Self knowledge
Drama
Watch And Pray
Meditations In Dramatic Form For The Season Of Lent
1 - WATCH AND PRAY.
2 - Since Adam was formed from the dust, there has been change.
3 - Kingdoms have risen and fallen.
4 - Cultures have flourished and disappeared.
5 - Science has been learned and forgotten.
6 - Art has been created and destroyed.
7 - And in the midst of all the changes, humankind has forever searched for meaning.
8 - All the philosophers, all the artists,
9 - all the rulers and politicians,
10 - the laborers and the tradesmen,
11 - all have desired purpose.
12 - Regardless of the culture, individuals have struggled with this one basic question:
13 - Who am I?
14 - WATCH AND PRAY.
15 - A reading from the book of Exodus.
But Moses replied, "When I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your ancestors sent me to you,' they will ask me, 'What is his name?' So what can I tell them?"
God said, "I am who I am. You must tell them: 'The one who is called I AM has sent me to you.' Tell the Israelites that I, the Lord, the God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, have sent you to them. This is my name forever; this is what all future generations are to call me."
Here ends the reading.
16 - God, in his holy perfection, knew the answer to Moses' question.
17 - We rely on names to identify ourselves. God simply is.
18 - "I am who I am," God answered.
19 - We are not God, but we are made in his image.
20 - Why, then, is it so hard for us to answer the same question so simply?
21 - Why are we so insecure in who we are?
22 - WATCH AND PRAY.
23 - A reading from the first letter to the Corinthians from Paul the Apostle.
Yet I do proclaim a message of wisdom to those who are spiritually mature. But it is not the wisdom that belongs to this world - powers that are losing their power. The wisdom I proclaim is God's secret wisdom, which is hidden from humankind, but which he had already chosen for our glory even before the world was made. None of the rulers of this world knew this wisdom. If they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
However, as the scripture says, "What no one ever saw or heard, what no one ever thought could happen, is the very thing God prepared for those who love him."
But it was to us that God made known his secret by means of his spirit. The Spirit searches everything, even the hidden depths of God's purposes. It is only a person's own spirit within him that knows all about God. We have not received this world's spirit; instead, we have received the Spirit sent by God, so that we may know all that God has given us.
Here ends the reading.
24 - Only God's Spirit knows all about God,
25 - just as only our spirits know all about us.
26 - But if our spirits know all about us, then why do so many people agonize over the question of identity?
27 - If only we were a more spiritual people.
28 - But we are in the world and forget that we have received the Spirit of God, not the spirit of the world.
29 - So we spend our time putting our trust in material things.
30 - We begin to identify ourselves with what we have, how we dress, the work we do.
31 - We take pride in our riches, or else wish for them.
32 - And we play at being spiritual, occasionally using religious terms to identify ourselves.
33 - And if we imagine ourselves especially spiritual, we will attach ourselves to a spiritual leader and follow this leader wherever he or she might lead.
(The following four lines are a dialogue between only two cast members.)
34 - Don't you love to listen to Pastor Goodenlaud preach?
35 - Oh, yes. I am always so blessed when I hear him speak.
36 - It's that voice. So commanding. Why, Pastor Goodenlaud could convert Satan himself.
37 - I just know I'd be lost without him.
38 - But take away this leader and within weeks we'll be dancing around a metal cow.
39 - Or some other cultural icon.
40 - Replacing one idol with another.
41 - Search yourself. Know yourself.
42 - WATCH AND PRAY.
43 - It is a well-documented fact that religion spreads in poor populations.
44 - People in affluent countries often feel like they don't need religion.
45 - The church has nothing to offer them.
46 - But in poor populations, the people do not have fine clothes, fancy cars, or beautiful homes to hold onto.
47 - Stripped of all material wealth, the poor are the most likely to reach into the air and grab hold of the only tangible thing there.
48 - God.
49 - What do you cling to?
50 - WATCH AND PRAY.
51 - Jesus knew who he was and he knew his Father.
52 - They share the same Spirit.
53 - How else could Christ have entered Jerusalem that Sunday, knowing that in the week that was to follow, everything would be stripped from his being?
54 - Even his life.
55 - And still have the grace to pray for his enemies as he hung,
56 - broken, bleeding,
57 - dying on a cross.
58 - Who among us, with our cluttered, sinful souls, could do likewise?
59 - WATCH AND PRAY.
60 - A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke.
61 - GLORY TO YOU, O LORD.
62 - Jesus also told this parable to people who were sure of their goodness and despised everybody else. "Once there were two men who went up to the Temple to pray: one was a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood apart by himself and prayed, 'I thank you that I am not like that tax collector over there. I fast two days a week, and I give you one tenth of all my income.' But the tax collector stood at a distance and would not even raise his face to heaven, but beat upon his breast and said, 'God, have pity on me, a sinner!' I tell you," Jesus said, "the tax collector, and not the Pharisee, was in the right with God when he went home. For everyone who makes himself great will be humbled, and everyone who humbles himself will be made great."
