(seeker enters, deep in thought, depressed, consumed by apathy)
ERNEST SEEKER:
(sits on step, look to heaven, then sighs loudly and stares at ground) I go to church. I sing the songs. Don’t I praise you? (exasperated) Look. It was You that said: “Come, let us reason together.” Well, okay. Let’s reason. It was You that promised: “If you seek Me with your whole heart you will find me.” (pounds on chest) Hello! I’m here! (pounds on chest) I’m seeking You! (puts hand over face) Wasn’t it You that promised: “Seek and ye shall find?”
(stands, goes to window, look out, returns to step and sits, very emotional)
I don’t seem to be finding You. I’ve been seeking, haven’t I? Haven’t I gone to church every week? Sometimes to the Wednesday night Bible study? I have the little flip Proverb of the day -- so I AM reading Your Word every day. (sighs loudly) I keep Your commandments, well, I try too. I try to set Your Sabbath apart. And I DO take delight in the Sabbath. But I don’t seem to be any different than anyone else who thinks they’re in a relationship with You. I don’t seem to do much FINDING!
PASTOR MEADOW:
(enters and sees Ernest) Yo, Ernie! I saw you leave the Praise Time, you seemed a little . . . upset...
ERNEST SEEKER:
Oh, Pastor Meadow. Who am I to be in there praising God. I just don’t FEEL anything. Now don’t go and jump down my throat about EMOTIONALISM. I’m not talking about that.
PASTOR MEADOW:
(laughing, sits down beside Ernest) No, I know what you’re talking about. But let me know what you’re thinking.
ERNEST SEEKER:
Shouldn’t I feel something? ANYTHING?
PASTOR MEADOW:
(thoughtfully) You know, the Bible portrays our relationship with God as a Husband and Wife, the Bridegroom and the Bride. We are the bride, He is the Husband. I’m not an expert on marriage, but do you think a marriage would be all that wonderful if the bride doesn’t FEEL anything for the Husband?
ERNEST SEEKER:
Yeah, I know the spiel. But one side says: THINK don’t FEEL, while the other side says FEEL, don’t THINK. We’re all afraid of becoming emotional fools. (he’s very upset, turns his head, even puts up a hand to check for tears)
PASTOR MEADOW:
If I married Melody just because of how I FELT about her, I’m not sure how steady our marriage would be. In fact, if I went by just my feelings, I probably wouldn’t have married Melody. But on the other hand, if I married her just because she made sense to me, and I didn’t feel anything for her, our marriage would never have lasted this long.
ERNEST SEEKER:
(interested) How long have you been married?
PASTOR MEADOW:
Oh, not long. About five years, in December. But I’ll tell ya, they’ve been very happy years.
ERNEST SEEKER:
What I don’t get is, how do we make our relationship with God LIKE A MARRIAGE? Sure, I understand what you’re saying, marriage, God, marriage, relationship -- but how do you make it all real? I just don’t seem to care all that much. How can I love God like I love my wife? I can’t SEE God, I can’t touch Him.
PASTOR MEADOW:
(thoughtfully, considering) Oh, I guess there are a lot of standard answers. Get to know Him by reading His Word -- but still, there are a lot of people who read the Bible but don’t even believe in God.
ERNEST SEEKER:
I DO read the Bible, every day. I try to read through it every year. And it HAS helped my relationship with God.
PASTOR MEADOW:
I think the real answer is, nothing we can do on our own really means anything. We’re just people. Little clay people. God takes pity on us because He remembers that we’re made out of dust. No, nothing we can do really helps, really matters.
ERNEST SEEKER:
(laughs a little) I thought what we DO makes all the difference in the world?! You know, don’t just be HEARERS of the Word, but DOERS?
PASTOR MEADOW:
But what WE do, is earthly, it’s of the flesh. The Bible says that our spirit knows nothing of the things of God. You mentioned HEARERS of the Word. Faith comes through hearing the Word -- but FAITH itself comes from God. It’s the Spirit of God that knows the things of God.
ERNEST SEEKER:
You mean the Holy Spirit.
PASTOR MEADOW:
Yes. God gives us His Spirit. The Holy Spirit. And through Him, the Holy Spirit, that’s how we get to know God, that’s how we feel God. We shouldn’t have one without the other, thinking and feeling.
ERNEST SEEKER:
See, it’s always seemed that if I did all the right things -- go to church, pray, read the Bible, eat a healthy diet, keep God’s laws -- that someday everything would fall in place. Kind of like, PRETEND you’re happy, and in some mysterious way someday it won’t be pretending any more, it will be real! Do you know what I mean?
