♪♪
Man:
Come over to stage right.
Man #2: Places everyone.
♪♪
That woman...
What's --
[ Horn honks ]
What's --
I got someplace to be.
[ Scoffs ]
I can't be doing all this.
[ Horns honking ]
Look, look, look, look,
look, look.
Look, look.
Look, look, look.
Hey!
Oh! No!
No, no, no.
Please stop.
-No, no.
-Please, please stop.
-Guy looks dead.
Please stop.
Go.
Look, look, look.
That's not the right way.
This is not how
it's supposed to be.
♪ One morning soon ♪
Look at this!
Look at this! Look!
♪ One morning soon ♪
♪ One morning soon ♪
♪ I heard the angels singing ♪
♪ They were singing
so sweetly ♪
♪ Sing so sweetly, oh, Lord ♪
♪ Singing so sweetly ♪
♪ I heard the angels singing ♪
♪ Singing "Don't cry no more" ♪
♪ No more ♪
♪ Don't cry no more ♪
♪ Don't cry no more ♪
Yeah!
Come on now.
♪ I heard the angels singing ♪
Yes!
♪ Singing
"We're going on home" ♪
-We're going home!
-Yes!
♪ We're going on home,
children ♪
♪ We're going on home ♪
-Yes, Lord!
♪ I heard the angels singing ♪
-Hey!
♪ Singing "Don't cry no more" ♪
[ All shouting ]
♪ Don't cry no more ♪
-Whoo!
-♪ Don't cry no more ♪
No more dyin'!
♪ I heard the angels singing ♪
-Yeah!
-♪ Singing "Don't cry no more" ♪
-Whoo!
-Whoo!
♪ Don't cry no m-- ♪
[ Gunshot ]
Oh, oh!
Oh, no, no, no.
Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh.
Oh, my gosh.
Oh, my gosh.
Oh, my gosh. Oh!
[ Whimpering ]
[ Drum beats ]
[ Drum beats continue ]
No!!
[ Sobbing ]
Isa, why?
Why, Isa, why?
[ Sobbing ]
Not like this.
Why it have to be like this?
Why her?
Why it have to be like this?
[ Sniffles ]
[ Sobbing ]
[ Sobbing continues ]
Isa.
Damn.
[ Drum beats continue ]
Oh, Isa.
Oh, Isa.
[ Bells ring ]
[ Sobbing ]
[ Bells ringing ]
[ Bells ringing ]
A sermon for new churches
from the Apostle Boutros.
So, what happens now?
We have witnessed
something miraculous.
Think of how we were
all strangers,
and now we are brothers
and sisters
united through her blood.
From Algeria to Persia,
we come together
through her resurrection.
And, brothers and sisters,
when I say "resurrection," I do
not mean that as a metaphor.
We will not die anymore.
We will not die in cages
or in prisons
or because the electricity
was cut off in the hospitals.
Even under strictest Roman
rule, one morning soon. Mm!
Apostle Boutros,
greetings from Smyrna.
I've started my own church here.
Your sermons mean so much to us.
Isa means so much to us.
We are also under Roman rule.
We want change.
We have some people here
who are a bit reluctant,
but we believe
by preaching every day
our new small church
will grow. [ Chuckles ]
We really bring out a whole
bunch of different people.
We are a great hit
with the prostitutes.
With love,
Bousena, Deacon of
the New Church of Smyrna.
Dearest sister Bousena,
what lovely news it is to hear
of your new church in Smyrna.
Please consider me a resource.
I marched with our Lord
and Savior
and am steadfast
when I proclaim her truth.
For she came to us not covered
in armor or riding a war horse.
No, she came to us
as a human being
and gave us
the gift of love.
The revolution will spread
thanks to people like you.
Dearest Boutros...
we are honored
to have received your letter
in support of
the New Church of Cappadocia.
And we love how Isa
offers us eternal life.
But we do have a bit of trouble
with something.
In addition to Isa, there is
a god we like a great deal here.
His name is Albion.
He looks
kind of like a giant bird.
Well, have you ever
really looked at a bird?
Like a giant bird
eating a lizard and been like,
"That's a terrible lizard,
okay?"
There's a word
for it our language,
but I don't know if there's
a word for it in Greek.
Anyway, that's
what Albion looks like.