The Gospel of the Lord.
63 - PRAISE TO YOU, O CHRIST.
64 - This is a familiar story. The Pharisee, the respectable citizen, is held up by Jesus as a poor example.
65 - Pride is the sin, humility, the missing virtue.
66 - Rather than beg forgiveness for his sin, the Pharisee compared himself to the tax collector and found his own the smaller sin.
67 - How often do we do this?
68 - Okay! I lied a little. But nobody got hurt as when some people sin.
69 - Sure, I shoplift a small item here and there, but it's not like I'm a bank robber.
70 - Yeah, yeah. So I sometimes juggle the books in my favor. You act like I killed somebody.
71 - Thank you, God, that I am not like all the thieves, murderers, and rapists in the world.
(Unison, only two or three cast members.)
72 - THANK YOU THAT MINE ARE SMALL SINS,
(Unison, the whole company.)
73 - SINS THAT ALLOW ME TO KEEP MY PLACE OF RESPECT IN MY BUSINESS, HOME, AND CHURCH.
(After taking a moment to realize what they have prayed.)
74 - WATCH AND PRAY.
75 - The Pharisee looked on the outside and found his actions to be good and to the letter of the law.
76 - The tax collector looked inside and found himself sinful and in need of God's mercy.
77 - Let us do like the tax collector. Let us look inside and see our sin.
78 - Let us look within and face our own darkness.
79 - But do not stop there lest you should die in despair. Look past the darkness.
80 - If you believe in Christ and accept his salvation, you will find beneath the darkness of sin a Light living there, a Light no darkness has ever overcome.
81 - There you will find Christ who has claimed you as his temple.
82 - Know that what good you do comes from this Light that lives in darkness. Invite that Light to guide your life through the darkness that surrounds you.
83 - LET YOUR LIGHT SO SHINE BEFORE OTHERS THAT THEY MAY SEE YOUR GOOD WORKS AND GLORIFY YOUR FATHER IN HEAVEN.
84 - Christ knew himself. He was sure of his place in his father's Kingdom. It was this security that allowed him to pray for his enemies.
85 - Know yourself.
86 - Know that beyond your material wealth,
87 - beyond your physical appearance,
88 - even beyond your name,
89 - know that you have identity.
90 - And no one, no enemy however great, can take this from you.
91 - Truly and profoundly, you are a child of God.
92 - WATCH AND PRAY.
93 - As we approach the cross.
2 - Since Adam was formed from the dust, there has been change.
3 - Kingdoms have risen and fallen.
4 - Cultures have flourished and disappeared.
5 - Science has been learned and forgotten.
6 - Art has been created and destroyed.
7 - And in the midst of all the changes, humankind has forever searched for meaning.
8 - All the philosophers, all the artists,
9 - all the rulers and politicians,
10 - the laborers and the tradesmen,
11 - all have desired purpose.
12 - Regardless of the culture, individuals have struggled with this one basic question:
13 - Who am I?
14 - WATCH AND PRAY.
15 - A reading from the book of Exodus.
But Moses replied, "When I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your ancestors sent me to you,' they will ask me, 'What is his name?' So what can I tell them?"
God said, "I am who I am. You must tell them: 'The one who is called I AM has sent me to you.' Tell the Israelites that I, the Lord, the God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, have sent you to them. This is my name forever; this is what all future generations are to call me."
Here ends the reading.
16 - God, in his holy perfection, knew the answer to Moses' question.
17 - We rely on names to identify ourselves. God simply is.
18 - "I am who I am," God answered.
19 - We are not God, but we are made in his image.
20 - Why, then, is it so hard for us to answer the same question so simply?
21 - Why are we so insecure in who we are?
22 - WATCH AND PRAY.
23 - A reading from the first letter to the Corinthians from Paul the Apostle.
Yet I do proclaim a message of wisdom to those who are spiritually mature. But it is not the wisdom that belongs to this world - powers that are losing their power. The wisdom I proclaim is God's secret wisdom, which is hidden from humankind, but which he had already chosen for our glory even before the world was made. None of the rulers of this world knew this wisdom. If they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
However, as the scripture says, "What no one ever saw or heard, what no one ever thought could happen, is the very thing God prepared for those who love him."
But it was to us that God made known his secret by means of his spirit. The Spirit searches everything, even the hidden depths of God's purposes. It is only a person's own spirit within him that knows all about God. We have not received this world's spirit; instead, we have received the Spirit sent by God, so that we may know all that God has given us.
Here ends the reading.
24 - Only God's Spirit knows all about God,
25 - just as only our spirits know all about us.
26 - But if our spirits know all about us, then why do so many people agonize over the question of identity?
27 - If only we were a more spiritual people.
28 - But we are in the world and forget that we have received the Spirit of God, not the spirit of the world.
