Everybody seems to be talking about Shakespeare at the moment. I awoke this morning for example, to discover that some of his plays contain classical Buddhist themes. And just prior to sitting down to compose this weekly ‘Thought,’ I discovered that his writings dominate American popular culture in the most impressive ways. Indeed, even President Obama took time out to visit the Globe when he was in London last week. Now you have to admit ‘that’s not bard’ (sorry) for a Stratford lad born in the dangerous and turbulent world of 16th century England.

I suppose it is only right we spend some time thinking about our most famous national poet on the 400th anniversary of his death, although sadly, we seem to know so little about his life. Bill Bryson makes this abundantly clear in his quirky yet extremely entertaining biography. Shakespeare he says, left nearly a million words of text, but his life story has ‘long been a thicket of wild supposition arranged around scant facts.’

I have been a fan of Shakespeare ever since I spent time studying the ‘Scottish play’ in Form 6, and not simply because of Blackadder’s hilarious take on the drama whose name we dare not mention. But of all the many quotes I have heard repeated over the past few weeks, the one that stands out most for me is the one referenced in the title of Bryson’s book. I’m talking about the well-known lines from act two scene of ‘As you like it.’ ‘All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players; they have their exits and their entrances.’

I like this observation because it reminds me that, as a Christian, I have been called to participate in a cosmic drama, a big story that began when God created the world. And furthermore, that my life is hugely significant because I have the capacity to change things for the better. There is an alternative of course. I could live out my life on the premise that I am a meaningless speck of dust. Or as Macbeth says so eloquently when hearing of his wife’s death: “To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow creeps in this petty pace from day to day, to the last syllable of recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

Sadly, we are instinctively if not incurably selfish. We are naturally driven to look after no-one. But the life of Jesus shows us that it need not be like this. For it is possible to view Christ as a kind of prototype, a glimpse of what human beings are capable of becoming. Viewed this way, life becomes all about giving and loving, not grabbing and demanding.

The well-known New Testament scholar Tom Wright once suggested that it can be helpful to compare human history to an unfinished Shakespearean drama, and to believe that we can take part in the final act of the story. We have been told the plot he says: God wants to rescue the creation He loves from its bondage to death and decay. We know the end of the story too: God wins. If Wright is correct, it makes sense to live the way the author expects us to live. Put simply, we should do all we can to copy the behaviour of Jesus who went around ‘doing good’ whenever, and wherever possible.

Rob James is a Baptist Pastor broadcaster and writer who currently operates as a church and media consultant for the Evangelical Alliance Wales. He is available for preaching and teaching throughout Wales and can be contacted at [email protected]