The Blog I was supposed to post two weeks ago... Peace, Love, and Jesus Christ Superstar

This week marks the start of my favorite part of the church year. That's right, it's Lent... and I love it. The next forty days, more or less, sum up for me exactly why I am a Christian and I look forward to them every year with an anticipation similar to most people and Christmas.

One of my annual traditions for Lent is watching and listening to the incredible Andrew Lloyd Weber musical Jesus Christ Superstar. I still remember the first time I heard the record, in particularly the scene where Jesus confronts the moneychangers in the temple. I was in third grade, and the record made enough of an impression that when I received my first CD player a few years later, the soundtrack was my first CD.

What I absolutely love about Jesus Christ Superstar is the passion in the portrayal. This is not some everyday tale about Jesus as a happy-go-lucky guy just goofing off in Jerusalem two thousand years ago- from start to finish it is a very serious take on the story that is, at it's core, the reason why we call ourselves Christians. It's raw, it's serious... it's utterly heartbreaking.

I bring up this musical for a good reason this week. Not because it's Lent, or because I want you all to go out and rent the video or buy the soundtrack and follow my holiday routine. No, I bring it up because this week I saw it change someone's life, right here in Limon.

Last week a coworker of mine from the call center invited me to go out and have dinner and go dancing with her after work. I was hesitant to accept- I didn't know what a night out with this coworker would lead to, and I definitely did not want to end up in a compromising position. Yet, at the same time I really wanted the experience of going out with friends like a normal Limonense would do... and so I accepted the offer and went out on the town.

We had a lovely dinner, and eventually ended up in a small club where they were playing old Spanish love songs on the televisions. Of course I don't know any of these old love songs, so I was surprised to recognize the tune that suddenly filled the air. Drea, the coworker I was with, started to sing along and it only took me a moment to realize that the tune was from Jesus Christ Superstar.

Drea, of course, had no idea what I was talking about when I mentioned it to her. She only looked at me blankly and said that it was a love song about a man who vowed to fight for his lover. I explained the song, where it came from. I told her about how the original song was about Christ in Gethsemane, and his frustration with God's plan for his death as a sacrifice. This started a very interesting conversation whereby Drea confessed that although she'd been raised as Catholic, she had little understanding of Christ and the meaning of his death. Well, that got me thinking, and the next day I slipped her a copy of the soundtrack for her to listen to.

Initially I thought she'd take it home and forget about it, so imagine my surprise when she came in to work a few days later and immediately embraced me. When we had break time, she pulled me aside, thanking me over and over again for introducing her to the musical. As it turns out, Drea has a very difficult family situation- she has two brothers in jail... one for armed robbery and the other for murder. As it turned out, the music touched her deeply... deeply enough that she took it to the prison and played it for both of her brothers. She told me that her oldest brother had wept as he listened to Christ's trial before Pilate, and how he had begged her to bring the disc again next time she visited.

As if that weren't enough, she then proceeded to tell me how it had changed her view of Christ. “I didn't realize,” she said, “That he was just a man. He was just like me, or my friends... he wasn't some guy that just went along with the plan. It hurt him to do what he did.” Then she really surprised me, as tears came to her eyes. “Somehow,” she whispered, “that makes his death mean a whole lot more.”

Of course, this is just the beginning for Drea. We have talked a lot since then, and I guess what is really important is that this experience has unlocked the possibility that she might someday accept that she is worth the sacrifice of Christ; she's on the way to changing her life profoundly. I don't know what will happen from here for her, but I will do my best to encourage and strengthen as I am able.

In the meantime, I have rented the movie at the local rental place and can't wait to sit down with it, like I do every year, and give thanks for a sacrifice that is still continuing to redeem two millennia later.