Lillenas Drama Presents The Sin of the Fathers... From The Worship Drama Library, Volume 11 By Jerry Cohagan Theme: Bitterness, forgiving but never forgetting Characters: Four: two males, two females PASTOR: just that, likable and pleasing BOB: appears to be a nice enough guy until the past rears its ugly head GLORIA: sweet lady, rather oblivious to the underlying tension CLARA: pleasant enough until the past invades the present Synopsis: A church board meeting turns ugly as an incident in the past comes full circle once again. This is a humorous look at the dangers of not forgiving the past and how it affects the future as well. Setting/Props: A room in the church, four chairs and a long table, and a legal document (The actors are seated behind the table, facing the audience from stage left to right as follows: BOB, GLORIA, and CLARA. PASTOR is standing at the end of the table stage left.) PASTOR: Just before we adjourn, I would like to bring something to your attention. As you all know, Mr. Gimp passed away last month. He was a long-standing member of this church whose absence will be sorely felt. GLORIA (to CLARA): Who? CLARA: Mr. Gimp, dear. Of Gimp s Nursery and Landscaping. GLORIA (trying to recall): I can t place him... CLARA: No wonder. He hasn t been here since 1982. GLORIA: A shut-in, was he? CLARA: The only door he ever shut was the church s. He used to be as regular as Mylanta, but he walked out the church door in 82 and never stepped foot in here again. BOB: 1982... The War of the Roses. Before your time, Pastor.
PASTOR: The War of the Roses? BOB: Yep. Not a pretty year. Ol Joe Gimp used to sit on this board here. CLARA: That was all before the bloody massacre of 82. GLORIA: What in the world happened? CLARA: It started out harmless enough. Mr. Gimp donated a bunch of rosebushes from his nursery to the church. In fact, he spent the better part of his weekends planting those rosebushes about the church grounds. Well, it seems Mr. Gimp used several of the rosebushes to line the main entrance to the church parking lot. GLORIA: I ve never noticed any roses along that entrance. BOB: They re no longer there. In fact, that s why old man Gimp left the church. CLARA: Mr. Gimp had that parking entrance looking like a rose garden. I m telling you, your spirits just lifted every Sunday morning as you turned into the church. It was a rainbow of color that just took your breath away! PASTOR (sitting down again): Why did he take them out? CLARA: He didn t. Mr. Hundle saw to that. GLORIA: Mr. Hundle? BOB: That s right, my uncle. Uncle Hundle of Hundle s Cadillacs. The same Hundle that sat on this church board and headed up the finance committee. The same Hundle that helped build this church over 20 years ago. CLARA: It seems Mr. Hundle always drove one of the Cadillacs from off his lot to church every Sunday and would park it for prominent display in front of the church. BOB: It was good for business... free advertising, you might say. PASTOR (lightheartedly): So much for keeping the Sabbath holy. CLARA: Anyway, it seems that the rosebushes lining the main entrance scratched Mr. Hundle s Cadillac whenever he turned into the church lot. BOB: Sure did. Those thornbushes depreciated the value of those Caddies every time Uncle Hundle came to church. CLARA: So Mr. Hundle told Joe Gimp to get them out of there.
BOB: That s not quite true. CLARA (mumbling): Amounted to the same thing. BOB: Uncle Hundle asked Mr. Gimp at one of the church board meetings if he d mind planting them another foot back of the entrance so his automobile could clear them. Old man Gimp refused to do it. CLARA: That s not quite true either. BOB (slight mocking): Same thing. CLARA: Mr. Gimp told Mr. Hundle that they didn t scratch any other cars, just his gunboats. Mr. Gimp suggested that Hundle drive around and use the south entrance as there weren t any rosebushes back there. Hundle said that he d been turning in the main entrance for 20 years and he wasn t about to change his ways. Mr. Gimp went on to suggest at the meeting that maybe it was God s way of telling him not to do business on the Sabbath. BOB: Can you imagine that? A man who helped finance this building being told by a gardener where to park! CLARA: Hundle told Gimp he had a better idea where he could park and stormed out of the meeting. We all followed him out to the parking lot and watched in horror, along with Mr. Gimp, as Hundle, wrapped in leather, proceeded to rev his engine and then mowed down the entire row of rosebushes from behind the wheel of his 82 Eldorado. BOB (more to himself): Tore up the whole underside of that car. Had to write the entire car off as a loss. CLARA: It s a sight I ll never forget. Hundle laying rubber and spinning his whitewalls the entire length of those rosebushes, cackling maniacally as he left a blaze of color in his wake. BOB (a glimmer of joy in his eye): Old man Gimp just stood there dumbfounded while all around him a shower of red, white, and yellow petals gently floated down. CLARA: For those of us who were there, it was a holocaust forever etched in our memory. Total rosebush genocide. BOB: Gimp never recovered. He walked away and never looked back. A week later Uncle Hundle s tires were mysteriously slashed while he attended the morning service. No one was ever caught, although we all knew it had to be old man Gimp.
