A satisfying event

Thia afternoon we finally were able to present the Reader's Theater version of The Gospel of John, or, as we called it, The Gospel of Johanna, because we took up the suhggestion of Robert Kysar, who is a well-known scholar of Johannine writings and for years was on the faculty of Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Alanta, GA. He suggested in his book, John, the Maverick Gospel, that the author of the Fourth Gospel could have been a woman. We had a good congregation that obviously was intent on our reading and moved by it. There is a video of the reading at the end of today's service on YouTube - just search "Guilford Community Church," scroll to February 26th, and push the little red ball at the bottom of the screen ahead. The reading was of "The Voice," version of the Gospel with the added feature of change of gender of key roles. Thus, e.g., "Jesus" became "Yeshua," a woman. God "the Father" became "the Mother, etc. The purpose of this change was to stimulate thought. I called it a "thought experiment," and urged individuals in the the congregation to pay attention to their thoughts and feelings as they listened. It proved to be quite powerful.

Reading the Gospel.

A group portrait of readers after the reading.