October 1 – “The Play”

Yesterday was the culmination of our little jaunt to Eureka Springs.  We made our way to the site of the big play.  Actually we went out there in the morning because there are other things to do and see.  They have a little Holy Land tour set up.  You walk through this huge stone gate made to look like the wall of Jerusalem and down a path.  As you walk along there are several actors waiting to tell you their story.  The first guy was a shepherd.  He was an older guy who kept forgetting where he was in his story line, so he would repeat the same things over again.  Kind of added to his charm.  He explained what he did as a shephered and demonstrated his shepherd-esque weaponry (a big stick and a crooked staff).  Highlighted here was his pet cross-backed donkey.  It had a criss-crossed stripe on his back that looked like a cross.  It's a characteristic of that particular breed.  There's a legend that the donkey that carried Jesus into Jerusalem got marked at the crucifixion or something.  The second character was the woman at the well.  They had a replica of a well like there would have been in Israel at the time Jesus met the Samaritan woman.  She did a much better job telling her story.  Technically perfect.  The third site was a small house.  The woman there told the story of the Passover in Egypt.  She didn't seem to be reciting a canned presentation at all.  In fact by the time she got done, she was flat-out preaching about Jesus and the second coming.  The next site was the one I had come to see.  They have constructed a full size, by-the-book (Bible) replica of the tabernacle the Israelites set up when they were wandering in the wilderness.  The character who explained it was one of the priests.  This one was very well done, and the tabernacle itself was great.  It really made the size of the structure come alive.  There was a brazen altar set up with a real fire burning under it.  The crudely built structures for holding the animal to be sacrificed were interesting, but I didn't see any goats around.  They had cut windows into the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies so we could peek in on what only the priests were allowed to see.  At this point we had been there over an hour and it was only half-way done.  They still had Ruth at a threshing floor, Peter and a fishing boat, a community well, a storage thing that you would have to crawl down a ladder to get to, and a mini-Golgatha scene.  Honestly, we skipped the rest to come back into the city.  Is that like skipping out on part of church?   We were going to spend the afternoon walking around the town.  We waited for the trolley for twenty minutes or so in front of our hotel.  Never did arrive.  We got tin the car and decided to do the town on our own.  First things first, though.  Lunch.  We went back to the same little place we ate at yesterday.  Grandma's something or other.  Great soups.  Last time we had baked potato soup.  This time Chris went with their signature beans and cornbread and I got their pot pie.  Good stuff.   We did drive around the town for awhile, but never stopped and got out.  We decided that living in Galveston has really steeled us against the offerings of a tourist town.  Chris said if she bought anything, she would want it to be something unique to Eureka Springs.  So maybe we can pick up a bottle of water on our way out of town?   The actual passion play was last night.  We stopped at Subway on our way and then found what was supposed to be an out of the way scenic overlook of the city to have a picnic.  The overlook was there, but the trees had gotten so tall we could only see a little bit of the city.  A couple of ladies stopped and one of them commented, "I remember when you could see the whole city from here.  They should come out and trim the tops of those trees."  Trim the tops of the trees.  Hmm.  The thing that popped into my head was Chris warning me not to trim the top off her crepe myrtle tree.  Unless they come in with an upside down helicopter, I don't think that's going to happen.  Food was good, though.  Hanging out with Chris was better.     Our play tickets included admission to an art museum.  The highlight there was the section that had paintings with hidden extras you could look for.  We had some fun with that, and even bought some of the replicas to bring home.  We also got into a Bible museum.  I think most everything in it was stuff we could see at the museum at Houston Baptist University.  I think it's probably better displayed at HBU, too.  It was interesting, though.   About an hour or so before the play began we sat in on the pre-play play.  First a young guy in biblical garb came out and did a presentation as if he was a shepherd named David whose father had been one of the shepherds who heard the angels announce Jesus' birth.  He was a lot of fun, and passionately loved Jesus.  He did a great job telling people how to become believers.  He even told the story of David and Goliath almost the same way I did.  Only he just told it once.  He also demonstrated how to throw rocks with the sling he made himself.  That looked like a lot of fun.  So much that I bought one.  Watch out all you Goliaths.   He was followed by a guy who formed a vase out of clay using a first century potter's wheel.  As he worked with the clay he talked about how it parallels what God does for and with each of us.  Tremendous presentation.  He was passionate about his craft and even more so about Jesus.  This was by far our favorite experience so far.  Chris said one of those jars would be what she would consider a "unique to Eureka Springs" souvenir.  We couldn't find where they were selling them, though.  Maybe next time.   The play began right at dusk.  We found out that the play changes a little every year.  Instead of being a harmony of the gospels, they focus on one gospel story each year.  This year happened to be the gospel of John.  That just happened to be where I am reading in my quiet time.  We sat on the side of a hill in fairly comfortable chairs overlooking the set on the side of the adjacent hill.  It was quite an elaborate setup of Jerusalem.  A city street with sheep running through and people leading camels (or in one case the camel leading the person).  The tomb of Lazarus.  The Garden of Gethsemane.  The hill of Calvary.  The tomb of Jesus.  The play was good.  The actors are all people who live in the city.  The dialogue is pre-recorded so it can be heard, and the actors lip synch.  That part is not too distracting, though, since you are too far away to see their lips anyway.  My favorite part was the ascension.  They have a huge zip line setup, and he actually rises up and disappears into the … trees.  It works.  It's dark.    Chris said yesterday that she was happy with the vacation.  I reminded her that we've only been gone a few days.  This is really just the start of vacation, isn't it?  Today we get to decide where we go next.  We realized that Branson, Missouri is not far from here.  That's Precious Moments heaven or something like that.  We went there one time, I think.  If not there, then I guess we'll head back to Texas and get started on that relaxing thing.   John 20:19-20 says, "On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, 'Peace be with you!'  After this he showed them his hands and side.  The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord."   Father, I felt some of that joy last night, especially with the potter guy.  I look forward to your peace.  Amen.