29 - So we spend our time putting our trust in material things.
30 - We begin to identify ourselves with what we have, how we dress, the work we do.
31 - We take pride in our riches, or else wish for them.
32 - And we play at being spiritual, occasionally using religious terms to identify ourselves.
33 - And if we imagine ourselves especially spiritual, we will attach ourselves to a spiritual leader and follow this leader wherever he or she might lead.
(The following four lines are a dialogue between only two cast members.)
34 - Don't you love to listen to Pastor Goodenlaud preach?
35 - Oh, yes. I am always so blessed when I hear him speak.
36 - It's that voice. So commanding. Why, Pastor Goodenlaud could convert Satan himself.
37 - I just know I'd be lost without him.
38 - But take away this leader and within weeks we'll be dancing around a metal cow.
39 - Or some other cultural icon.
40 - Replacing one idol with another.
41 - Search yourself. Know yourself.
42 - WATCH AND PRAY.
43 - It is a well-documented fact that religion spreads in poor populations.
44 - People in affluent countries often feel like they don't need religion.
45 - The church has nothing to offer them.
46 - But in poor populations, the people do not have fine clothes, fancy cars, or beautiful homes to hold onto.
47 - Stripped of all material wealth, the poor are the most likely to reach into the air and grab hold of the only tangible thing there.
48 - God.
49 - What do you cling to?
50 - WATCH AND PRAY.
51 - Jesus knew who he was and he knew his Father.
52 - They share the same Spirit.
53 - How else could Christ have entered Jerusalem that Sunday, knowing that in the week that was to follow, everything would be stripped from his being?
54 - Even his life.
55 - And still have the grace to pray for his enemies as he hung,
56 - broken, bleeding,
57 - dying on a cross.
58 - Who among us, with our cluttered, sinful souls, could do likewise?
59 - WATCH AND PRAY.
60 - A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke.
61 - GLORY TO YOU, O LORD.
62 - Jesus also told this parable to people who were sure of their goodness and despised everybody else. "Once there were two men who went up to the Temple to pray: one was a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood apart by himself and prayed, 'I thank you that I am not like that tax collector over there. I fast two days a week, and I give you one tenth of all my income.' But the tax collector stood at a distance and would not even raise his face to heaven, but beat upon his breast and said, 'God, have pity on me, a sinner!' I tell you," Jesus said, "the tax collector, and not the Pharisee, was in the right with God when he went home. For everyone who makes himself great will be humbled, and everyone who humbles himself will be made great."
The Gospel of the Lord.
63 - PRAISE TO YOU, O CHRIST.
64 - This is a familiar story. The Pharisee, the respectable citizen, is held up by Jesus as a poor example.
65 - Pride is the sin, humility, the missing virtue.
66 - Rather than beg forgiveness for his sin, the Pharisee compared himself to the tax collector and found his own the smaller sin.
67 - How often do we do this?
68 - Okay! I lied a little. But nobody got hurt as when some people sin.
69 - Sure, I shoplift a small item here and there, but it's not like I'm a bank robber.
70 - Yeah, yeah. So I sometimes juggle the books in my favor. You act like I killed somebody.
71 - Thank you, God, that I am not like all the thieves, murderers, and rapists in the world.
(Unison, only two or three cast members.)
72 - THANK YOU THAT MINE ARE SMALL SINS,
(Unison, the whole company.)
73 - SINS THAT ALLOW ME TO KEEP MY PLACE OF RESPECT IN MY BUSINESS, HOME, AND CHURCH.
(After taking a moment to realize what they have prayed.)
74 - WATCH AND PRAY.
75 - The Pharisee looked on the outside and found his actions to be good and to the letter of the law.
76 - The tax collector looked inside and found himself sinful and in need of God's mercy.
77 - Let us do like the tax collector. Let us look inside and see our sin.
78 - Let us look within and face our own darkness.
79 - But do not stop there lest you should die in despair. Look past the darkness.
80 - If you believe in Christ and accept his salvation, you will find beneath the darkness of sin a Light living there, a Light no darkness has ever overcome.
81 - There you will find Christ who has claimed you as his temple.
82 - Know that what good you do comes from this Light that lives in darkness. Invite that Light to guide your life through the darkness that surrounds you.
83 - LET YOUR LIGHT SO SHINE BEFORE OTHERS THAT THEY MAY SEE YOUR GOOD WORKS AND GLORIFY YOUR FATHER IN HEAVEN.
84 - Christ knew himself. He was sure of his place in his father's Kingdom. It was this security that allowed him to pray for his enemies.
85 - Know yourself.
86 - Know that beyond your material wealth,
87 - beyond your physical appearance,
88 - even beyond your name,
89 - know that you have identity.
90 - And no one, no enemy however great, can take this from you.
91 - Truly and profoundly, you are a child of God.
92 - WATCH AND PRAY.
93 - As we approach the cross.
