Thursday, May 19,
2016
“I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! Revelation 3:15(NLT)
Frank Donoroma was a friend, and
a member of the church I served in 1990.
He was part of the lay leadership and sang in the choir. Frank lived right behind the church, and for
many years served as custodian. He was
the only one I knew who didn’t get dizzy climbing straight up a special ladder
we had to change light bulbs in the 40’-high sanctuary ceiling.
My friend earned a living with a
hammer in his hand, so it was no surprise that when he retired he took up
woodworking as a hobby. Often from my
study on the second floor of the church, I could hear him using all sorts of
machines to cut wood, or shape and smooth the contours of his latest
project. He was quite good. I still use a wooden wastebasket he made for
me.
As a craftsman who used wood for medium,
it was natural that when the church decided one Advent Season to offer to our
community an interactive “tour of Bethlehem,” Frank would play the part of the
carpenter…his character’s specialty would be, as the contract-holder with the
Roman officials, to make crosses for executions.
With church members as tour-guides,
visitors were taken to homes, shops, an over-crowded inn, and even a synagogue. The guides would ask questions of the citizens,
shop keepers and officials. Some of the
dialogue took on a life of its own!
Frank’s carpenter shop on the
tour was right after the nativity. He was
supposed to have one line; when the tour guide asked: And, what are you doing, sir? Frank would respond, Oh, I
make crosses; the Romans pay good money for my work.
The tour guide would make a face
for the visitors and tell them: Those
heartless Romans use those crosses to kill our citizens of Bethlehem; I hope
that little baby we saw in the manger never has to face that. Then she would turn back to our cross-making
carpenter and say: You should be ashamed…don’t you
know those heathen Roman dogs would even put the Messiah on one of those things
you’re making if he were here?
At that point Frank was supposed
to shrug and go back to pounding on the wooden crossbeam. But the words rolled out of his mouth before
he could stop them…
Lady, it’s just a job!
The words came out so naturally
and captured the spirit of indifference so well that we kept that dialogue
throughout the two nights of tours.
Hundreds of people met a man who casually made death sentence apparatus
seem just a part of normal living.
In a conversation weeks after the
Bethlehem Walk, Frank told me that his role as the “lukewarm cross-maker” caused
him to lose a few nights’ sleep. He said
that it was one thing to play a role in a pageant, saying that phrase over and
over, it’s just a job. But it
started him thinking about how he lives and if he’s anything like that
carpenter he played.
Frank said he began to look at
everything he did so differently. He
wanted to make certain he didn’t crucify Christ with his attitude and what he
did every day. Playing that role made
him think hard about the way he lived his life.
He said to me at one point: Preacher,
whoever that guy was who made the cross they hung Jesus on…I don’t ever want to
be him.
So…it wasn’t just a job after
all!
For You Today
What’s it going to be like
today? Just a job…or white-hot for
Jesus?
Go to VIDEO
[1] Title Image: By
Martin-loewenstein Ölbild von Żaba, Hamburg 2010, via Wikimedia
Commons
No comments:
Post a Comment