Last weekend I had an opportunity to do a show in a most unique venue.  The Conway Scenic Railroad, a sightseeing train in the mountains of New Hampshire, has a stop at a bakery / coffee shop called the White Mountain Cider Company.  The New Hampshire Humane Society rented the train for the afternoon with a scheduled stop at the WMCC.  There they 100+ passengers got off the train for 45 minutes, where they were treated to free donuts, a one woman band (inside the shop) and a juggling and magic show in the parking lot.  It was a wonderfully chilly New Hampshire day, with even an occasional  snowflake in the air.

This was, in a sense, street performing, in that I had to get the people to stop and then stay for the show, compete with background conversations, and be gracious when people walked away mid-show.  It has been a while since I've done this kind of show, but it came back quickly.  Being outside, I was able to juggle fire, which tends to grab and keep people's attention.  It was also the first show ever where I performed the Miser's Dream and Spirit Slates illusions.  Two tricks that have been around for centuries, and I had never done either. (Except a rough variation of the Miser's Dream I've done occasionally at times.)

The sense of community fun, a good cause, the smell of hot cider and fresh donuts, and the crowd of happy faces made for a great afternoon.  There was a time when I struggled with a 'secular' show, that is a show in which I don't overtly do routines based on Scripture, but not anymore.  I've been doing an in depth study of the Sermon on the Mount recently, and there's that whole passage of being the salt of the earth and the light of the world.  Light is overt; it actively shines and intrudes upon the darkness.  That is the shows where the Gospel is directly and clearly proclaimed.  But salt is different.  It is covert.  Its very presence is an agent of change, influence, and healing.  Please understand, I do not consider myself to have within myself the ability to effect the world that way just by showing up.  But Christ in me can, sometimes when I'm not even aware of His working.  That is the salt. 

So I would say to the hyper-evangelists (including the me of 25 years ago) that making kids laugh, creating family memories and helping promote the kind treatment of animals is also ministry.  I enjoy letting 'my light so shine before men', but it can be a real kick to sprinkle a little salt sometimes, too.