Albion is the god of
destruction,
and we think he'd be
a great complement to Isa.
Can we tell people to worship
Albion as well as Isa?
We think they make
a good duo.
Excited to be a new member,
the New Church of Cappadocia.
Dearest
Church of Cappadocia,
regarding your letter,
there are several things
I would like to clear up.
It is not okay
to worship other gods.
The only god is God.
Albion sounds like the devil.
I do not think
you should worship it.
Please do not ask
other churches to worship it.
I hope this clears that up.
Dearest Apostle,
we feel surprised
by the tone of your letter.
We feel like Isa would
be cool with Albion.
Even now their statues sit side
by side on our altar.
Isa, who died
with a message of peace,
and Albion, who kills
with a fiery vengeance.
Isa did die, right?
Killed under Roman rule.
This would not have
happened with Albion.
When seeing his people
oppressed, he would save them.
He would destroy those who
sought to destroy his believers.
Sometimes a thing
that confuses us --
First of all,
birds eat fish here.
They don't eat lizards.
Second, Isa is not dead.
She died,
but she will come again.
Moreover, God does not
want more violence.
Then why has God allowed
the destruction of Palestine?
You say you are
all not dying,
but we heard very much
that you are.
And maybe you know something
about death that we don't,
but we don't appreciate
you slandering our god
when we have
welcomed yours.
P.S...
[ Laughter ]
...of course
birds eat fish,
but Albion has dominion
over land and sea.
With love,
the New Church of Cappadocia.
Greetings Boutros,
father of the church,
we write to you
from the Church of Smyrna.
You were previously in touch
with a local woman, Bousena,
but you will be corresponding
with us from now on.
Almost all of Smyrna
is part of the church now.
Some small practices
have changed,
but the spirit of God
is with us.
First, we kicked out
all the prostitutes.
You're welcome.
Second, we don't believe
in female priests,
so you will address
all your letters
to the father
of the Church of Smyrna, Amos.
With love, in His name.
Boutros:
Dear Church of Smyrna,
you have misengendered
God in your signoff.
God's pronouns are Her,
Hers or God's.
In the future
please write with love
in Her name or with love
in God's name.
I would like you to reinstate
Bousena as the deacon of Smyrna.
I also encourage you
to welcome back
all the prostitutes, as they
were some of the first people
to riot in the streets
with our Lord and Savior
and are always welcomed
at church.
With love in Her name,
the Apostle Boutros.
Dearest Boutros,
we did not read your latest
letter to the congregation.
Instead we wrote
one of our own, here it is.
Wives, obey your husbands
as you would obey the Lord.
The husband is the head
of the wife
just as Isa is the head
of the church people.
The church is His body
and He saved it.
Wives should obey their husbands
in everything,
just as the church obeys Isa.
Would you mind
if we shared this sermon
with the other new churches?
Boutros:
Dearest sisters and brothers,
let us love one another,
for love is of God.
And everyone that loves
is born of God and knows God.
For understand that if God
is in every human life,
then when you hate
each other, you hate God.
When you deny each other,
you deny God.
Power to the people always,
the Apostle Boutros.
Dearest Apostle Boutros,
from the Apostle Siman
of the Church of Galilee.
We have an issue with the
sermons you've been sending out.
Your most recent sermon,
all who believe in God
will have eternal life --
We believe [chuckles]
it's thoroughly wrong.
It feels strange to us
that we must remind you this,
but Isa came to us,
the Jewish people
of Palestine,
not the Jews of Mizrahim
or the Jews of Ashkenaz,
but to us very specifically.
At first we did not mind
that you spread the word
around the world
to our kinfolk,
but you have spread it
far beyond that.
I don't even know
where Cappadocia is,
but I hear that
they built two new churches.
We even heard
that Roman senators
now say they proclaim
Her word,
that they are inspired by
Her actions,
that they have
always been for the cause,
and that should
make you vomit.
The very same people
who killed our prophet
now tell everyone
that our God forgives them.
Even while they still
patrol our roads,
sanction our foods,
and shoot our children.
But according to you,
we must greet them in love.
Close ranks.
Not everyone will be saved.
God's message
is for God's people.
Sincerely,
the Church of Galilee,
the hometown of our Lord
and Savior.
Dearest Apostle Siman,
God's message is for all.
