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January 10, 2009
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=========================== TODAY'S ARTICLE ==========================
Marcus Welby, Jesus Christ Superstar, & Bill Parcels, by Danny Sims
Marcus Welby, Jesus Christ Superstar, Bill Parcells and the Dallas
Cowboys ... I promise, I'm gonna get around to all of them in this one
article!
Some of you may remember the old TV commercial when Robert Young
(previously the star of "Marcus Welby, M.D.") famously said, "I'm not a
doctor, but I play one on television." I think he was selling aspirin
or something.
I got to thinking about that line when I ran across Ted Neely's story.
Since the 1970s, Ted Neeley has been playing the part of Jesus in the
musical "Jesus Christ Superstar."
He's 64 years old, roughly 30 years older than Jesus was when He went
to the cross. But no matter his age, Neely keeps playing Jesus to large
audiences. Neeley recently said this:
I'm only playing Jesus. He got it right the first time. I'm still
working on it, you see. The key word there is 'playing.' I'm a
performer. I'm pretending to be something which I am not.
If this quote were applied to our faith, there is something I can
relate to as a follower of Jesus. But, there is also something here
that bothers me.
"You are what you are!"
In the "relate to" category, disciples are surely not Jesus. And I like
the humility of saying "I'm still working on it." That's good stuff.
As for what troubles me, genuine disciples are not "pretending to be"
anything. We understand faith is not a role to be performed. Faith is a
life transformed. Heroes of faith are not great actors on stage. They
are ordinary men and women who have taken the words of Jesus seriously
when He says "lay your life down" (John 15:13) or "take up your cross"
(Luke 9:23).
This is what you might call "Bill Parcels theology." You know how he is
fond of saying, "You are what you are." That applies.
I was thinking about this recently, watching the Dallas Cowboys get
blasted by the Philadelphia Eagles and lose out on the playoffs. "You
are what you are ..." Well, they are not so good. Which brings me full
circle, back to Marcus Welby and that aspirin ...
---------
(c) 2009 Danny Sims <dannysims@altamesa.org>. Used by permission.
RELATED LINKS:
* Disciple
http://www.heartlight.org/wjd/matthew/0407-wjd.html
* Life Outside of Football
http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200702/20070206_outsidefootball.html
* Hate Football?
http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200407/20040720_hatefootball.html
* Altamesa Church of Christ
http://www.altamesa.org
This article can be found on the web at:
http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200901/20090110_billparcells.html
=========================== FEATURED PRODUCT =========================
EVERY MAN'S BATTLE: WINNING THE WAR ON SEXUAL TEMPTATION ONE VICTORY AT A TIME, by Stephen Arterburn, et. al.
In this compassionate brother-to-brother guide, the authors tackle
sexual temptation head-on, offering a practical battle plan for
men--married or single--who desire to live by God's standard.
http://shopping.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/link?153
Find more great books, CDs and videos at the Heartlight store! With
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