Growth
Drama
Watch And Pray
Meditations In Dramatic Form For The Season Of Lent
1 - WATCH AND PRAY.
2 - We are planting seeds.
3 - We are cultivating the soil and praying for a good growth season this spring.
4 - We look forward to celebrating the green fields and growing crops.
5 - But for now, we are in the midst of solemn work, the almost joyless task of turning soil.
6 - We are planting seeds.
7 - We are the seeds.
8 - You and I are he and she.
9 - We are entering the cold, dark ground that is the Lenten season.
10 - And we are struggling to swell and burst with new life.
11 - As we grow and before we bear fruit, we will come up against many obstacles.
12 - The dirt that covers us,
13 - the rains that fall,
14 - The heat from the sun.
15 - Each is an enemy to our growth,
16 - and each is necessary.
17 - WATCH AND PRAY.
18 - A reading from the book of Jeremiah, the prophet.
The Lord said to me, "Go down to the potter's house, where I will give you my message." So I went there and saw the potter working at his wheel. Whenever a piece of pottery turned out imperfect, he would take the clay and make it into something else.
Then the Lord said to me, "Don't I have the right to do with you people of Israel what the potter did with the clay? You are in my hands just like clay in the potter's hands. If at any time I say that I am going to uproot, break down, or destroy any nation or kingdom, but then that nation turns from its evil, I will not do what I said! would. On the other hand, if I say that I am going to plant, or build up any nation or kingdom, but then that nation disobeys me and does evil, I will not do what I said I would. Now then, tell the people of Judah and of Jerusalem that I am making plans against them and getting ready to punish them. Tell them to stop living sinful lives - to change their ways and the things they are doing."
Here ends the reading.
19 - Have you ever tried to make a clay pot?
20 - Or paint a picture?
21 - Or sew a shirt?
22 - Or build a house?
23 - At times it seems as if the materials have minds of their own and refuse to be shaped into the desired objects.
24 - But as the creators of the objects, we are able to take them apart and start over again.
25 - We are like a house.
26 - We, too, have minds of our own and refuse to be shaped as desired by our Creator.
27 - We wish to create ourselves in our own image.
28 - But unless we learn to yield to our Creator's will, we will ultimately destroy ourselves.
29 - WATCH AND PRAY.
30 - A reading from the first letter to the Corinthians from Paul the Apostle.
There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit gives them. There are different ways of serving, but the same Lord is served. There are different abilities to perform service, but the same God gives ability to everyone for their particular service. The Spirit's presence is shown for the good of all. The spirit gives one person a message full of wisdom, while to another person the same Spirit gives a message full of knowledge. One and the same Spirit gives faith to one person, while to another person he gives the power to heal. The Spirit gives one person the power to work miracles; to another, the gift of speaking God's message; and to yet another, the ability to tell the difference between the gifts that come from the Spirit and those that do not. To one person he gives the ability to speak in strange tongues, and to another he gives the ability to explain what is said. But it is one and the same Spirit who does all this; as he wishes, he gives a different gift to each person.
Here ends the reading.
31 - One Spirit.
32 - One Spirit gives us our gifts.
33 - We are given gifts to complement each other, not to be like each other.
34 - We are not whole in and of ourselves.
35 - A stone by itself is just a stone, but stones put together can build a house.
36 - We are living stones, building the church.
37 - What a grand and glorious building this church would be,
38 - how brilliantly it would display God's glory to the world,
39 - if it weren't for the stones desiring to be something else.
40 - It starts as a doorway wishes to be an altar.
41 - Or a window wishes to be a floor.
42 - "I'm no good at letting people in," says the doorway. "I am better suited to have the gifts laid upon me."
43 - "What good is a window?" asks the window. "Better I should be a plush, carpeted floor for the worshippers to kneel upon."
44 - And soon, the different parts of the church are arguing and fighting.
45 - Each part denying its gift in pursuit of another gift.
46 - But an altar cannot let in worshippers.
47 - And a floor lets in no light.
