Dust Thou Art ... Art Thou Dust?
Drama
ThespianTheology
Lent/Easter
In preparing to write this, the third Ash Wednesday homily/drama, I was running out of ideas -- until I read Psalm 103:14: "For he knows how we were made; he remembers that we are dust."
Suddenly, I heard lines from a poem I'd been forced to memorize a half-century ago:
Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.
Now, who wrote that? Must've been Edgar A. Guest, I thought: he was always penning bromides like that. Imagine my chagrin when I discovered that the author was none less than the great Henry Wadsworth Longfellow!
Having Hank Longfellow deliver the homily seemed appropriate; he was something of a nineteenth-century guru. I think Hank's advice comes from this stanza:
Not enjoyment and not sorrow
Is our destined end or way;
But to live that each tomorrow
Finds us better than today.
Forget about dust! Be reconciled to God, and live that each tomorrow finds you better than today ...
Cast
Narrator
Reverend Dudley Dust
Parishioners (5+)
H. W. Longfellow
Props/Costumes
Dudley -- Bible, dish of black face paint, towel
(Narrator is at podium, stage left. Reverend Dudley Dust is at podium, stage right)
Narrator: Behold the Reverend Dudley Dust: a fire-'n-brimstone preacher who has his own interesting take on the meaning of Ash Wednesday ...
Dudley: Mah dear friends ... (Thumps his Bible), the B-a-a-b-l-e says that God knoweth how we were made: he knoweth our frame. In fact, God remembereth that we are but dust! Our days are like grass: as a flower of the field they flourisheth, but the wind passeth over it and it is gone -- and the place thereof shall know it no more! Abraham our father knew that he was but dust and ashes (Genesis 18:27); and Job had to repent in dust and ashes (Job 42:6); and the prophet Jeremiah called on the sons and daughters of Benjamin to put on sackcloth and roll in ashes, and mourn (Jeremiah 6:26) ... (Moves to center stage, holding a dish of black face paint) Now therefore, mah brethren and sistern, on this most penitential Ash Wednesday, I proclaim the coming of the day of the Lord: a day of clouds and thick darkness. The Lord asks you to return to him with all your hearts. Come forward and acknowledge that you are but dust, and to dust you shall return ... rend your hearts, mah friends!
(Parishioners enter stage right. As they approach Dudley, they are smiling; when he smears face paint on them, they begin to weep and moan)
Dudley: (As he smears face paint on each Parishioner) Dust thou art, to dust returnest!
(Before the line of Parishioners has finished, H. W. Longfellow enters down the center aisle)
Longfellow: Stop! (Dudley and Parishioners freeze)
A Psalm of Life
Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.
Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.
Not enjoyment, and not sorrow
Is our destined end or way,
But to live that each tomorrow
Finds us better than today.
Narrator: That was very nice! And who might you be, sir?
Longfellow: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ... but you can call me Hank.
Narrator: Longfellow? The Longfellow? As in:
I'm a poet,
And I don't know it,
But my feet show it:
They're long fellows!
Longfellow: The same ... But I really hate that silly verse, if you don't mind.
Narrator: Sorry, Hank ... But tell me: To what do we owe the honor of your presence today?
Longfellow: I just wanted to try to set this fellow (Points to Dudley) straight about this "dust to dust" thing ...
Narrator: Good idea, Hank! Let's re-wind a little bit here --
Longfellow: Re-wind? What do you mean?
Narrator: Oh, sorry ... It's a twenty-first-century thing, Hank. (Goes to Dudley and pokes him in the belly, as if pushing a re-wind button) There: Re-wind!
(Parishioners move backward. Dudley wipes off their faces with a towel, and they turn from scowling to smiling)
Dudley: (As he cleans off each Parishioner) Returnest dust to, art thou dust.
(After all Parishioners have moved back through the line)
Longfellow: (To Parishioners) Art thou dust?
Parishioners: (Pointing to Dudley) That's what he told us!
Longfellow: Dust thou art, to dust returneth,
Was not spoken of the soul!
At the deepest point of your being, you are anything but dust, my friends. You have an immortal soul! And your God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
Dudley: But what about repentance for their sins, Hank?
Longfellow: What about repentance for their sins -- and yours, Dudley? Repentance is the key to returning to the Lord -- but once we have repented, confessed, and returned, there's no need to dwell on our sins. In fact, God says that he blots out our transgressions -- for his own sake -- and he will remember our sins no more ... (To Dudley) That's Isaiah 43:25, by the way, Reverend. So if God has forgotten your sins, who are you to hold onto them?
Dudley: (Points to his Bible) But look at what the Psalmist says, Hank: "He knows how we were made; he remembers that we are dust."
Longfellow: (Takes Bible from Dudley) Re-wind ... is that the term? Re-wind a bit in that Psalm, Dudley:
"For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far he removes our transgressions from us."
(All Cast members move to center stage, kneel and recite from Psalm 103)
Cast: As for mortals, their days are like grass;
they flourish like a flower of the field;
for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
and its place knows it no more.
(All stand up)
But the steadfast love of the Lord is from
everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,
and his righteousness to children's children,
to those who keep his covenant and remember
to do his commandments.
The Lord has established his throne in the heavens,
and his kingdom rules over all.
(All raise their hands)
Bless the Lord, all his hosts,
his ministers that do his will.
