(onstage, woman sitting in chair, reading Bible -- looking smug)
HUSBAND:
(entering, running, panicked) Sweetheart! Carolena! WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU DOING! Get up! Don't you know the ship is sinking?
WIFE:
(looking up from the Bible, completely calm, smirking) Oh honey, you should hear how silly you sound!
HUSBAND:
SILLY! Don't you hear the alarms? Don't you hear the screams? Come on, sweetheart, you gotta get up -- our time is short -- we only have MOMENTS to get to the lifeboats.
WIFE:
Douglas, when are you going to learn? We're saved by GRACE, not by works! We don't have to DO anything. Grace is a free gift. Nothing you can do can save yourself. Sweetheart, I'm staying here. You're just being . . . LEGALISTIC!
HUSBAND:
(exasperated) I can't believe this! (pacing, clasping head) This room will be flooded in moments, and we're discussing SALVATION! (resolved) Okay . . . Carolena, you are right, GRACE is free, and nothing we can do can merit it -- we don't deserve grace, and yet God gave His only Son, so that we can live...
WIFE:
NOW you're getting it! Now why don't you just sit down here beside me, and we can read the Bible together.
HUSBAND:
(reluctantly plopping down next to her) But Carolena, there is so much more to GRACE than that. Jesus -- the Great Mariner -- He died preparing the lifeboats for us. We have to ENTER those lifeboats. The lifeboats are salvation -- and this isn't even like the Titanic, there are enough lifeboats on this ship for everybody. To be saved, you must have faith, you have to SEIZE that grace, and we do that by getting into the lifeboat!
WIFE:
Well, here, maybe this will solve it! Let's ask this sailor!
HUSBAND:
Shhhhhhh! (placing hand over her mouth) That is one of the false sailors. The Bible tells us that we are not at war with flesh and blood . . . I mean, what these guys are teaching -- things so you won't get in the lifeboats -- it's completely evil!
They're saying that everything's okay, that the ship is not going down, or that you have plenty of time -- that you should spend your time up on the Lido deck gambling, or dancing and partying in the ballroom -- or spend some "quality time" in the bar on Deck #2, where "everybody knows your name!"
They're teaching that you don't NEED a lifeboat, that you can SWIM to safety -- now THAT'S legalism. Do you hear those screams? The water is cold. The water is sin. You can't survive in it. And yet people are DIVING IN, smiling, laughing, LOVING IT!
WIFE:
But what about this? (lifting up Bible) I thought that this was our lifejacket? I think I'm perfectly safe, sitting right here, with my lifejacket!
HUSBAND:
You see, sweety, it's not the Word of God (taking the Bible from her), sitting over here in leather (holding it at arm's length) Yes, this is the Word of God! But you see -- hmmm -- put your hand over your heart, okay, now the Bible says: "thy Word have I hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against Thee." It's what you internalize, into your spirit -- into your TRUE SELF -- your MIND, your belief system.
When you accept the Savior, the Great Mariner, you are like a little child, covered by His grace, by His saving blood -- but you can't stay like that, you must GROW. The Bible says we are to GROW IN GRACE!
WIFE:
But how do you grow in grace?
HUSBAND:
The Bible says that we are saved by GRACE through FAITH. You don't just accept Him, and then sit there! When you really accept Him, you are changed, and when you are changed, you begin to live and do and think DIFFERENTLY! You live to please Him. If you sit here, doing nothing, you throw His precious grace away!
WIFE:
Please Him, not myself. (thinking) His will, not my will. (thinking deeply)
HUSBAND:
(turning aside, praying fervently) Heavenly Father? I claim the blood of the Savior, Jesus the Messiah, for my wife, Carolena. Please fill her with the Holy Spirit, Heavenly Father. Please open her eyes to the truth. She loves You, and wants to do Thy will -- please use me in any way to save her, Father! In Your Son's Name, Jesus, I pray, amen.
WIFE:
Douglas? So the false sailors have been misleading me? Teaching me that I am supposed to do nothing? And really I am supposed to be out LIVING for my God?
HUSBAND:
Exactly! And that's not all of the story -- you see, there is a submarine commander, right now, under all that water -- he's prowling around to see how many he can devour! Like a giant hungry shark!
WIFE:
So . . . really . . . then climbing into a lifeboat wouldn't be showing a LACK OF FAITH --
HUSBAND:
NO! It is LIVING YOUR FAITH. And that's what our God wants from us. Faith without action on our part -- the Bible calls that DEAD FAITH. And once we're in the lifeboat, that won't be the end either -- we continue to grow! We'll learn to use the paddles -- you know, good deeds -- and how to shoot flares -- praying -- and most importantly, we'll help others out of the water! Everything we'll be learning, it's not about getting saved, that's exactly what the lifeboat is for. No, it's about helping others, and allowing the Good Mariner to change us into His image.
WIFE:
Oh I DON'T KNOW! It's too late to get on the lifeboat! Look how dark it is out there in the corridor! We won't even be able to FIND the lifeboats!
HUSBAND:
No sweetheart, you're wrong. We have a guide -- the Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth. He will show us the way through the dark corridors --
WIFE:
And our lifejacket? The Bible, can we bring the Bible?
HUSBAND:
Of course -- "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet -- "
WIFE:
"-- and a light unto my path!
HUSBAND:
You've got it! Now hurry, let's get out of here and --
WIFE:
Oh no! (standing up, horrified) The water! Look! It's flooding into our room! It's too late, I made us wait too long!
HUSBAND:
It's never too late. NEVER. As long as we are alive, there is hope for us. Now come on, take my hand, let's go for the lifeboats!
WIFE:
But all that water out there -- we're going to have to swim, in the darkness, we won't be able to breathe!
HUSBAND:
Don't worry, sweetheart! It's like baptism, we have to descend into death with Him! But like Him, the Good Mariner, we will rise again, and our sins will be washed away -- washed away, not in this water, but in His blood! And THEN . . . we'll BE . . . in the lifeboat!
Are you ready?
WIFE:
Have faith in God! (both of them taking deep breaths, smiling at each other) Have faith in God! Let's go!
(they duck under the water and "swim" to safety)
__________________________________________
Completely free Christian scripts, sketches, mimes.
Always a parable. Storytelling making the difference.
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