In the upstairs foyer of Emerald City Bible Fellowship church, just a quick walk down Rainier Ave. from the Othello light rail station, you can find a list of Christian jokes on a laminated wall poster.
How do we know Adam was the world’s fastest runner? “He was first in the human race.” What’s the best way to study the Bible? “Luke into it!” Who was the Bible’s best baby-sitter? “David. He rocked Goliath into a deep sleep.”
Running, soul-searching, death: As audience members walked past the poster and into the church’s nave (bare, except for a purple flag with a white cross), the jokes had an eerie resonance with the powerful, occasionally shout-provoking production that was about to begin.
Last weekend, director Ryan Purcell of The Williams Project [now The Feast] walked onto the stage, paused in front of the audience, and said: “Some of you came here because you’re into theater, and you want to watch it like theater. Some of you came because this is your church and you want to watch it like church. That’s fine. Do you.”
And they did.