Pentecost Communion Meditation: Monologue of a Saint
Drama
Hoof 'N Mouth Disease
Biblical Monologues and How to Do Them
Object:
THEME:
The Holy Spirit has, through the years, drawn us to Christ, that He might make us saints and family.
SETTING FOR THE SERMON MONOLOGUE:
Like Abraham, I set out on a journey. After twenty years teaching in a United Methodist Church college setting, I grew restless, but still did not know what to do with the rest of my life. For one year, I took a part-time appointment, a two-church circuit, 65 miles from my home in Lakeland, Florida. I had no idea whether I was up to the task of returning to the pastorate. How does one develop fifty or more sermons a year, and fulfill the duties of a pastor?
Since my first Sunday to preach was in the Pentecost season, it seemed logical to deal with the theme of that season. I also wanted to give the people some idea of who I was. This monologue uses a "glorified" saint, who has been an observer from the beginning, to introduce the Pentecost theme, as well as me -- their new pastor.
* * *
I know you were expecting your new pastor, Ed Thorn, to speak this morning,
but he invited me to come,
introduce him and his wife,
and another person as well --
the person of the Holy Spirit.
Since this is the second Sunday in the season of Pentecost,
I can speak as a firsthand witness of that event,
and the days following.
A firsthand witness, you say --
but that event happened nineteen and one-half centuries ago.
How can you be a firsthand witness?
Don't bother yourself about such details.
After all, with God all things are possible.
Look that up in your scriptures.
Jesus said it.
Saint Paul, in his letter to the Philippian church, the fourth
chapter and the thirteenth verse, said it.
Who are you anyway, you ask?
I suppose you mean my name.
Well --
I'm in the Bible.
I was one of those three thousand people "born again" into the
kingdom of God on the day of Pentecost.
My name is not important.
I'm just an ordinary person --
one of the saints of God.
Oh, I've confused you again, have I?
You didn't think saints were ordinary?
You thought you had to be especially holy or accomplished?
Well, in a way yes,
and in a way no.
The word saint, hagios, does mean "holy one,"
but I am a saint,
not because of what I have done,
but because the Master, in His work on the cross,
made me holy.
Nope --
I guess you could say that I had a lot of "ol' Nick" in me.
Why, I remember the time --
aah, maybe it's just as well that we don't get into that.
That was a long time ago.
But you, too, are saints,
"holy ones," who have committed your lives to Jesus Christ.
No way, you say --
no way you are a holy one?
I can practically read your minds.
You are recalling those times when you were less than saintly --
Someone's thinking about harsh words you've exchanged --
you and your spouse, huh? --
Well, again, let's not be too personal.
Let's move on to the first person I wish to tell you about --
the person of the Holy Spirit --
the Spirit by whom you were born anew into the Kingdom of God.
The Lord Jesus Christ, in His discourse at the last supper,
referred to the Spirit five times.
He made it clear that the Holy Spirit was a teacher,
counselor,
comforter,
persuader,
who would abide with Christ's followers forever.
He will bring to mind those teachings of Jesus His followers have
diligently learned.
He will be a counselor to us when we need counseling,
and He will persuade people who do not know Him
that Jesus Christ is Lord, whenever the gospel is preached.
I must say,
when Peter preached the good news to me,
the words seemed to hit me as if they were coming from the very mouth of God --
Indeed, by the convicting power of the Holy Spirit, they were.
He empowered Peter --
the same man who cowered before the maid in the inn,
and denied his Lord.
If I hadn't been told that,
I would never have guessed it.
This man preached with such holy boldness
that I knew right then and there that I wanted to be a follower of the Lord Jesus.
I wept as I thought about the fact that only weeks before,
when they crucified Him,
that I shrugged my shoulders and said, "C'est la vie" --
"Such is life."
I wept too, because I did not avail myself of the opportunity to
know Jesus in the flesh,
or to hear Him speak --
to see Him mingle with the people --
to bless the children --
and to heal the sick.
The day of Pentecost, however,
I was born anew by the Holy Spirit,
and life has never been the same since.
Well --
obviously I have eternal life,
or I wouldn't be here.