GLORIA (shocked): My, my, my... the roots of bitterness go oh so deep, don t they? CLARA: The church almost split over it. Praise God that the war of 82 has all but been forgotten. BOB: Amen to that. PASTOR: Well, despite Mr. Gimp s attendance record, he did remember this church in his will. (Standing up and holding up a legal document) It seems he left a lump sum of $50,000 to the church. His only provision being that it must be used for the beautification of the church grounds and that we, the church board, must all be in agreement on its use. GLORIA: What a lovely man, he ll be dearly missed. CLARA (excited): I can t think of a more fitting tribute to the man than a rose garden at the main entrance. Perhaps a fountain, as well, with a commemorative plaque. BOB: Wait a minute. I suggest we use that money to widen the main entrance. You know, make the church a bit more accessible. The way it is now, you practically gotta swing out into oncoming traffic to make that right turn into the lot. It took the foresight and courage of a man like Uncle Hundle to finally get rid of that pollen corner. Let s not be taking two steps back for every step forward. CLARA (dismissing him): A pollen corner? I don t think you can equate the beauty, elegance, and dignity of a rose garden with a runny nose and watery eyes. Pastor, a more appropriate memorial to dear Mr. Gimp could not possibly be found. BOB: Well, you may be right. A row of thornbushes may be an apt reminder of old man Gimp. He was certainly a thorn in Uncle Hundle s side. CLARA (rising): Your Uncle Hundle was a rich, arrogant oaf. The only color he ever appreciated was green. BOB: And the only thing green about Gimp was his thumb. Without my uncle s money, this church wouldn t ever have been built. CLARA: And without you telling us that every month, what would we do? BOB (crossing to PASTOR): Pastor, I move we widen the main entrance to the church and put in speed bumps every 30 feet, as well. CLARA: Maybe that would ve slowed down Hundle s massacre of 82. Oh, the words of Solomon ring true! A quick-tempered man does foolish things (Proverbs 14:17, NIV).
BOB (crossing back to CLARA): The only fool was Gimp. The wealth of the wise is their crown, but the folly of fools yields folly (Proverbs 14:24, NIV). CLARA (in his face): The house of the wicked will be destroyed! (Proverbs 14:11, NIV). BOB (nose to nose): A fool and his money are soon parted! CLARA (laughs derisively): That s Shakespeare! PASTOR: Actually, I think it was Ben Franklin. CLARA and BOB (turning on PASTOR): Same thing! BOB: You plant a rosebush and I ll run em down quicker than you can quote scripture! CLARA (blurting out to BOB): You do it and I ll slash your tires as well! (Audible gasp from everyone) BOB: It was you...? GLORIA: You slashed Hundle s tires that morning? CLARA: You bet I did. I slipped out during the choir number and did the Lord s work. (Quoting) Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord. BOB: I oughta sue you. PASTOR: I think the statute of limitations has run out. It s in the past, folks. As you said, let s not take two steps back for every step forward... OK? BOB (not meaning a word of it): Hey, I forgave that ol geezer Gimp a long time ago for what his roses did to Uncle Hundle s car. CLARA (full of bitterness): And I certainly couldn t sit here on the same board with Hundle s nephew if I hadn t forgiven him a long time ago for what he did to that dear man s rosebushes! BOB (pointing an accusing finger at CLARA): But if you think I m gonna forget what you did, think again! GLORIA: Can t we just forgive and forget? Don t let the seeds of the past grow bitter in your hearts. Let s shake hands, hmmm?
(BOB and CLARA reluctantly are coaxed into shaking hands. As they grip each other s hands, it turns into a death grip that neither one will let go.) GLORIA: Now, isn t that better? (Smiles sweetly) BOB (locking eyes with CLARA, gritting through clenched teeth): Oh, absolutely. Forgiven... CLARA (matching his grip and glaring at BOB):... and forgotten. (PASTOR sighs heavily and tosses the paper into the air.) (Blackout) The purchase of this sketch entitles the purchaser to make photocopies of this material for use in their church or nonprofit organization. The sharing of this material with other churches or organizations not owned or controlled by the original purchaser is strictly prohibited. The contents of this sketch may not be reproduced in any other form without written permission from the publisher. Please include the copyright statement found below on each copy made. Scripture is from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by Permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Questions? Please write, call, or E-mail: Lillenas Publishing Company Phone: 816-931-1900 E-mail: drama@lillenas.com Drama Resources Fax: 816-412-8390 Web Site: www.lillenasdrama.com P.O. Box 419527 Kansas City, MO 64141 The sketch collection The Worship Drama Library, Volume 11 (MP-711) is available for purchase from Lillenas Drama or from your local Christian bookstore. For a full description of the rest of this collection, or to purchase other individual sketches, refer to www.lillenasdrama.com