Ideas That Didn’t Work: Christmas Eve

The ideas was awesome…
It was Christmas Eve. We had created set pieces on a giant turntable – it would turn three different times during the service, giving us three different looks. The concept was that we would quickly close our curtain, turn the turntable 1/3 of the way round, and have a completely different look. A little while later we would do it again. Like I said, awesome!

Rehearsal, no problem. The first few services, no problem. Then, in one of the most crowded services, the turntable got stuck. The set piece was two stories tall, and it was HEAVY. And it wasn’t moving. We grabbed every single person that we could to get it to turn. EVERY single person… Including the person who was supposed to be directing the taking of the offering… Including anybody who might have had the ability to “tap dance” and talk until we were able to get things taken care of…

So – the curtain stayed closed for more than 10 minutes. With no explanation. And no offering taken. On Christmas Eve. That was 15 years ago, and only now can I begin to see a funny side to it…