Scripture Reference: Matthew 17:1-13, Mark 9:2-13, Luke 9:28-36
A lesson about mountaintop experiences.
Cast:
OZZIE – an excitable little monster
SQUIGGLY – Ozzie’s pet worm
MR.MIKE – the teacher who sets him straight
Props:
none
(MR. MIKE is on stage.)
MR. MIKE: (after praying) Time to turn your attention to the puppet stage for our puppet show. (long pause) Our puppet show! (long pause) Are you back there, Ozzie?
OZZIE: Yes.
MR. MIKE: Are you coming out?
OZZIE: No.
MR. MIKE: Be a good fellow and come out and talk to the kids.
OZZIE: Um… No.
MR. MIKE: Why not?
OZZIE: Well, Mr. Mike, I was back here praying while you and the kids were praying.
MR. MIKE: That’s good.
OZZIE: And I had a deep spiritual experience.
MR. MIKE: That’s wonderful, Ozzie. But why aren’t you coming out?
OZZIE: I’ve realized that this is a special place, because I heard from God here. So I’ve decided to stay backstage.
MR. MIKE: For how long?
OZZIE: Forever.
MR. MIKE: Forever?
OZZIE: That’s the plan.
MR. MIKE: How do you plan to eat?
OZZIE: (mystically) I figured God would send ravens to feed me and tend to my needs. (casually) Or Squiggly can fetch me some Twinkies.
SQUIGGLY: (appears and nods)
MR. MIKE: What about school?
OZZIE: I won’t miss school. Besides, Squiggly can bring me my homework.
SQUIGGLY: (nods)
MR. MIKE: What about chores at home?
OZZIE: I’m spending time with God here. I’m sure my mom will understand. If not, then Squiggly can do my chores for me.
SQUIGGLY: (shakes head no)
MR. MIKE: But what about all the fine boys and girls?
OZZIE: What about them?
MR. MIKE: They are waiting on you. They learn so much from you.
OZZIE: You don’t say.
MR. MIKE: I do say. The kids need you, Ozzie.
OZZIE: Squiggly can handle it.
SQUIGGLY: (faints)
MR. MIKE: Apparently not. It’s great to spend time in God’s presence, but God also wants you doing things to make a difference in people’s lives and telling people about Him.
OZZIE: Seriously?
MR. MIKE: Seriously. Now be a good fellow and come on out.
OZZIE: (appears) OK. (pause) Now what?
MR. MIKE: Share with them our lesson for today.
OZZIE: (very seriously) Our lesson for today is… (dramatic pause, clears throat, the says quickly) what Mr. Mike said. (disappears)
MR. MIKE: Ozzie!
Scripture Reference: Matthew 14:22-33, Mark 6:45-52, John 6:16-21
A lesson about keeping your eyes on Jesus.
Cast:
D.B. – a good albeit not very bright bunny
MR. ELIJAH – the teacher who sets him straight
Props:
A big carrot (preferably with leaves)
(MR. ELIJAH begins on stage.)
D.B.: Hi, Mr. Elijah.
MR. ELIJAH: D.B., just the bunny I wanted to see. I have a message for you from your mother.
D.B.: Really? What did she…? (spots the carrot) Oooo!
MR. ELIJAH: What’s the matter, D.B.?
D.B.: (no response)
MR. ELIJAH: D.B.?
D.B.: (no response)
MR. ELIJAH: (waving hand in from his face) D.B.!
D.B.: (still staring) Huh?
MR. ELIJAH: What you staring at?
D.B.: (dreamily) That.
MR. ELIJAH: You mean the carrot?
D.B.: That is not just any carrot. That is a Carotene 200.
MR. ELIJAH: A what?
D.B.: A Carotene 200. A selection of the Autumn King type, with deep orange, heavy conical carrots up to 27cm in length, with strong foliage. It keeps well in the ground and stores for a long period, keeping its flavor. 475 seeds.
MR. ELIJAH: How do you know so much about carrots?
D.B.: I am a rabbit, silly. (still staring at the carrot)
MR. ELIJAH: Anyway, your mom wanted me to tell you that she won’t be home after church, so you’re suppose to go to your Uncle Thumper’s house.
D.B.: (no response)
MR. ELIJAH: D.B., are you listening?
D.B.: (snapping out of it) What? Of course I am listening.
MR. ELIJAH: We, you didn’t seem to be…
D.B.: I am a very good listener.
MR. ELIJAH: I’m sure you are, but…
D.B.: After all, I have great big rabbit ears.
MR. ELIJAH: So does my television, but that doesn’t make it a good listener. So tell me what I said.
D.B.: Huh?
MR. ELIJAH: If you were listening, what did I say?
D.B.: What did you say? Um… You said she’s going to play bunco with a rubber mouse.
MR. ELIJAH: No.
D.B.: Go juggle a grumpy louse?
MR. ELIJAH: No.
D.B.: Go smuggle a lumpy grouse?
MR. ELIJAH: No.
D.B.: Go snorkel a monkey joust?
MR. ELIJAH: That doesn’t even make sense.
D.B.: No, I guess not. I am sorry. I was so distracted by the Carotene 200 (looks & sighs) that I did not really listen. Please tell me again what my mom said.
MR. ELIJAH: She said to go to your Uncle Thumper’s house.