I've been up there with my Lord all these years.
It seems but a day.
Yes, sir,
the Holy Spirit is the "great communicator."
And all this time you thought the great communicator was ol' what's his name --
you know who I mean --
former President of yours --
uhh, Ronald Reagan --
good man,
pretty fair president,
but he's like a drop of spit in the ocean compared to the Holy Spirit --
the One who could put in Peter's mouth the purposes of God,
who, from all eternity,
planned to create a community of people who would sing and speak of His praises,
and who had a plan for my life --
Amazing, that this great communicator --
the Holy Spirit,
could reach down and touch this spiritually indifferent heart,
and make me a part of the family of God.
What a community He created!
I'm a son of the living God,
the Everlasting Father,
the King of Kings.
You know what that makes me?
Why, I'm a prince --
a nobody like me!
That's exactly what the Holy Spirit does --
He communicates, and brings us --
into community.
Well, anyway, I'm a member of His community --
the holy community of Christ --
the church.
What I've been trying to say is,
that also makes me your brother.
I've been watching you folks from up there in heaven with Jesus,
and I know you love Him too.
I know you've prayed that the Almighty would send you a minister.
And down there in Lakeland, there was this minister,
college professor of communication,
who was beginning to get restless,
and wondered if there wasn't something more significant he could do in the closing years of his working life.
It was a "cushy" job he had.
You'd be amazed what the Holy Spirit had to do to get him to
leave that endeavor.
But the Holy Spirit,
working through the bureaucracy of the United Methodist Church,
got you two together.
(That almost took more power than it required to raise Jesus from the dead --
working through that bureaucracy.)
I remember Ed when he was a lad in Ohio --
born into a Christian home.
His parents took him to church.
Church was a bit of a bore to him as a very young child --
so much so that one of his earliest memories is that of his mother taking him out of the service,
down to the basement to give him a paddling.
But, when he was in the first grade,
a young lady Sunday School teacher,
who later became his Aunt Dorothy,
told the story of the crucifixion.
He got a lump in his throat and said aloud,
"That's a very sad story."
A year or so later, an invitation was given in Sunday School to
give one's heart to the Lord --
and he did.
Then there was a young lady in Indiana,
some three hundred miles away,
who was also seeking for meaning in life.
Her older brother became a Christian
and took her to church with him.
This twelve-year-old young lady became a Christian.
When she was sixteen,
she moved from Indiana to Ohio.
She started attending the same church that Ed's family had
belonged to for three generations.
So the Holy Spirit brought together these two people who had never met,
and created a new minuscule community.
The first time she laid eyes on him, sitting up there in the choir --
the Holy Spirit spoke to her and said,
"That skinny lad --
(yeah, I know it's hard to believe he was ever skinny)
that's the young man you are going to marry some day."
Ed never stood a chance.
That's how these two saints,
Ed and Eldora,
got together.
Now --
don't you go worrying about that word "saint" again.
Don't let it scare you.
Ed, especially, isn't always saintly,
but then God --
the Holy Spirit,
and his wife are still working on him.
The number of saints out there are as many as the sands of the sea.
Here you are, saints,
here in Florida farm country.
You, too, will have the opportunity to sand off some of Ed's rough edges.
All this time you were family --
even though you didn't know one another.
Now you have been brought together.
We now have communion between some saints of Lakeland and the
saints of Lake Lindsey and New Hope.
That's, in part, what we mean when,
in the Apostles' Creed,
we talk of the communion of saints.
It is a catholic,
that is, worldwide, community.
In fact, it is much more --
it is a communion that surpasses this world --
it surpasses time and space,
and binds together, through all time,
the community of the saints.
One of the ways you communicate your faith,
and your community with God and one another,
is in the breaking of bread and the drinking of wine.
You call it communion.
Do you notice that word "communion"?
It's the same word as communicate and community.
They're all one word.
Just as we saints are one --
drawn together by the Holy Spirit into the community of faith,
the body of Christ --
you celebrate your oneness with one another.
You are saints.
You are family --
some of the Father's many children --
numerous they are --
numerous as the sands of the sea.