PASTOR MEADOW:
(laughing) Oh I know exactly what you mean. I think we all go through it. Again, that’s “works theology.” Kind of earn your way to heaven. Give it the ole college try and Jesus will make up the difference.
ERNEST SEEKER:
Faith without works is dead! I know that much. The Bible says it and I believe it.
PASTOR MEADOW:
True. Faith without works is dead. But does that mean if you practice works that you will get more faith? Or that you get faith by works? No, it says that because we have FAITH, works should come out of our faith. See the difference?
MELODY MEADOW:
(entering, spots the men seated on the step) Bill! There you are. I thought maybe you hopped a plane to Africa to become a missionary!
PASTOR MEADOW:
(looking up) Oh Melody! I forgot time . . . are they waiting for me to read the scripture?
MELODY MEADOW:
Don’t sweat it, I already read the scripture for you. Right now everyone’s just talking. There’s no rush, no one’s going anywhere.
PASTOR MEADOW:
Ernest and I were just having an interesting conversation about... (pause, what exactly HAVE they been discussing, anyway? he looks to Ernest for help) What HAVE we been discussing, exactly, Ernest?
ERNEST SEEKER:
Apathy? I guess.
PASTOR MEADOW:
What do you think is the cure for apathy, Melody?
MELODY MEADOW:
(she comes and sits next to her husband) Praising God.
PASTOR MEADOW:
That simple?
ERNEST SEEKER:
Really? Praising God?
MELODY MEADOW:
Really. Yes, that simple. Praising God changes us. It’s like we forget ourselves, and remember Him.
ERNEST SEEKER:
I guess I’ve always thought that praising God was singing out of the hymnal, and the more boring and flat the hymn, the better God likes it!
MELODY MEADOW:
(laughing) Isn’t that something, how so many of us get the idea that God appreciates dry, boring formality. Like if we keep going through the motions long enough that somehow, someday something will click and it will be REAL?
ERNEST SEEKER:
(laughs) We were just talking about that!
PASTOR MEADOW:
(hugging his wife) We really were. As always, you hit the nail right on the head.
MELODY MEADOW:
Think about all the Psalms! Joy! Joy! JOY! The joy of the Lord is my strength! Be joyful in your King!
PASTOR MEADOW:
A merry heart is good for the bones.
ERNEST SEEKER:
Yeah, but don’t I get the same thing from Jim Carrey?
MELODY MEADOW:
I love Jim Carrey. He’s got to be the weirdest guy on the earth. But let the joy come from God. We can’t make the happiness, the joy. It comes from God, from having the Holy Spirit live inside us. Our spirit knows nothing of God -- the Holy Spirit knows how to lead us into praising God, and that’s the kind of praise that really works, that really means something!
PASTOR MEADOW:
YES! (hugs her) Listen to this woman. She has the answers!
ERNEST SEEKER:
(thinking) Yeah, you said about the same thing.
MELODY MEADOW:
We have these deep things inside us. Our fears, our hopes, our anger. And we don’t know how to express it. We don’t even know that it’s there most of the time. But the Holy Spirit knows, and He can help us bring it all up to give it all to God.
PASTOR MEADOW:
In groanings that cannot be uttered. And Jesus understands the mind of the Spirit. He understands those deep things inside us.
MELODY MEADOW:
And praising God puts us right in the channel of all God’s power. Praising God doesn’t change God, or change His mind -- IT CHANGES US!
ERNEST SEEKER:
(frustrated) Yeah, but HOW DO YOU PRAISE HIM! I mean, should I kneel by my bed? Should I wave my hands in the air? Should I do it with a SHOUT? Should I be quiet and reverent? I mean the Bible says tambourines and dancing and harps and all that stuff. And everyone in the church gets in fights about how you should praise God.
PASTOR MEADOW:
I don’t see praise as a style, or a technique. It’s a big messy process in our heart, where we gush out our deepest feelings -- and the Holy Spirit helps us, prompts us, and interprets for us. It’s partly THANKSGIVING, thanking God for all the wonderful things He has done for us, and ADMIRATION for all the power and glory we have witnessed in the world, and it’s giving Him all our confusion, all our pain, all our depression. Giving Him all the bad in our lives along with all the good in our lives.
MELODY MEADOW:
Bill, tell Ernest about Mongo.
PASTOR MEADOW:
What about Mongo?
MELODY MEADOW:
That he lives in the Congo and loves playing on his bongo. No, tell him about how you pray sometimes when you’re walking Mongo.
