All God's chillun
Martin Sullivan
"Gangway for the Lord God Jehovah." There is a reverent hush and God enters. There are no more dramatic lines or stage directions than these in any play. They come from Marc Connelly's The Green Pastures (Penguin) written and produced forty-five years ago. It is a delightful and serious portrayal of Negro religion, neve, anthropomorphic, crude, but vital and compelling. God is portrayed in the homely but impressive figure of a benevolent elderly negro, given to smoking "ten cent seegars," tasting and judging "biled custahd" and presiding over an eternal fish fry. I turned back to read this play again and found myself once more strangely moved.
The Lord Jehovah is a compassionate, just patriarch, and probably looks like the Sunday School teacher who opens the play with
sTreheetat or November 30, 1974 most important miracles of all. 1-,e` gonter to pass one more mirac"; venly host, He calls for quiet, You all gonter help me and gSoa eddy n" be adgaot? Tend to dat tofelloajlitltle ler; stars? Git dat fixed up. You Itr one or two delightful instructions. "You know dat matter of dam rw° goes down to look at it. Before leaves on one occasion He aPP°111,t1,5 Gabriel as His working boss Wit practical.Heave na and e a when His world has been mace LI–pe oahnedros let iwt wings." re vTehael edt rai in stcheen dime% aaln eiso ts uadndderiY An when dat's done, let dare be sal you always gotta r'ar back and P"'",,another." And He does so, to giv" oceans, lakes and rivers. AS 3 matter of fact let dare be de earth. wiobdsermviersa,c‘l 'eosa. vg us "a place to dreen off dis firma' ment; mountains and valleYs• and tell Him so, and shrewdly Ile tells his friends as He eats their vides Him with the excuse to pa55. children think He has overdone d ssttaonridess otnoltdhetpoerhimis etcelarsosf. liGeaabv41 armed with thunderbolts awaiting offering of custard, "I kin taste de eggs and de cream and de sugar. 1 more wf rhma tait iesn. tI t. eAendds j ut that ta 'i trl miracle and provide some But flits tGhoed earthly r tp ehrlmy isinnersssi o n t oh he luorwl hseem ofl natural to Him and to them as sunrise and sunset seem to us. I4e and speak and plead with a living God who dwells in their midst and performs miracles which seem as people are real people who nre' modern evangelical moralist. Tile, And nd ptrheesnen cj uestofb eHfoisre fr'm God r th re regular t's When ayyosodepatsr,slees caize it's one of out and di')' 111Y abrelyt,waet4ne prothe is there be man."
A striking episode comes at
nctite
end of the play. The solemn
Old Testament doom is soundeu,„'ve repent of dese people dat in made and I will deliver de more." But this terrible decisle."5 continues to haunt God and Fie olf perplexed by the shadowy hpgaustrei.i. Hosea the prophet flitting door. "Don you know you calnite puzzle God?" He says to the Pee! on earth. "I'll tell you what ain't going to promise you anYrili;r0 I'm just feeling a bit low and !fa '.,down to make MYse little choemtteinr, wanders Inthe course of n oHni His visit as discovers a new attitYumdrsPlYeopileli talk about the God of mercy 14°2 w thhardo urgehv e suffering erti on g t hHeem , and was to found. Back in Heaven Gebji101 comes He is thinking. k " and ass u
e "MerCY;
muses, "through suffering. trying to find it too," He con tinu "Does it mean that even Gc'd mtl suffer?" And as He sits on the s_ hl oeoakrisnag vooui ct e :o oe rh tl oh oe kaautdsi einroc.ie703,t, goin to make Him carry it "Po it.. high hill. Dey goin to nail Huh Dat's a terrible burden for olr_!" to carry!" And the curtain falls
Martin Sullivan is Dean of St Patirs
Previous page
