Lillenas Drama Presents Gone Too Far From The What Would Jesus Do? Playbook WWJD? Theme: Worship By Chuck Neighbors Additional Themes: What is the church? coping with change, traditions, dealing with difficult people Scripture: Matthew 15:1-13 Cast: PAMELA HAMILTON: a pastor s wife GERTRUDE BITTERS: a goat in the flock Props: Two chairs; a small table with coffee service, cookies, and miscellaneous clutter such as bulletins, Bibles, flowers, and so on Running Time: 6 minutes Scene: A church foyer/fellowship area. PAMELA HAMILTON is tidying up after the morning service. GERTRUDE barges in on her when her back is turned. GERTRUDE: Mrs. Hamilton? HAMILTON (startled): Oh!... Gertrude! (Catches her breath) Good morning. How are you? GERTRUDE: Fine. We need to talk. HAMILTON: Uh... OK... sure. Have a seat. (She does.) Would you like a cup of coffee? GERTRUDE: No, thank you. Your husband, our... uh, pastor, has gone too far. HAMILTON: I beg your pardon? GERTRUDE: We ve had a meeting. We all agree. This has got to stop. HAMILTON: Whoa, wait a minute. Let s slow down. First of all, who is this we? GERTRUDE: Our chapter of N.A.G.S. (Spells it out) HAMILTON: Uh... N.A.G.S.? (Spelling it also) GERTRUDE: National Auxiliary of Godly Sisters. You remember. We organized our local chapter last fall. HAMILTON: Oh yes, I remember. The NAGS. (Not spelling it this time) GERTRUDE: We prefer N.A.G.S.! (Spelling it again) We were expecting you to join up, you know. HAMILTON: Yes, well (tongue in cheek), I don t think I would meet your qualifications. I probably wouldn t measure up. GERTRUDE: We would disciple you, dear! HAMILTON (to herself): That s what I was afraid of.
HAMILTON: Never mind. Look, if you of the N.A.G.S. have a problem concerning my husband, don t you think you should talk directly to him? GERTRUDE: We thought it would be better coming from you. You are his wife, remember! HAMILTON: Yes, I remember. (Not sure why that is relevant) Well, what is it that concerns you? GERTRUDE: The worship service has gotten out of hand. HAMILTON: How so? GERTRUDE: Well, to begin with, there s the music. HAMILTON: You don t like music? GERTRUDE: We like some music, but not that music. Drums? Electric guitars? That synthasnoozer thing? HAMILTON: Synthesizer. Where is the choir? This band and praise team thing has got to go. HAMILTON: You don t like that, huh? GERTRUDE: It s rock. HAMILTON (tries for a joke): Jesus likes rock. It s even what He called Peter. (A laugh) GERTRUDE: This is not funny, Mrs. Hamilton. We of the N.A.G.S. want the old hymns back. It s more holy sounding more reverent, you know. HAMILTON (sarcastic): Kind of like the music that Jesus listened to? GERTRUDE (missing the sarcasm): Exactly. HAMILTON: Is that it? Just the music? GERTRUDE: Hardly. It s just the tip of the iceberg. HAMILTON (to herself again): I thought it felt cold in here. HAMILTON: Never mind. You were saying? GERTRUDE: There is much more. HAMILTON: I can hardly wait. GERTRUDE: Good. That s what we like, an open mind, willing to change. HAMILTON (sarcastic): Into your image? HAMILTON: Uh... What else? GERTRUDE: We need a dress code. HAMILTON (shocked): Dress code!
We of the N.A.G.S. feel that people aren t dressing properly for church. This is God s house, after all. HAMILTON: Well, Gertrude, times are changing. GERTRUDE: Not at this church, they re not. Not if we of the N.A.G.S. have anything to say about it. We want coats and ties required for the men. Skirts below the knee for the women. HAMILTON (checks her own skirt length): I see. Anything else? GERTRUDE: His sermons. They re too... uh... too casual, informal... too... (can t find the right word) friendly. HAMILTON: Friendly? We of the N.A.G.S. want a little more hellfire and brimstone, if you know what we mean. HAMILTON: I m afraid that I do. GERTRUDE: When I was a little girl, the sermons were stronger, more forceful, much HAMILTON: Louder? He must not compromise the gospel. HAMILTON: Gertrude, he s not compromising. He just doesn t feel that he has to shout to get the message across. Don t you think that people will respond to the gospel even if presented in an informal and friendly manner? GERTRUDE: Of course not. People must know that God hates sinners. HAMILTON (correcting her): Sin. HAMILTON: God hates sin. He loves sinners. GERTRUDE: I don t want to get into a theological debate with you, Mrs. Hamilton. HAMILTON: What a shame. GERTRUDE: Exactly, more shame, that s what we need! Make people feel miserable and guilty. That s what worship is all about. HAMILTON: Misery and guilt? That s what worship is about? HAMILTON: I don t want to disappoint you, Gertrude, but I don t think that he can do that. GERTRUDE: Not to worry. It s taken care of. HAMILTON (another surprise): It is? HAMILTON: How so? GERTRUDE: We took it upon ourselves to have a little talk with our sound man, Jack Rollins. We bought Pastor a voice modulator. We did a little experi-
menting; and with a little extra reverb, and by cranking up the volume, we can modify his voice for the desired effect. It s almost scary. HAMILTON: Scary? HAMILTON: But Gertrude, our vision for this church is to reach out to our community show other people God s love in a way that is relevant in our culture. If we did what you propose, we would be undoing all the changes that we have recently made. I m glad you see it our way. After all, we of the N.A.G.S. don t mean to nag HAMILTON: It just comes natural to you? GERTRUDE (a harsh look): But we knew that given the choice of making these minor changes or all of the members of the N.A.G.S. leaving the church... HAMILTON: Are you threatening us? We figured the right choice won t be too hard to make. HAMILTON (a forced smile): Oh, it won t be, Gertrude. I m sure it won t be! GERTRUDE: Good. Good-bye, Mrs. Hamilton. (At the door, not really a question) You ll know what to do, then. HAMILTON: Oh... exactly. Good-bye, Gertrude. (GERTRUDE leaves. HAMILTON has a big smile as she says... ) GOOD-BYE! Scripture Reading: Matthew 15:1-13 The End READER 1: Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, READER 2: Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don t wash their hands before they eat! READER 1: Jesus replied, READER 3: And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, Honor your father and mother and Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death. But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is a gift devoted to God, he is not to honor his father with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: READER 2: These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men. READER 1: Jesus called the crowd to him and said, READER 3: Listen and understand. What goes into a man s mouth does not make him unclean, but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him unclean.
READER 1: Then the disciples came to him and asked, READER 2: Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this? READER 1: He replied, READER 3: Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. Leave them; they are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit. Discussion Starters 1. Are our traditions in worship good or bad? 2. Who or what determines when a tradition has lost its meaning? 3. What do you think Jesus would have said to Gertrude? 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. Scriptures are from the Holy Bible, New International Version (NIV ). 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 What Would Jesus Do? Playbook (MP-817) 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