The Great Mouse Detective

Madison woke up this morning, and sure enough, we had to take our first sick day of the year.  It wasn't a big fever, but there was a significant amount of coughing and a  non-stop runny nose.  So we woke up... and went back to sleep!

It's been a busy day preparing for a big Christmas production upstairs in the main sanctuary, the "A Christmas Carol" version we're doing downstairs, and of course our Wednesday night message as well.

First, here's the rough draft of what the hosts are saying in between a lot of songs and video work.  It's only three segments, but they serve to quickly move things along and give everyone time to set things up backstage.

SEGMENT ONE
 

LANCE walks out briskly with a smile on his face, one of the hosts of the show you’re about to see, feeding off the energy of the musical number that just took place.

LANCE:  “Hello everyone and welcome to Christmas in Color, an unforgettable experience that will open your eyes to… (looking around) I’m sorry, but where’s my co-host?  (Looking backstage)  Where is he?”

JOSH: (from audience) “I’m here!  I made it just in time!  Talk about a Christmas miracle! (Emerging from audience, walking in between rows, accidentally bumping ushers and trying to make his way up to the stage)  You should see that traffic out there - what a jingle jam!”

LANCE: “Our program starts at 6 pm, Josh.”

JOSH: “I know, but I just had to do a bit of last-minute shopping!  Just wait until you see what I got you!”

LANCE: “Great.  Now I have to get something for you.  And go out into the traffic, and the stress, standing in line forever for an overpriced Starbucks in the wrong color cup, and hear Mariah Carey sing ‘All I Want for Christmas is You’ seventy more times.”

JOSH:  “Gosh, fella.  It sounds like a little bit of Christmas color has been sucked right out of you.”

LANCE: “Can we just get started with our show please?”

JOSH: “Sure thing!  And this is something I know will get even a little Scrooge like you in the Christmas spirit.  Hey, Lance!”

LANCE: “What?”

JOSH: “What’s the difference between a Christmas alphabet and a regular alphabet?”

LANCE:  “I don’t know.  What.”

JOSH: “The Christmas alphabet has NOEL.  GET IT?  NOEL?”

LANCE:  (enduring the joke, putting hand on forehead)

JOSH: “The word NOEL has it’s root in French, and could mean either birth - or news!  And this time of year, there’s no better news than the story of our Savior’s birth!  And….. here it is!”

JOSH makes elaborate - and ridiculous - hand gesture towards center stage as he scoots backwards off STAGE RIGHT.  LANCE rolls eyes, and wanders off STAGE LEFT.

SEGMENT TWO

LANCE walks out briskly to CENTER STAGE

JOSH comes out carrying a clump of lit CHRISTMAS LIGHTS that seem to intermittently blink.

JOSH:  “Will?”

LANCE:  “What are you doing?”

JOSH:  “Shhhhh!  Will?”

LANCE:  “Will?”

JOSH:  “Will… you get into the Christmas spirit now?”

JOSH starts laughing at LANCE.

LANCE:  “That’s pretty strange, Josh.”

JOSH: “I don’t know.  I mean…I’ve seen stranger things!”

LANCE rolls his eyes at this reference, but we move on quickly.  If you get it, you get it.

LANCE:  “Josh, I don’t mean to be all ‘Bah Humbug,’ but this year, maybe you’ve sort of taken it a little overboard with this Christmas thing?”

JOSH:  “What are you talking about?”

LANCE:  “Well, to start with, this outfit?  Plus you had your tree up in October.  And can we talk about when we’re supposed to start listening to Christmas music?”

JOSH:  “I always start a little early, you know that.”

LANCE:  “July, Josh.  You were listening to Christmas music in JULY!”

JOSH:  “I can’t help it!  Christmas is the greatest thing to ever happen to any of us.”

LANCE:  “Yes, of course you’re right.  I think we can all agree about that.  The very first Christmas gift, it was the greatest one ever given to any of us.”

JOSH:  “Right in the midst of a gloomy world, the Light of the World broke through the bleak darkness, with an explosion of color.”

SEGMENT THREE

JOSH walks briskly out to CENTER STAGE

JOSH:  (repeating lyric from previous song)  “Let your heart be light.  It’s easy when you cast your cares upon him.  And it’s…”

JOSH looks around.

JOSH:  “Hey, where’s Lance?”

LANCE comes running out from backstage, now wearing a more colorful tie, a festive hat, and carrying a gift.

LANCE:  “Ho, ho, ho!  Have yourself a merry little Christmas, Josh!”