For though She came to us,
She meant for us
to widen our vision
as to who we include
as an "us."
Many people can relate
to our Isa story,
how their oppression
was like our slavery.
Our oppression is not like
slavery.
It is slavery.
Our suffering is not a metaphor
for heathens to appropriate.
It is currently
happening to us now.
We are dying
in the streets,
and you promise
these strangers eternal life.
You want me to stop
preaching the word of God?
I could never.
I can't both deal with
the criticisms from new churches
and the judgments
of the old ones.
Then stop recruiting
new churches.
If you want to proclaim
the truth of our God,
proclaim it.
Isa came to us.
She gave us love,
and they shot her to death.
And she's not coming back.
What we live in now
is the great disappointment.
If these new churches
do not acknowledge
that our living God died,
they do not believe.
You think that your optimism
is one of your strengths.
It is not.
You keep fostering
these new churches
and you will wind up with
a community of false believers.
You'll be ashamed
of who you call an ally.
Dearest Apostle Boutros,
I find myself surprised
to be writing this letter.
I am as old as you.
I was a soldier in Palestine
during the time
of Isa's rebellion,
but barely heard of Her.
I heard of the protests
after Her death.
I was dispatched
to a few of them.
It seems so strange to me
how you all marched
in the streets with coffins,
how at funerals
you would say
the dead
have achieved eternal life,
then sing and shoot your guns
off into the air.
Who could imagine
that this religion
would gain such popularity?
But, hey, now it seems
the whole world proclaims
Her truth,
even here in Rome,
which is why
I am writing to you.
Many people like me have joined
the Church of Rome --
new converts, people of means,
former governors,
true believers.
And corresponding
with other churches,
we have learned there is
no central place for the church,
and we wanted to invite you
to come here to make one
in Rome.
You can travel to all the new
churches with ease from here
and even spread
the word of God north
to people eager to hear it.
Isa said, "Give Caesar Caesar's
due and give God God's due."
Now let both things be
in one city. Don't you agree?
I swear to God, Boutros,
if you are even thinking
of entertaining this idea --
I understand
your apprehension.
I too am nervous about trusting
a church based in Rome,
but let us imagine
an emperor of Rome
who called himself
our brother.
The walls
would come down --
The walls
will not come down!
They'll just be emperors
who see fiery crosses
over fields of dead bodies
and praise God
for the carnage they created.
Don't talk to me about carnage.
I've seen it all my life.
I watched my God's blood
splattered on the ground.
But this has to end,
it has to --
Apostle, we are
awaiting your answer.
I have spent my whole life
telling people
we will not die anymore.
And I am old.
I near death myself,
and I know my work
of preaching the word of God
has not been completed.
Our homes are still
under occupation.
Our equality
still escapes us.
But I want our time
to be at hand.
Can't you see that?
Aren't you exhausted, too?
If your life gets easier
as you sit on a throne in Rome,
it won't mean that
She has come back.
It won't mean that
Her people have been saved.
It will mean that things
are easier for you.
Isa promised us salvation.
No, what Isa promised
is love
in a world without end.
To know that as we marched
and struggled
and had our blood
spilled in the streets,
She was there, too.
Her blood spilled with ours.
That when we died,
we wouldn't die alone.
But that's all
she promised.
And that may not
be enough for you,
but that's what
She gave us.
As empires fall to their knees
and worse kingdoms
take their place.
When it feels like
our whole history
is hundreds of years
of slavery in one direction
and a hundred years
of slavery looking forward,
She'll be right there with us.
[ People humming ]
She won't be in your palace.
She won't join you in safety.
Her truth will not be
carried out
by imperial laws
from a capital central.
It will be carried out
by protests in the streets,
by loving those who were taught
they were unlovable
and by feeding those
who have been starved.
What she gave us
is the strength
to keep fight
forever and ever.
Amen!
Singing
Singing one morning soon
One morning soon
[ Applause ]
♪ We're going on home,
children ♪
♪ We're going on home ♪
-Yes, Lord!
-♪ I heard the angels singing ♪
-Hey!
♪ Singing "Don't cry no more ♪
♪ Don't cry no more ♪
Whoo!
♪ Don't cry no more ♪
No more dyin'!
♪ I heard the angels singing ♪