D.B.: That makes a lot more sense.
MR. ELIJAH: I imagine it does.
D.B.: Is that all, Mr. Elijah?
MR. ELIJAH: That’s it, D.B.
D.B.: Bye, Mr. Elijah.
MR. ELIJAH: Bye, D.B.
D.B.: Bye, Carotene 200. (exits)
Scripture Reference: Matthew 14:13-21, Mark 6:31-34, Luke 9:10-17, John 6:5-15
A lesson about the Bread of Life.
Cast:
DILLY – a southern fried chicken who doesn’t always get things straight
MR. MATT – the teacher who sets her straight
Props:
none
(MR. MATT begins on stage.)
DILLY: Mr. Matt!
MR. MATT: Hi, Dilly. How’s it going?
DILLY: I’m as frazzled as a handful of Twizzlers.
MR. MATT: What’s the matter?
DILLY: I’m having a little luncheon at my house today, and I have been working around the cluck to get it ready.
MR. MATT: Do you need some help setting up?
DILLY: I have some help. Flora is helping, and that’s the problem.
MR. MATT: Why is Flora the problem?
DILLY: Don’t get me wrong, Flora is an outstanding worker, but she is a softy, bless her heart.
MR. MATT: What’s wrong with that?
DILLY: In this case, she felt bad that some had not been invited to my luncheon and proceeded to invite them.
MR. MATT: That was nice of her.
DILLY: But she did not consider that some of them are the hoi polloi, and I had chosen not to invite them.
MR. MATT: Anyway, what do you need me for?
DILLY: Well, we are sorely lacking in victuals, so I was hoping you could show me that trick that Jesus did.
MR. MATT: What trick are you talking about?
DILLY: Y’all know that one. When he fed the 5000 folks that bitty bit of fish and bread. Knowing that would be as useful as a shirt pocket.
MR. MATT: That wasn’t a trick; that was a miracle.
DILLY: I’ll say. And it’ll take a miracle to pull off this luncheon after what Flora did.
MR. MATT: No, I mean it wasn’t a sleight of hand. Jesus performed a miracle when He fed the 5000 with five loaves and two fish.
DILLY: That’s what I’m getting at. How can I do that? And does it work with feed corn?
MR. MATT: He didn’t pull more food out of His sleeve or from behind someone’s ear. Jesus created the food.
DILLY: Well, I can’t do that!
MR. MATT: Exactly. Jesus is God and, despite what you may think, you aren’t.
DILLY: Well, tie me to a pig and roll me in the mud! I get it now! How excitin’! We can make do with the food we have or have potluck or figure something out. I now have the most scintillating topic of discussion for our luncheon. I must find Flora and share the news. (exits)
MR. MATT: (stares at the stage surprised at Dilly’s sudden departure)
DILLY: (reappears) I almost forgot – bye, y’all! (exits)
The man to whom I'm going to introduce you was not a Scrooge; he was a kind, decent, mostly good man; generous to his family, upright in his dealings with other men. But he just didn't believe all that stuff the churches proclaim at Christmas time. It just didn't make sense and he was too honest to pretend otherwise. He just couldn't swallow the Jesus story, about God coming to earth as a man.
"I'm truly sorry to distress you," he told his wife, "but I'm not going with you to church this Christmas Eve." He said he'd feel like a hypocrite. That he'd much rather just stay at home, but he would wait up for them. And so he stayed home while they went to the service.
Shortly after the family drove away in the car, snow began to fall. He went to the window to watch the flurries getting heavier and heavier and then walked back to his fireside chair to read his newspaper. Minutes later he was startled by a thudding sound . . . then another, and then another. Sort of a thump or a thud. At first he thought someone must have been throwing snowballs against his living room window. But when he went to the front door to investigate he found a flock of birds huddled miserably in the snow. They'd been caught in the storm and, in a desperate search for shelter, had tried to fly through his large picture window.
Well, he couldn't let the poor creatures lie there and freeze, so he remembered the barn where his children stabled their pony. That would provide a warm shelter, if he could direct the birds to it. Quickly he put on a coat, galoshes, and tramped through the deepening snow to the barn. He opened the doors wide and turned on a light, but the birds did not come in. He figured food would entice them in. So he hurried back to the house, fetched bread crumbs, sprinkled them on the snow, making a trail to the yellow-lighted wide open doorway of the stable. But to his dismay, the birds ignored the bread crumbs, and continued to flap around helplessly in the snow. He tried catching them . . . He tried shooing them into the barn by walking around them waving his arms. Instead, they scattered in every direction, except into the warm, lighted barn.
And then, he realized that they were afraid of him. To them, he reasoned, I am a strange and terrifying creature. If only I could think of some way to let them know that they can trust me . . . that I am not trying to hurt them, but to help them. But how? Any move he made tended to frighten them or confuse them. They just would not follow. They would not be led or shooed because they feared him.
"If only I could be a bird," he thought to himself, "and mingle with them and speak their language. Then I could tell them not to be afraid. Then I could show them the way to the safe, warm . . . to the safe warm barn. But I would have to be one of them, so they could see and hear and understand." At that moment the church bells began to ring. The sound reached his ears above the sounds of the wind. And he stood there listening to the bells ringing the glad tidings of Christmas. And he sank to his knees in the snow.
