1) Having that theatre background will certainly help you as a preacher.2) Those are certainly two very different subjects.
I like to believe, though, that neither of these responses is correct. I see a great parallel between the goals of theatre and the purposes of religious ritual. Below I have posted my scholarship essay for Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia. The question I have answered is: What are your convictions about one significant issue facing the church and/or society? How might the church make a faithful response to that issue?
Worship: Community Theatre
American churches have throughout their history been faced with the reality that in order for their communities to flourish, they must “compete” for followers. Religion must be attractive, more attractive than alternative activities in which people could engage. This “free market” religious culture, however, has led to a crisis in the Christian community. Seeking to lure people into our churches, we have sacrificed the language of our faith, devaluing the power and majesty of God and supporting the commercial, consumer culture that surrounds us. I believe that the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) can respond with creativity to reinvigorate the language of faith, and in doing this can reinforce the responsibility and commitment required to be a member of Christ’s church.
The language of the church is vitally important in our practice of Christian worship. How we speak of God and celebrate our relationship with Jesus Christ provide a foundation for our faith. Our culture continues to bombard us with images on television and the internet. We desire enjoyments that come at a click of a button or by dialing the telephone. We continually grow impatient and lackadaisical in our pursuits. If what we need cannot be easily attained, we seek something else. Seeking to meet these ever-changing desires, churches sacrifice theological depth and active worship engagement for a “consumer service” that relies on elements of popular entertainment to keep the attention of the congregation. I believe the reformed heritage of the Presbyterian Church (USA) uniquely prepares us to consider new ways of engaging our congregations in worship and maintaining the language of our faith.
Worship in the Presbyterian tradition has always been central to the life of the church body. Even amidst our modern culture and our technology, I believe that the Presbyterian Church possesses the creativity and the knowledge to maintain the majestic language of worship. 
There are several ways we can reinvigorate our worship so that the people who enter our churches see a vibrant body, seeking to commune with each other and with God. In his book John Calvin: A Sixteenth Century Portrait, William Bouwsma examines Calvin’s views on worship, and I believe his words speak to our worship today. Calvin believes that worship should involve the whole person. He particularly celebrates King David’s dance before the Ark of the Covenant as an example of the whole person engaging in worship. He states that we should, like David, “exercise ourselves and employ all our senses, and our feet, and our hands, and our arms, and all the rest, so that everything is put in the service of God and magnifies him” (Bouwsma 225).
The worship of our tradition, however, has moved away from Calvin’s original thoughts on the active participation of all people. Our worship tends to be rather stoic compared to Calvin’s view. Call and response prayers, reciting creeds, and hymn-singing are the primary ways in which the whole body of believers engages together. Now Calvin recognized that not all people worship most fully when dancing like David. Not being in the culture of the Hebrew people, we must discover new ways to engage the senses in our worship. When we find ways to utilize touch, taste, and smell as well as seeing and hearing, we can create a community actively engaged throughout the worship process, recognizing their relationships with each other and their need to respond to God’s call.
A more sensory practice of worship participation speaks to the Reformed belief about worship, that God is the audience and we are the performers. Soren Kierkegaard wrote in depth on this subject, talking about God as the “critical theatre-goer who looks on to see how the lines are spoken and how they are listened to.” In this case “the listener ... is the actor, who in all truth acts before God” (Kierkegaard 181). Kierkegaard is correct in his theatrical imagery of worship. He defines the theatrical role of the congregation as active listening before God. In our modern culture, however, many people feel connected when they “do” something. Understanding that God is the audience is not enough for a people of “doers.” We desire ways to express our love, our repentance, our response to God’s word actively in worship.
As a theatre major, I relate well to Kierkegaard’s understanding of the theatre of worship. I believe the metaphor speaks even more deeply. Anyone who studies theatre or participates in it seriously understands how much an actor must prepare before picking up a script. He must have the training and the vocal and physical technique required to engage the text. Once given the text, he breaks it down, discovers his character, and then begins to rehearse with others, always allowing for his role to change and grow. The actor prepares for weeks before presenting his work for an audience. If we believe that worship is a drama presented to God by the congregation and the worship leaders, we must recognize the necessity to prepare the community for the performance.
Recognizing that the bulletin is the “script” for the service, we must take the time outside of worship to study our “text.” We must examine the prayers and the creeds used in the service. We must familiarize ourselves with the hymns and practice them before our performance for God. This can occur through a variety of study classes on worship participation. Active participation of members, though, also requires their aid in crafting the service. We must call on our participants, young and old, to join with our pastors and music leaders to write prayers that come from the people and are read by the people. We must look for ways to engage the biblical text actively in worship that involves more than a “lay reader.” Making worship the responsibility of the community requires that we study the language of our faith and look for new ways to express what we believe about God.
When we engage the body of believers in our worship, everyone sees that he or she has something “at stake” in the worship process. Active engagement also helps us to understand the importance of worship for our daily life of faith. Joining in community to experience the sacred is a rare occasion in our modern culture that celebrates individualism. We need this time of community, and we long to participate actively in it. When we do this, we educate our people in the language of our faith, we place God at the center of our worship and our lives, and we reinforce that we can only be Christians in community, worshiping and serving God together.