48 - And there is no need for the altar and door and floor and window to be enemies.
49 - There are different gifts to perform different tasks,
50 - but one spirit gives the gifts.
51 - WATCH AND PRAY.
52 - The Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark.
53 - GLORY TO YOU, O LORD.
Again Jesus began to teach beside Lake Galilee. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it. The boat was out in the water and the crowd stood on the shore at the water's edge. He used parables to teach them many things, saying to them:
"Listen! Once there was a man who went out to sow grain. As he scattered the seed in the field, some of it fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some of it fell on rocky ground, where there was little soil. The seeds soon sprouted, because the soil wasn't deep. Then, when the sun came up, it burned the young plants; and because the roots had not grown deep enough, the plants soon dried up. Some of the seed fell among thorn bushes, which grew up and choked the plants, and they didn't bear grain. But some seeds fell in good soil, and the plants sprouted, grew, and bore grain: some had thirty grains, others sixty, and others one hundred."
And Jesus concluded, "Listen, then, if you have ears!"
The Gospel of the Lord.
54 - PRAISE TO YOU, O CHRIST.
55 - We are the seeds,
56 - and we fall into good and bad soil.
57 - But unlike the seeds of the parable, if we find ourselves among weeds, then we can move.
58 - If we find ourselves lying in a rock bed, we can go to better soil.
59 - Even if we land in good soil, the way is not easy.
60 - But whatever the obstacles, we must decide to grow,
61 - for a good seed will not remain a good seed forever.
62 - Lest we become only a hollow shell, we must decide to sprout, bloom and bear fruit.
63 - And, of course, this is possible only by the grace of God.
64 - It is in the hands of the Master Craftsman who forms us that we take shape as the Body of Christ.
65 - It is with the help of the Creator who plants us that we overcome obstacles and grow.
66 - And so, we begin to work together as friends, not as enemies.
67 - so that we may one day see the church as a whole, not as individual stones.
68 - So that we may each bear fruit, according to our gifts.
69 - WATCH AND PRAY.
70 - As we draw near the cross.
2 - We are planting seeds.
3 - We are cultivating the soil and praying for a good growth season this spring.
4 - We look forward to celebrating the green fields and growing crops.
5 - But for now, we are in the midst of solemn work, the almost joyless task of turning soil.
6 - We are planting seeds.
7 - We are the seeds.
8 - You and I are he and she.
9 - We are entering the cold, dark ground that is the Lenten season.
10 - And we are struggling to swell and burst with new life.
11 - As we grow and before we bear fruit, we will come up against many obstacles.
12 - The dirt that covers us,
13 - the rains that fall,
14 - The heat from the sun.
15 - Each is an enemy to our growth,
16 - and each is necessary.
17 - WATCH AND PRAY.
18 - A reading from the book of Jeremiah, the prophet.
The Lord said to me, "Go down to the potter's house, where I will give you my message." So I went there and saw the potter working at his wheel. Whenever a piece of pottery turned out imperfect, he would take the clay and make it into something else.
Then the Lord said to me, "Don't I have the right to do with you people of Israel what the potter did with the clay? You are in my hands just like clay in the potter's hands. If at any time I say that I am going to uproot, break down, or destroy any nation or kingdom, but then that nation turns from its evil, I will not do what I said! would. On the other hand, if I say that I am going to plant, or build up any nation or kingdom, but then that nation disobeys me and does evil, I will not do what I said I would. Now then, tell the people of Judah and of Jerusalem that I am making plans against them and getting ready to punish them. Tell them to stop living sinful lives - to change their ways and the things they are doing."
Here ends the reading.
19 - Have you ever tried to make a clay pot?
20 - Or paint a picture?
21 - Or sew a shirt?
22 - Or build a house?
23 - At times it seems as if the materials have minds of their own and refuse to be shaped into the desired objects.
24 - But as the creators of the objects, we are able to take them apart and start over again.
25 - We are like a house.