Bless the Lord, all his works,
in all places of his dominion.
Bless the Lord O my soul!
(All bow and exit)
Suddenly, I heard lines from a poem I'd been forced to memorize a half-century ago:
Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.
Now, who wrote that? Must've been Edgar A. Guest, I thought: he was always penning bromides like that. Imagine my chagrin when I discovered that the author was none less than the great Henry Wadsworth Longfellow!
Having Hank Longfellow deliver the homily seemed appropriate; he was something of a nineteenth-century guru. I think Hank's advice comes from this stanza:
Not enjoyment and not sorrow
Is our destined end or way;
But to live that each tomorrow
Finds us better than today.
Forget about dust! Be reconciled to God, and live that each tomorrow finds you better than today ...
Cast
Narrator
Reverend Dudley Dust
Parishioners (5+)
H. W. Longfellow
Props/Costumes
Dudley -- Bible, dish of black face paint, towel
(Narrator is at podium, stage left. Reverend Dudley Dust is at podium, stage right)
Narrator: Behold the Reverend Dudley Dust: a fire-'n-brimstone preacher who has his own interesting take on the meaning of Ash Wednesday ...
Dudley: Mah dear friends ... (Thumps his Bible), the B-a-a-b-l-e says that God knoweth how we were made: he knoweth our frame. In fact, God remembereth that we are but dust! Our days are like grass: as a flower of the field they flourisheth, but the wind passeth over it and it is gone -- and the place thereof shall know it no more! Abraham our father knew that he was but dust and ashes (Genesis 18:27); and Job had to repent in dust and ashes (Job 42:6); and the prophet Jeremiah called on the sons and daughters of Benjamin to put on sackcloth and roll in ashes, and mourn (Jeremiah 6:26) ... (Moves to center stage, holding a dish of black face paint) Now therefore, mah brethren and sistern, on this most penitential Ash Wednesday, I proclaim the coming of the day of the Lord: a day of clouds and thick darkness. The Lord asks you to return to him with all your hearts. Come forward and acknowledge that you are but dust, and to dust you shall return ... rend your hearts, mah friends!
(Parishioners enter stage right. As they approach Dudley, they are smiling; when he smears face paint on them, they begin to weep and moan)
Dudley: (As he smears face paint on each Parishioner) Dust thou art, to dust returnest!
(Before the line of Parishioners has finished, H. W. Longfellow enters down the center aisle)
Longfellow: Stop! (Dudley and Parishioners freeze)
A Psalm of Life
Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.
Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.
Not enjoyment, and not sorrow
Is our destined end or way,
But to live that each tomorrow
Finds us better than today.
Narrator: That was very nice! And who might you be, sir?
Longfellow: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ... but you can call me Hank.
Narrator: Longfellow? The Longfellow? As in:
I'm a poet,
And I don't know it,
But my feet show it:
They're long fellows!
Longfellow: The same ... But I really hate that silly verse, if you don't mind.
Narrator: Sorry, Hank ... But tell me: To what do we owe the honor of your presence today?
Longfellow: I just wanted to try to set this fellow (Points to Dudley) straight about this "dust to dust" thing ...
Narrator: Good idea, Hank! Let's re-wind a little bit here --
Longfellow: Re-wind? What do you mean?
Narrator: Oh, sorry ... It's a twenty-first-century thing, Hank. (Goes to Dudley and pokes him in the belly, as if pushing a re-wind button) There: Re-wind!
(Parishioners move backward. Dudley wipes off their faces with a towel, and they turn from scowling to smiling)
Dudley: (As he cleans off each Parishioner) Returnest dust to, art thou dust.
(After all Parishioners have moved back through the line)
Longfellow: (To Parishioners) Art thou dust?
Parishioners: (Pointing to Dudley) That's what he told us!
Longfellow: Dust thou art, to dust returneth,
Was not spoken of the soul!
At the deepest point of your being, you are anything but dust, my friends. You have an immortal soul! And your God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
Dudley: But what about repentance for their sins, Hank?
Longfellow: What about repentance for their sins -- and yours, Dudley? Repentance is the key to returning to the Lord -- but once we have repented, confessed, and returned, there's no need to dwell on our sins. In fact, God says that he blots out our transgressions -- for his own sake -- and he will remember our sins no more ... (To Dudley) That's Isaiah 43:25, by the way, Reverend. So if God has forgotten your sins, who are you to hold onto them?
Dudley: (Points to his Bible) But look at what the Psalmist says, Hank: "He knows how we were made; he remembers that we are dust."
Longfellow: (Takes Bible from Dudley) Re-wind ... is that the term? Re-wind a bit in that Psalm, Dudley:
"For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far he removes our transgressions from us."
(All Cast members move to center stage, kneel and recite from Psalm 103)
Cast: As for mortals, their days are like grass;
they flourish like a flower of the field;
for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
and its place knows it no more.
(All stand up)
But the steadfast love of the Lord is from
everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,
and his righteousness to children's children,
to those who keep his covenant and remember
to do his commandments.
The Lord has established his throne in the heavens,
and his kingdom rules over all.
(All raise their hands)
Bless the Lord, all his hosts,
his ministers that do his will.
Bless the Lord, all his works,
in all places of his dominion.
Bless the Lord O my soul!
(All bow and exit)