Let us now celebrate that communion at the table of our Lord.
The Holy Spirit has, through the years, drawn us to Christ, that He might make us saints and family.
SETTING FOR THE SERMON MONOLOGUE:
Like Abraham, I set out on a journey. After twenty years teaching in a United Methodist Church college setting, I grew restless, but still did not know what to do with the rest of my life. For one year, I took a part-time appointment, a two-church circuit, 65 miles from my home in Lakeland, Florida. I had no idea whether I was up to the task of returning to the pastorate. How does one develop fifty or more sermons a year, and fulfill the duties of a pastor?
Since my first Sunday to preach was in the Pentecost season, it seemed logical to deal with the theme of that season. I also wanted to give the people some idea of who I was. This monologue uses a "glorified" saint, who has been an observer from the beginning, to introduce the Pentecost theme, as well as me -- their new pastor.
* * *
I know you were expecting your new pastor, Ed Thorn, to speak this morning,
but he invited me to come,
introduce him and his wife,
and another person as well --
the person of the Holy Spirit.
Since this is the second Sunday in the season of Pentecost,
I can speak as a firsthand witness of that event,
and the days following.
A firsthand witness, you say --
but that event happened nineteen and one-half centuries ago.
How can you be a firsthand witness?
Don't bother yourself about such details.
After all, with God all things are possible.
Look that up in your scriptures.
Jesus said it.
Saint Paul, in his letter to the Philippian church, the fourth
chapter and the thirteenth verse, said it.
Who are you anyway, you ask?
I suppose you mean my name.
Well --
I'm in the Bible.
I was one of those three thousand people "born again" into the
kingdom of God on the day of Pentecost.
My name is not important.
I'm just an ordinary person --
one of the saints of God.
Oh, I've confused you again, have I?
You didn't think saints were ordinary?
You thought you had to be especially holy or accomplished?
Well, in a way yes,
and in a way no.
The word saint, hagios, does mean "holy one,"
but I am a saint,
not because of what I have done,
but because the Master, in His work on the cross,
made me holy.
Nope --
I guess you could say that I had a lot of "ol' Nick" in me.
Why, I remember the time --
aah, maybe it's just as well that we don't get into that.
That was a long time ago.
But you, too, are saints,
"holy ones," who have committed your lives to Jesus Christ.
No way, you say --
no way you are a holy one?
I can practically read your minds.
You are recalling those times when you were less than saintly --
Someone's thinking about harsh words you've exchanged --
you and your spouse, huh? --
Well, again, let's not be too personal.
Let's move on to the first person I wish to tell you about --
the person of the Holy Spirit --
the Spirit by whom you were born anew into the Kingdom of God.
The Lord Jesus Christ, in His discourse at the last supper,
referred to the Spirit five times.
He made it clear that the Holy Spirit was a teacher,
counselor,
comforter,
persuader,
who would abide with Christ's followers forever.
He will bring to mind those teachings of Jesus His followers have
diligently learned.
He will be a counselor to us when we need counseling,
and He will persuade people who do not know Him
that Jesus Christ is Lord, whenever the gospel is preached.
I must say,
when Peter preached the good news to me,
the words seemed to hit me as if they were coming from the very mouth of God --
Indeed, by the convicting power of the Holy Spirit, they were.
He empowered Peter --
the same man who cowered before the maid in the inn,
and denied his Lord.
If I hadn't been told that,
I would never have guessed it.
This man preached with such holy boldness
that I knew right then and there that I wanted to be a follower of the Lord Jesus.
I wept as I thought about the fact that only weeks before,
when they crucified Him,
that I shrugged my shoulders and said, "C'est la vie" --
"Such is life."
I wept too, because I did not avail myself of the opportunity to
know Jesus in the flesh,
or to hear Him speak --
to see Him mingle with the people --
to bless the children --
and to heal the sick.
The day of Pentecost, however,
I was born anew by the Holy Spirit,
and life has never been the same since.
Well --
obviously I have eternal life,
or I wouldn't be here.
I've been up there with my Lord all these years.
It seems but a day.
