How St. Edward’s is bringing blessing to Mount Dora High School’s theater program
Three times a year, I gather with a few dozen high school students in a darkened theater space. We sit in a circle, electronic candles flickering, soft instrumental music playing. There’s a bowl of water in the center, branches from a tree nearby, and plates of chicken nuggets cooling on a table in the back.
This isn’t youth group. It isn’t a church service. And yet, it’s some of the most sacred work I get to do as a youth minister.
For the past year and a half, I’ve had the privilege of participating in what Mount Dora High School‘s Tempest Theater calls “The Blessing of the Stage.” It’s a tradition that goes back several years at the school, and one that the current drama teacher has enthusiastically embraced as a grounding experience for her students.
How It Works
The gathering is completely voluntary. We can’t require students to attend a religious event at a public school, and we’re very clear about what this is: a Christian faith-based moment of reflection and prayer. Students come from all kinds of backgrounds. Some are deeply religious, some have no faith tradition at all. We’re not there to convert anyone or preach at them. We’re there to offer encouragement, to speak truth, and to bless the work they’re about to do.
It starts with food, because hospitality matters and teenagers are always hungry. Then we move into the theater space (sometimes on the stage itself, sometimes in the drama classroom) and form a circle. I share a short reflection, usually rooted in Scripture but focused on universal truths that connect to their work as storytellers and artists.
Recently, as they prepared for their production of “Tempest in 10” (a series of 10-minute plays), I talked about truth-telling through story. About how Jesus taught almost entirely through parables, fictional stories that reveal what’s real about being human. About how theater, at its best, is sacred work because it asks people to embody truth and invite audiences into it. Whether they believe in God or not, I told them, what they’re doing matters. They’re serving these stories, and through them, they’re serving truth.
Blessing of the Stage Prayer (click to enlarge in a new window)
After the reflection, I pray over them with a written prayer asking God to guide their work, to help them embody their roles with sincerity and authenticity, to make the stage a sacred space where truth can be told. Then comes the ritual that gives this gathering its name.
Each student takes a branch, dips it in the water, and sprinkles their fellow cast and crew members while speaking words of gratitude and blessing over each other. The water gets everywhere. On costumes, on the stage floor, on technical equipment. It’s chaotic and beautiful. By the end, the stage itself is baptized, soaked with water and intention.
Why This Matters
As an Episcopal Deacon, my ministry is supposed to be partly in the church and partly in the world. That’s what the diaconate is for, to serve as a hinge between Sunday worship and the rest of life. And this gathering at Mount Dora High School is one of the clearest expressions of that calling I’ve experienced.
For some of these students, I might be the only church they ever encounter. They’re not going to show up on Sunday morning. They’re not joining youth group. But for an hour or two before tech week, they’re willing to sit in a circle with a guy in a clergy collar, listen to a reflection on Scripture, and participate in a ritual of blessing.
And here’s what strikes me every time: they’re hungry for it.
These students soak up biblical truths. They lean into the act of blessing each other. They take the prayer seriously. The world doesn’t always provide space for young people to engage with the sacred, to speak words of life over each other, to acknowledge that what they’re doing matters beyond opening night ticket sales.
The drama teacher told me she sees this gathering as a grounding experience for her students, and a good opportunity for the Church to speak life into them. I think she’s right. But I also think it’s more than that. It’s a reminder that the Gospel doesn’t just live inside our church walls. It lives wherever people gather to tell truth, to bless each other, to create beauty together.
An Invitation
I’m sharing this story because I think it’s worth celebrating the ways St. Edward’s shows up in our community. This is youth ministry, even though it doesn’t look like traditional youth ministry. This is evangelism, even though we’re not trying to convert anyone. This is the Church being the Church, going out, offering blessing, creating space for the sacred in unexpected places.
If you’re curious about this ministry, ask me about it sometime. If you have connections to the arts community in Mount Dora, there might be other opportunities like this waiting to be discovered. And if you simply want to pray for these students as they head into their production week, that would be a gift.
The stage is a sacred space. The students know it. The drama teacher knows it. And three times a year, we get to gather around that truth together, dip branches in water, and speak blessing over the work of storytelling.
That’s sacred work worth doing.
