog of candles on a pond or lake.
It’s not the biggest job in the world, but the controller better have that down to a science.
The history of religion has had roles that might seem tedious, but they have helped the boat of Christianity reach its destination to this very day. Picture monks laboriously copying scripture that you and I now pull up on our mobile phones.
Standing behind the curtain is a young man with a remote control that sometimes controls the emotions of a captivated audience.
There are no small roles.
PORTAL TO HEAVEN: Only man views certain jobs as insignificant roles. But the God who spun galaxies into the skies is willing to steer our lives.
There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work…All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines…Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it…Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.
1 Corinthians 12: 4-6,12,27, Colossians 3:23 NIV