05/26/2024 ~ Trinity Sunday ~ The First Sunday after Pentecost ~ Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Isaiah 6:1-8; Psalm 29; Romans 8:12-17; John 3:1-17 ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/952299369

Subtext: in Praise of Actors

“They (that is the Seraphs) cried out to one another and said: / ‘Holy, holy, holy is Yahweh, God, the omnipotent; / the whole earth is full with the glory of God.’” — Isaiah 6:3.

I have, perhaps too often for some, mentioned my involvement with professional theater. But if memory serves I have not mentioned this particular involvement from the pulpit.

While still in my very early twenties I attended acting classes at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, a well known training ground for professional actors. In no particular order, among those who attended the Academy over the course of many years are Lauren Bacall, Anne Hathaway, Anne Bancroft, Danny DeVito , Robert Redford.

But since I was and am a writer, not an actor, why did I take classes at the American Academy? I wanted to know what actors know about doing their job. My premise was, if I knew how actors went about their work I, therefore, would know how to better work with, communicate with, and write for actors.

So, how do actors work? I suppose this next statement is flattering to we who are writers. Actors learn they first have to work with the text, work with what is written.

But there’s something beyond the text. And this next statement is not particularly flattering to writers. No matter how good the writing is, the text still just sits on the page. Anyone’s words from Shakespeare to Shaw to Connolly— sit on a page. The truth is words are somewhat dry, dead.

An actor breathes life into the words, makes words leap off the page, fully vibrant, finds the emotions which lie therein, enables the text to resonate with the audience. So the next and obvious question is, ‘how do actors do that?’

Actors work with what theater people call subtext. Subtext is content not announced explicitly by the words, the characters, the author. In short, what the actors need to do is to discover, communicate and help an audience understand is the meanings implicit in the text.

Now, I personally think it’s nearly impossible to plumb the depth of human emotions with mere words. Therefore, an actor’s job is to convey what is not explicit, what is not spelled out, to convey what’s hidden there in the words.

Here is simply a truth. There are many levels to an emotion and a word is simply that: a word; it does not tell anyone about the levels of emotion in its possession. In fact, you can use all kinds of words to try to express emotion— joy or anger or hope, for example. But think of how many levels of emotion can be found in each of those words. The writer can only imply the levels of emotional life in each word.

The actor helps an audience grasp the various levels, the heights and depths of the emotions, trapped in the words. In attempting to convey those emotions an actor tries to communicate through tone, attitude, tempo, posture, facial expression— tries to convey something about the underlying thoughts, the motives that the actor has found, the desirers of character.

We need to realize subtext is not exactly hidden but it also must be discovered. Emotion exists inside the words. An actor tries to transmit the meanings discovered therein. (Slight pause.)

This is recorded in the Scroll of the Prophet Isaiah: “They (that is the Seraphs) cried out to one another and said: / ‘Holy, holy, holy is Yahweh, God, the omnipotent; / the whole earth is full with the glory of God.’” (Slight pause.)

Here is another piece of my personal story you’ve heard, perhaps too often for some. I grew up in the Roman Catholic tradition. I, thereby, know these words from Isaiah— holy, holy, holy— are quoted in the prayer known as the Sanctus in the Roman Mass. But what’s the subtext here? What’s underneath, hidden in the words?

That’s a question we need to ask every passage in Scripture: what’s the subtext? As I have said here before, only rarely should we ask what the text says. We should ask ‘what does the text mean?’ Therefore, the corollary question is ‘What’s the subtext telling us?’

I think when it comes to Scripture just like an actor works with subtext to discover emotional content, we need to do the same kind of work with subtext in Scripture. Why? We need to try to uncover the depth of the emotional content in the text.

So, what is the subtext here in these words from Isaiah? Let’s start where actors start: with the words, with the text, with what is written.

What does the word “holy” mean? Holy means worthy of respect, devotion, inspiring awe, reverence. That makes sense. After all, this is about God.

That brings us to the next word to be considered, perhaps the pivotal word in this passage: glory. The underlying Hebrew word is kabod. As is true with many Hebrew words, kabod has multiple meanings. And often meaning depends on the context.

In this context kabod— glory— means the overwhelming presence of God and within that reality of presence, the extent of the goodness of God, the depth of the love of God. In short, kabod informs us about the profound emotional presence of God.

Well, how about what the seraph, an angel, does in touching the mouth of the Prophet with an ember? This is an action of purification, an eradication of guilt, corruption. But taken literally an ember on the lips sounds painful, does it not? How can that be taken in a literal way?

It can’t. And that’s rather the point. What’s the subtext? The subtext comes back to the word kabod which informs us about the reality of the emotional presence of God.

It is not the ember which purifies. No mere action purifies. It is God— the reality of the emotional presence of God— it is God Who purifies. (Slight pause.)

Please let the emotional content of that statement sink in for a minute. The subtext says God purifies. Yes, a writer might tell the story and say an ember touched to lips brings purification. But that’s just an illustration, a way to tell the story.

What’s really happening? The reality of the story, the subtext of the story says God alone, God Who is holy, purifies. (Slight pause.)

That leads us back to the Sanctus, holy, this use of the words from Isaiah in the Roman Mass as the Sacrament of Communion is celebrated. Why use Isaiah there, at the sacred ritual of Communion?

The church connects the words of Isaiah to Communion because of what the subtext says. God purifies all things, so around the table we are all purified and we are all welcome. (Slight pause.)

You see, unless we grapple with the subtext we do not and will not know that these words are about emotions. This is about emotional attachment, the emotional attachment of God to humanity and, thereby, our emotional attachment to God.

I need to add one more item. The passage offered this morning ends with the words “Here am I; send me!” Why? That is the emotional result of the subtext. God loves us so much that we respond to this God who loves. (Slight pause.)

I believe life, especially emotional life, lives in and through the subtext. Mere words cannot fully describe our emotions. Actions, reactions, interactions happen but the subtext is where our emotional life is lived out. (Slight pause.)

Well, here’s something else you have heard me say, perhaps too often for some. God loves us and wants to covenant with us. God invites us to love one another.

That, my friends, is the subtext of all Scripture, the subtext of life. God loves us and wants to covenant with us. God invites us to love one another. Amen.

05/26/2024
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is a précis of what was said: “This is something else I’ve said here before. Oscar Hammerstein II who wrote the lyrics, the words to the music of Richard Rodgers for The Sound of Music, Oklahoma, South Pacific and Carousel said music is what happens when the emotional content is too great to be contained by mere words. The God of our faith— creator, redeemer, sanctifier— is a loving God, is a God Who engages our emotions, a God Who engages our emotional life. And emotions cannot be defined with mere words.”

BENEDICTION: We are people of the Spirit. We are children of God bearing witness to God’s love, truth, justice, equity and peace each day. And may the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, and the presence of the Spirit of Christ which is real and available, keep our hearts and minds in the knowledge, love and companionship of the Holy Spirit, this day and forever more. Amen.