26 - We, too, have minds of our own and refuse to be shaped as desired by our Creator.
27 - We wish to create ourselves in our own image.
28 - But unless we learn to yield to our Creator's will, we will ultimately destroy ourselves.
29 - WATCH AND PRAY.
30 - A reading from the first letter to the Corinthians from Paul the Apostle.
There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit gives them. There are different ways of serving, but the same Lord is served. There are different abilities to perform service, but the same God gives ability to everyone for their particular service. The Spirit's presence is shown for the good of all. The spirit gives one person a message full of wisdom, while to another person the same Spirit gives a message full of knowledge. One and the same Spirit gives faith to one person, while to another person he gives the power to heal. The Spirit gives one person the power to work miracles; to another, the gift of speaking God's message; and to yet another, the ability to tell the difference between the gifts that come from the Spirit and those that do not. To one person he gives the ability to speak in strange tongues, and to another he gives the ability to explain what is said. But it is one and the same Spirit who does all this; as he wishes, he gives a different gift to each person.
Here ends the reading.
31 - One Spirit.
32 - One Spirit gives us our gifts.
33 - We are given gifts to complement each other, not to be like each other.
34 - We are not whole in and of ourselves.
35 - A stone by itself is just a stone, but stones put together can build a house.
36 - We are living stones, building the church.
37 - What a grand and glorious building this church would be,
38 - how brilliantly it would display God's glory to the world,
39 - if it weren't for the stones desiring to be something else.
40 - It starts as a doorway wishes to be an altar.
41 - Or a window wishes to be a floor.
42 - "I'm no good at letting people in," says the doorway. "I am better suited to have the gifts laid upon me."
43 - "What good is a window?" asks the window. "Better I should be a plush, carpeted floor for the worshippers to kneel upon."
44 - And soon, the different parts of the church are arguing and fighting.
45 - Each part denying its gift in pursuit of another gift.
46 - But an altar cannot let in worshippers.
47 - And a floor lets in no light.
48 - And there is no need for the altar and door and floor and window to be enemies.
49 - There are different gifts to perform different tasks,
50 - but one spirit gives the gifts.
51 - WATCH AND PRAY.
52 - The Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark.
53 - GLORY TO YOU, O LORD.
Again Jesus began to teach beside Lake Galilee. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it. The boat was out in the water and the crowd stood on the shore at the water's edge. He used parables to teach them many things, saying to them:
"Listen! Once there was a man who went out to sow grain. As he scattered the seed in the field, some of it fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some of it fell on rocky ground, where there was little soil. The seeds soon sprouted, because the soil wasn't deep. Then, when the sun came up, it burned the young plants; and because the roots had not grown deep enough, the plants soon dried up. Some of the seed fell among thorn bushes, which grew up and choked the plants, and they didn't bear grain. But some seeds fell in good soil, and the plants sprouted, grew, and bore grain: some had thirty grains, others sixty, and others one hundred."
And Jesus concluded, "Listen, then, if you have ears!"
The Gospel of the Lord.
54 - PRAISE TO YOU, O CHRIST.
55 - We are the seeds,
56 - and we fall into good and bad soil.
57 - But unlike the seeds of the parable, if we find ourselves among weeds, then we can move.
58 - If we find ourselves lying in a rock bed, we can go to better soil.
59 - Even if we land in good soil, the way is not easy.
60 - But whatever the obstacles, we must decide to grow,
61 - for a good seed will not remain a good seed forever.
62 - Lest we become only a hollow shell, we must decide to sprout, bloom and bear fruit.
63 - And, of course, this is possible only by the grace of God.
64 - It is in the hands of the Master Craftsman who forms us that we take shape as the Body of Christ.
65 - It is with the help of the Creator who plants us that we overcome obstacles and grow.
66 - And so, we begin to work together as friends, not as enemies.
67 - so that we may one day see the church as a whole, not as individual stones.
68 - So that we may each bear fruit, according to our gifts.
69 - WATCH AND PRAY.
70 - As we draw near the cross.