Yes, sir,
the Holy Spirit is the "great communicator."
And all this time you thought the great communicator was ol' what's his name --
you know who I mean --
former President of yours --
uhh, Ronald Reagan --
good man,
pretty fair president,
but he's like a drop of spit in the ocean compared to the Holy Spirit --
the One who could put in Peter's mouth the purposes of God,
who, from all eternity,
planned to create a community of people who would sing and speak of His praises,
and who had a plan for my life --
Amazing, that this great communicator --
the Holy Spirit,
could reach down and touch this spiritually indifferent heart,
and make me a part of the family of God.
What a community He created!
I'm a son of the living God,
the Everlasting Father,
the King of Kings.
You know what that makes me?
Why, I'm a prince --
a nobody like me!
That's exactly what the Holy Spirit does --
He communicates, and brings us --
into community.
Well, anyway, I'm a member of His community --
the holy community of Christ --
the church.
What I've been trying to say is,
that also makes me your brother.
I've been watching you folks from up there in heaven with Jesus,
and I know you love Him too.
I know you've prayed that the Almighty would send you a minister.
And down there in Lakeland, there was this minister,
college professor of communication,
who was beginning to get restless,
and wondered if there wasn't something more significant he could do in the closing years of his working life.
It was a "cushy" job he had.
You'd be amazed what the Holy Spirit had to do to get him to
leave that endeavor.
But the Holy Spirit,
working through the bureaucracy of the United Methodist Church,
got you two together.
(That almost took more power than it required to raise Jesus from the dead --
working through that bureaucracy.)
I remember Ed when he was a lad in Ohio --
born into a Christian home.
His parents took him to church.
Church was a bit of a bore to him as a very young child --
so much so that one of his earliest memories is that of his mother taking him out of the service,
down to the basement to give him a paddling.
But, when he was in the first grade,
a young lady Sunday School teacher,
who later became his Aunt Dorothy,
told the story of the crucifixion.
He got a lump in his throat and said aloud,
"That's a very sad story."
A year or so later, an invitation was given in Sunday School to
give one's heart to the Lord --
and he did.
Then there was a young lady in Indiana,
some three hundred miles away,
who was also seeking for meaning in life.
Her older brother became a Christian
and took her to church with him.
This twelve-year-old young lady became a Christian.
When she was sixteen,
she moved from Indiana to Ohio.
She started attending the same church that Ed's family had
belonged to for three generations.
So the Holy Spirit brought together these two people who had never met,
and created a new minuscule community.
The first time she laid eyes on him, sitting up there in the choir --
the Holy Spirit spoke to her and said,
"That skinny lad --
(yeah, I know it's hard to believe he was ever skinny)
that's the young man you are going to marry some day."
Ed never stood a chance.
That's how these two saints,
Ed and Eldora,
got together.
Now --
don't you go worrying about that word "saint" again.
Don't let it scare you.
Ed, especially, isn't always saintly,
but then God --
the Holy Spirit,
and his wife are still working on him.
The number of saints out there are as many as the sands of the sea.
Here you are, saints,
here in Florida farm country.
You, too, will have the opportunity to sand off some of Ed's rough edges.
All this time you were family --
even though you didn't know one another.
Now you have been brought together.
We now have communion between some saints of Lakeland and the
saints of Lake Lindsey and New Hope.
That's, in part, what we mean when,
in the Apostles' Creed,
we talk of the communion of saints.
It is a catholic,
that is, worldwide, community.
In fact, it is much more --
it is a communion that surpasses this world --
it surpasses time and space,
and binds together, through all time,
the community of the saints.
One of the ways you communicate your faith,
and your community with God and one another,
is in the breaking of bread and the drinking of wine.
You call it communion.
Do you notice that word "communion"?
It's the same word as communicate and community.
They're all one word.
Just as we saints are one --
drawn together by the Holy Spirit into the community of faith,
the body of Christ --
you celebrate your oneness with one another.
You are saints.
You are family --
some of the Father's many children --
numerous they are --
numerous as the sands of the sea.
Let us now celebrate that communion at the table of our Lord.