JOSH:  (laughing) “Ha!  It seems like someone here has gotten into that holiday spirit!”

JOSH opens his gift as LANCE speaks.

LANCE:  “Yes, I think you’re right. You know, it’s just a matter of looking at things the right way.”

JOSH:  (seeing his gift) “It’s a kaleidoscope!”

JOSH immediately begins looking through kaleidoscope as LANCE speaks.

LANCE:  “If you spend all your time looking at the world, it can get pretty dark.  But when we focus on Jesus…”

JOSH:  (looking through kaleidoscope)  “Whoa!  It’s like an explosion of color!”

LANCE:  “Yes, you’re right.  It can be a Christmas… in Color!”

JOSH puts down kaleidoscope as the two turn to audience.

LANCE and JOSH:  “Merry Christmas!”

This is for our production, "Christmas in Color."  Daddy also helped write the video segments, with the goal being "short" and "down to earth" in tone.  That means we don't use phrases like "the gloomy realms of earth were in hopeless decay" or "a multifaceted kaleidoscope of prismatic bliss."  I just made those up.  This is what we came up with:

     Not too long ago, our world was a pretty dark place, without hope, without joy, without color. At the start, we had a great thing with God. But just like that, it fell apart. Of course, it was our own fault. And as much as we tried to bring the color back on our own, all our pursuits added up to nothing. Sometimes when all is lost, it helps to look up. In this case, to a star above a little town called Bethlehem. A beautiful signal that everything was about to change.

     In the dark of night, some shepherds were tending their sheep, when suddenly an angel appeared before them.  

     He said today in Bethlehem a baby has been born, a savior for all mankind.  Then, the glory of God blazed all around them, with a host of angels praising God.  The darkness of night was gone, and for the first time, these shepherds saw the Light of the World that we’d been missing all along.

     The first and greatest gift of Christmas ever given was one that came wrapped in swaddling clothes.  It was the baby Jesus, God’s Son, and His gift to all of us.

     It's nice being the writer of material that goes out to quite a few people at different campuses and online.  We do this a lot, but this week we've been pretty busy, and it's a big Christmas service upcoming.

     And we wrap up "Get a Clue" as well.  Tomorrow will be the last night of the mystery-themed series, and we knew it would be a lot of fun - three of us, at least - to end the series with a message dedicated to "The Great Mouse Detective."  What a fun series this has been!

     To "study" for this message, and to prepare a preaching outline, the three of us watched "The Great Mouse Detective" tonight.  Madison doesn't remember watching it, but tonight with some popcorn and hot chocolate too, we all enjoyed going on the hunt for clues again.

     In fact, as we wrap up this post, here's what Daddy wrote tonight after watching the movie:

HOST:  “It’s been a fun series, hasn’t it?  With all our mysteries and messages, hopefully by now you can say you’ve gotten a clue!  But hold on - we’re not done quite yet.  We’ve got one more service tonight, and one more message we were all excited about doing.  Has anyone ever seen “The Great Mouse Detective?”

CUE SLIDE:  “THE GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE”

HOST:  “This is a fun movie about a mouse named Basil of Baker Street.  He lives right beneath Sherlock Holmes’ house, and just like Sherlock, he goes and solves all kinds of mysteries.  In this adventure in “The Great Mouse Detective,” a new friend named Dawson shows up with a little girl, and let’s just say that Basil isn’t exactly anxious to help out.  Let’s take a look now and you’ll see what I’m talking about.”

CUE CLIP 1:  OLIVIA’S MISSING FATHER (9:02 - 11:29)

HOST:  “As you just saw, at first, Basil didn’t want to be bothered to help a little girl that shows up at his door.  And that goes against our advice in this first point.  Let’s take a look.”

CUE SLIDE:  POINT ONE - DON’T IGNORE THE SMALL DETAILS

HOST:  “Don’t ignore the small details.  Basil was too busy.  And in our Bibles, let me tell you about this church worker who had a similar problem.  He was supposed to be helping people out, and sure enough, it just so happened that he saw a guy who needed serious help.  I mean, the man was there lying near-dead alongside the road.  Here’s a chance to be a hero, right?  Let’s see what he did.”

CUE SCRIPTURE:  Luke 10:31 NIRV

HOST:  (reading) “A priest happened to be going down that same road. When he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.”

CUE SLIDE:  GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE

HOST:  “He didn’t do anything to help, did he?  And before you start pointing your finger at this guy, or accusing Basil of being selfish, think back on those times you were too busy to help someone else.  There are people in need all the time, especially this time of year.  That’s why it’s so important to stop, and show compassion.”