PASTOR MEADOW:
Well, when we lived in the city I had to walk Mongo every night. And usually on his last walk of the night, usually around midnight, I would look up at the stars and just pray to my Heavenly Father. I’d admit to Him that I’m so small and petty, so ridiculous in comparison to Him. And what an honor it is that I even have the opportunity, the gift, to be able to talk to Him, to have my prayers answered, to have salvation so that I can spend forever with Him. And you know, such PEACE would descend upon me. I could really hear Him speaking to me, saying: “I’m so happy with you, I love you so much. I accept you.” And tears would pour from my eyes. To be accepted and loved by the Creator Himself! Hey, it was emotion I felt, talking with my Father, but that’s real. It’s emotion straight from God.
MELODY MEADOW:
The peace that surpasses all understanding.
PASTOR MEADOW:
You know, people get the idea that you accept Jesus, and that’s it. But try it, on a daily basis. Accept Him. I say every morning, I accept You, Jesus. Please come into my heart. I thank You for washing me clean of all my sins. Please, FILL ME WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT. Baptize me in the Holy Spirit. Everything you have to offer, Lord, I want it. Lead me. You are my Lord.
MELODY MEADOW:
You know, THAT’s praising God, too!
ERNEST SEEKER:
So, um, has . . . anything . . . WEIRD, ever happened? When you prayed to be baptized in the Holy Spirit?
PASTOR MEADOW:
(grinning) You mean, do I ever spontaneously burst into babblings in an unknown language?
ERNEST SEEKER:
(laughing) Yeah, I guess that’s what I do mean. You know, you sound an awful lot like those Charismatic guys on TV!
PASTOR MEADOW:
Well, we all SHOULD be Charismatic. I don’t mean we should join any movement, but we SHOULD all be filled with the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit DOES give us gifts to build up the church and evangelize the world. But the funny thing is, people miss the point that it is the Holy Spirit that decides what gifts we receive. It is the Holy Spirit that decides when, where and how we reach out to others. And it is never grotesque.
ERNEST SEEKER:
(sighing loudly, dramatically) Whew. You almost had me terrified there.
PASTOR MEADOW:
I will tell you, Ernie, that if God EVER chooses to speak through me in tongues, I will welcome that gifts with all my heart. Wouldn’t it be exciting, to help someone that didn’t even speak your language? To be able to communicate with them?
MELODY MEADOW:
(smiling) THAT’s praising God, too!
ERNEST SEEKER:
What you guys are talking about -- about praising God -- it’s not the way I’ve ever really thought about God before.
MELODY MEADOW:
There isn’t really any REAL way. The Holy Spirit deals with us all as individuals. He’s not going to make you start doing cartwheels around the room, or start barking like a dog, or fall over backward. But He will deal with you personally, on your level, so you can understand...
PASTOR MEADOW:
Really, the Holy Spirit is our WAY to understanding. We should pray in the SPIRIT and with understanding. People try and separate those two, as if they are different modes of prayer. But in reality they are the same. The Holy Spirit leads us into understanding, into all truth.
ERNEST SEEKER:
(hitting himself in the head) MAN! This is all starting to make sense. It’s like my whole world has revolved around and I can suddenly see things clearly! You don’t “TRY REAL HARD” and then God accepts you. (he is smiling hugely, suddenly standing) We get it out of order. God accepts us, and then He changes us!
MELODY MEADOW:
Isn’t it amazing how God clarifies things?
PASTOR MEADOW:
Like a lightbulb suddenly turning on!
ERNEST SEEKER:
We don’t “PRAY RIGHT” and then the Holy Spirit answers our prayers. The Holy Spirit needs to LEAD OUR PRAYERS.
PASTOR MEADOW:
That’s what Jesus meant by “Thy Will Be Done.” The Holy Spirit knows better than us. Trust God, not man.
ERNEST SEEKER:
God isn’t some huge mean guy in the sky ready to squash us like bugs! He loves us. He’s good to us!
MELODY MEADOW:
(she says in a comical tone as they both rise) And this guy makes like he doesn’t understand PRAISING GOD!
PASTOR MEADOW:
(embraces Ernest) Praise God, Brother. Praise God!
ERNEST SEEKER:
(so happy he’s pretty much in tears) PRAISE GOD!
MELODY MEADOW:
(she joins them in group hug) Seek and you will find! Praise God!
ERNEST SEEKER:
I agree! Seek and you will find! God said to me: “You will find Me when you seek Me with your whole heart!”
(filled with the Holy Spirit and the peace which surpasses all understanding, they exit)
__________________________________________
Completely free Christian scripts, sketches, mimes.
Always a parable. Storytelling making the difference.
Soldier On. You were created on purpose.
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