All the World’s a Stage
It is so on the stage, as you know well enough, that someone sits and prompts by whispers; [he is hidden;] he is the inconspicuous one; he is and wishes to be overlooked. But then there is another, he strides out prominently, he draws every eye to himself. For that reason he has been given his name, that is: actor. He impersonates a distinct individual. In the skillful sense of this illusory art, each word becomes true when embodied in him, true through him—and yet he is told what he shall say by the hidden one that sits and whispers. No one is so foolish as to regard the prompter as more important than the actor.
Now forget this light talk of arts. Alas, in regard to things spiritual, the foolishness of many is this, that they in the secular sense look upon the speaker as an actor, and the listeners as theatergoers who are to pass judgment on the artist. But the speaker is not the actor—not in the remotest sense. No, the speaker is the prompter. There are no mere theatergoers present, for each listener will be looking into his own heart. The stage is eternity, and the listener, if he is the true listener (and if he is not, he is at fault) stands before God during the talk. The prompter whispers to the actor what he is to say, but the actor’s repetition of it is the main concern—is the solemn charm of the art. The speaker whispers the word to the listeners. But the main concern is earnestness: that the listeners by themselves, with themselves, and to themselves, in the silence before God, may speak with the help of this address.
The address is not given for the speaker’s sake, in order that men may praise or blame him. The listener’s repetition of it is what is aimed at. If the speaker has the responsibility for what he whispers, then the listener has an equally great responsibility not to fall short in his task. In the theater, the play is staged before an audience who are called theatergoers; but at the devotional address, God himself is present. In the most earnest sense, God is the critical theatergoer, who looks on to see how the lines are spoken and how they are listened to; hence here the customary audience is wanting. The speaker is then the prompter, and the listener stands openly before God. The listener, if I may say so, is the actor, who in all truth acts before God.
- Soren Kierkegaard, Purity of Heart
This is spoken so simply that I don’t actually have much to add except a little context.
Remember that in Kierkegaard’s time and country, Christianity was the state religion, so everyone was a Christian. It was pretty preposterous to think of other people as the theatergoers, since they were all supposed to be actors, playing off of the pastors’ script, so to speak. Today, things are a little different in that not everyone is an actor in this sense of the word, and those who are neither actors nor prompters become theatergoers, observing and passing judgment on the actors whether they realize they are performing or not.
I could go on a little rant about how church and pop-Christianity are turning into entertainment, but that’s aside from the point. The point is that we, as church leaders, need to place the responsibility of this “performance” (although the stage is eternity, so there’s no breaking character—these are not alter-egos, but our regular everyday selves) on church congregants. I’ve talked before of church leaders measuring success not by the merit of their own efforts but by those of their congregants. This is just another reminder that our ultimate success, whether as worship leaders, pastors, small group leaders, or anything else, is to be measured in how much our listeners reflect God and change the world.
If you’re not a church leader but you are a Christian, remember that you are always on stage, whether for God or others; if you are not a Christian, I welcome any dialogue you have on the matter, as I’m sure there are a lot of experiences to be shared, both good and bad.
March 30th, 2010 at 6:15 am
Good post.
I was struck by this line:
If the speaker has the responsibility for what he whispers, then the listener has an equally great responsibility not to fall short in his task.
I’m wondering how much of our worship experiences provide this sense of ‘responsibility’. I think there’s a measure of truth in what Soren says here- after all, if the Holy Spirit draws people to the Father, as Jesus said, then there would seem to be a measure of responsibility on the part of the listener. (Paul seemed to think so in some of his interactions with his countrymen- it seemed to prompt him to turn to preaching to the Gentiles)
My question is if the way in which we structure our worship (music, liturgy, message, whatever) is condusive to making people aware of this responsibility. It seems that the entertainment orientation that is often a danger (especially where music and production is concerned) could tend to drown out or soften this sense.
March 30th, 2010 at 9:00 am
Exactly. I think part of the problem is that it’s very easy to see ourselves as the actors rather than the prompters. It’s far too easy to measure success on the number of attendees rather than the quality of their spiritual lives.
All that said, I don’t think our Vibe band does a terrible job of this—it’s better than all other worship bands I’ve been in—but there’s a level of intentionality missing here.