CUE SLIDE:  OLIVIA

HOST:  “The neat thing about the story with Basil is this:  when he showed Olivia compassion, suddenly a new opportunity showed up for him.  You saw it for yourself:  his case was suddenly blown wide open, and he had a solid lead!”

CUE SLIDE:  GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE

HOST:  “Now, It shouldn’t be your reason for helping others, but you never know what doors might open just for you when you show love for others.  The Bible says this in Luke 16:10.”

CUE SLIDE:  “LUKE 16:10 NIRV”

HOST:  “Suppose you can be trusted with something very little. Then you can also be trusted with something very large. But suppose you are not honest with something very little. Then you will also not be honest with something very large.”

CUE SLIDE:  GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE

HOST:  “Doing small things leads to doing bigger things.  Don’t ignore those small opportunities to show compassion.  They add up.  In fact, for Basil, things quickly led to something greater.  The villain left a vital clue, and Basil was ready for action.  Let’s take a look.”

CUE CLIP 2:  TOBY ON THE SCENT (23:12 - 25:40)

HOST:  “It was easy for Toby to follow the trail left behind by that criminal Fidget.  There was a scent!  But with whatever you do, you yourself leave behind a legacy as well.  If your life’s actions left a scent behind, would it smell a little funny?  Check out point two.”

CUE SLIDE:  “POINT TWO - YOUR PAST LEAVES A TRAIL”

HOST:  “Your past leaves a trail.  For that priest in the Bible story, we’ll forever know him as the guy who walked on the other side of the road, and refused to show compassion.  But what about you?  Are you a person who shows love?  Or, are you a person with a track record that absolutely stinks?”

CUE SLIDE:  GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE

HOST:  “Fortunately, Basil seems to be on the right track.  But his friend Dawson is about to make a major mistake, one you’ll see in this clip right now.”

CUE CLIP 3:  DAWSON LOSES FOCUS (28:25 - 32:40)

HOST:  “So many distractions pulled Dawson’s focus away from the one thing that mattered.  He was supposed to watch the girl!  If only he kept his eyes on Olivia, things might have gone differently.  Don’t get on to Dawson too much - the same thing happens to us all the time.  We lose focus!  That’s why we have point three.”

CUE SLIDE:  POINT THREE - KEEP FOCUSED”

HOST:  “Keep focused.  Life can throw out some distractions, and we lose focus of what’s important.  We’re supposed to be helping others, and not spending all our time playing video games or watching Netflix.  We’re supposed to be giving or volunteering, and not looking at our cell phones or checking social media accounts.   We’re supposed to be showing compassion!  Let’s listen to Paul’s advice in Philippians.”

CUE SLIDE:  “PHILIPPIANS 3:15 (MSG)

HOST:  “So let's keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us.” Philippians 3:15 (MSG)

CUE SLIDE:  GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE

HOST:  “All these distractions aren’t necessarily a bad thing on their own, but when they cause you to lose focus, that’s where trouble comes up!  And speaking of which, it seems as if Basil has run into some trouble now.  He and Dawson found Olivia, but were caught in a trap.  It looked pretty bad for them, as you’ll now see for yourself.”

CUE CLIP 4:  GOODBYE SO SOON (56:02 - 58:28)

HOST:  “It’s a good thing Basil’s friend was there to snap him out of his funk.  Basically, he said our last point here.”

CUE POINT FOUR - DON’T GIVE UP

HOST:  “Don’t give up!  It’s a simple message.  Sometimes we encounter a little trouble, and that’s all it takes to get us wanting to quit.  But in the Bible, Paul said it this way.”

CUE SLIDE:  “GALATIANS 6:9”

HOST:  “Let us not become tired of doing good. At the right time we will gather a crop if we don’t give up.”

CUE SLIDE:  GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE

HOST:  “Basil assumed the worst and did just that:  he gave up.  But Dawson reminded him that there were others counting on him.  There were others out there that needed saving, and they’d be lost if Basil gave up.  And suddenly, Basil realized he had to do something to help the others."

HOST:  "But consider this:  God has a job for you to do, and others are counting on you!  He has great plans for you, and He is counting on you to do the very thing you were created to do.  Please don’t let Him down.  This is a season where we should show compassion the most.  It doesn’t take a master detective’s eyes to see there are people in need all around us.  This season, it’s time to share God’s love, and be a hero in other people’s lives, the one He has called us to be.”

HOST:  “Let us pray.”