Grace

Today was the second-to-last showing of the student-run Xperimental Theatre's much-anticipated show, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog: The Musical! Incredibly exciting show; I hope you got the chance to see it. We anticipated massive demand for it, and so we managed to fit 84 seats in the theatre and 8 shows in the run, but even this proved not to be enough. I've been house managing tonight and we had literally dozens of people show up without reservations, hoping to see the show. It was with a heavy heart that we informed most of them that they wouldn't be able to get in. Apparently we didn't emphasize the fact that reservations were required enough.

But then, about 20 minutes before the show's start, the director talked it over with the cast and crew and decided to put on a second show! We got to tell everyone we'd turned away (who hadn't already left) that they would be able to come in! I'm sitting outside the second show now; apparently we filled the house about halfway again.

Anyway, this whole mess struck me as an example of grace. No one, especially not the house managers, thought these people would get to see the show. They should have gone home disappointed. Only a last-minute intervention by the director (who is amazing, by the way) reversed their plight. The way I described it, the parallels with our situation with God are clear. The corruption in all of our hearts and its fulfillment in the evil we all do separate us from God in His perfection. The fate we justly deserve is condemnation, but Jesus' intervention--in the form of His sacrificially paying the penalty for us--lets us have communion with God anyway.

If you realize the depth of the problem this switchup solves--our unimaginable 'screwed'-ness--then the gospel will be the best news you've ever heard. I was ecstatic to be able to tell people they'd be able to see the show after all, let alone how happy they must have been! Grace really is amazing--unnatural, unjust, and essential.