Our daughter-in-law designs stage sets for the German theatre. I had always taken this sort of thing for granted until she came into our family. Through Birgit, I was exposed to the subtleties of mood and nuance, of color and properties, of fabric and dimension, and how it all blends with the writer and director to bring the audience to a special point.

After seeing one production of a deeply moving play, the writer and director came from the wings to interact with the audience. Their purpose was to disclose to us what they had in mind, how they went about achieving it, and to reveal the behind-the-scenes thinking of director, writer, and set designer. What was hidden was revealed. What was implicit became explicit.

That is not unlike God in this portion of Jeremiah's word to the captive…