Passover
Drama
Dinner With The King
Communion Dramas For Youth
Characters
Reader (may be one person reading all three scripture passages or three different people, each reading one passage)
Person 1-6 (six people, may be of either sex, names may be used instead of numbers one through six)
Props
Table and six chairs
Place settings for six
Bowls of food
Setting
A table is placed in the center of the chancel area. The table is set for six. The play opens with five persons sitting at the table. There are bowls of food on the table. The five persons are talking quietly to each other.
Reader: (goes to lectern) The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs. You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the passover of the LORD. (sits down)
Person 1: (runs into the room, shouting) Hey, Everybody! It's time to go!
Person 2: Don't be in such a hurry!
Person 1: Moses told us we should hurry!
Person 2: We can't go, yet. We haven't eaten.
Person 1: That's right. We have to eat before we go. What's for supper?
Person 2: Roast lamb.
Person 1: Great. I love roast lamb ... but ... the only lamb we own is my pet lamb, Bildad. By the way, where is Bildad? He wasn't in his pen ... Wait a minute ... The roast lamb isn't? ... Oh, no. You couldn't have!
Person 2: We had to. You know that Bildad was a perfect lamb. Bildad was the prettiest, nicest, best lamb our family has ever owned. Moses told us that tonight belongs to God in a very special way. That means that the lamb for our Passover Meal must be a very special lamb. Tonight, God is doing his very best for us. God is ending our old slavery and giving us new freedom. When God does something so special for us, we show our gratitude by doing something special for him. Because God is giving us his best, we give our best. The best we have is Bildad.
Person 1: But I loved Bildad.
Person 2: We all loved Bildad.
Person 1: Why couldn't you have gone to the market and bought a lamb? I know we could only afford the cheapest ones they sell. But we could have kept Bildad.
Person 2: We have a perfect God, who is giving us his best. We can't say, "Thank you," to God with anything less than our very best.
Person 1: I wish you had given me to God instead of Bildad!
Person 2: God would never ask us to sacrifice a child to him. Abraham believed that. So do I. If anyone is going to set slaves free by sacrificing a child, it is going to be God.
Person 1: Would God do that? Would God sacrifice his own child?
Person 2: If that was the only way to set us free, God would. God loves us. God loves us just the way you loved Bildad. You were willing to die so Bildad could live. God would give up his Child, the center of his life, if it was the only way you and I could live.
Person 1: I still miss Bildad.
Person 2: God has promised us a new land, a land of 1,000 hills, each hill covered with sheep. You'll find another lamb.
Person 1: Not like Bildad. Bildad was the best.
Person 2: That's why Bildad had to be our gift to God. Now, sit down and eat. Bildad died to give you strength. You'll need that strength because it is almost time for our freedom journey to begin. Pass
(name)
the lamb, and the bread, too.
Reader: (goes to lectern) The Israelites journeyed from Ramses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides children. A mixed crowd also went up with them, and livestock in great numbers, both flocks and herds. They baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had brought out of Egypt; it was not leavened, because they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.
The time that the Israelites had lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. At the end of four hundred and thirty years, on that very day, all the companies of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt. That was for the LORD a night of vigil, to bring them out of the land of Egypt. That same night is a vigil to be kept for the LORD by all the Israelites throughout their generations. (sits down)
Person 3: What kind of bread is this? It's flat as a pancake, and hard as a rock. Did somebody forget to leaven the dough?
Person 4: We didn't forget. God told us not to do it.
Person 3: Why? Has God made a deal with the dentist? This stuff will break your teeth.
Person 4: Cut it out. It's not that hard. It's just crispy, like a potato chip.
Person 3: Some potato chip, a stale one, without any salt on it, or anything else to give it taste.
Person 4: How it tastes is not important. What is important is that it is, "bread for our journey."
Person 3: What journey?
Person 4: Our journey out of slavery into freedom.
Person 3: Where does this freedom journey start?
Person 4: We start right here.
Person 3: When does it start?
Person 4: We start right now. God doesn't even want us to wait for our bread to rise. We had to bake it without the leaven.
Person 3: So here we are with this flat, tasteless stuff you call bread.
Person 4: It's freedom bread. We don't eat it because it tastes good. We eat it because we need the strength to go where God is sending us, out of slavery into freedom.
Person 3: But it's really hard to chew. I'm afraid it's going to break my teeth.
Person 4: Don't worry about your teeth. Worry about your faithfulness. God has plans for us. Eating this bread will help us live up to the responsibilities of God's gift of freedom. We have some hard work ahead of us.
Person 3: Hard work? I'm used to hard work. I've been a slave all my life.
Person 4: Living in freedom brings with it a different kind of work. Living in slavery requires a strong body. Living in freedom requires a strong soul. That's what this bread is for, to give strength to our souls, strength for doing the hard work of faithfulness.
Person 3: But, I'm telling you, this bread is too dry. I need some wine.
Person 4: Bread and wine. That's a meal that would give us the strength to do just about anything.
Person 3: Anything?
Person 4: Anything God asks; anything our faithfulness to him requires.
Reader: (goes to lectern) The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: "Speak to the Israelites, saying: In the second month on the fourteenth day, at twilight, they shall keep it; they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs." (sits down)
Person 5: Please pass the bitter herbs.
Person 6: You can have them! Yuck!
Person 5: They taste so bad, I kind of like them.
Person 6: Are you nuts? They are supposed to remind us of all the bitter years we have spent as slaves in Egypt. Don't tell me you liked being a slave?
Person 5: Actually, it hasn't been that bad. I work in a nice house. I always have plenty of food. Sometimes I even get to drive the family chariot, a four-horsepower Ramses Special, with ABS and air bags. That's a real set of wheels.
Person 6: But ... you're a slave. You can't go where you want, and you can't do what you want.
Person 5: I don't want to go anywhere, and I don't want to do anything. I'm happy with things as they are.
Person 6: What if God has some place for you to go? What if God has something for you to do? As a slave you would have to pass that up.
Person 5: What could God have that's better than what we've got right here? Sure we're slaves, but we're slaves in the richest country in the world.
Person 6: I suppose you want to die in Egypt.
Person 5: What?
Person 6: I suppose you want to die in Egypt as a slave and a stranger, a person who doesn't really belong, a person who isn't really at home.
Person 5: You make being a slave sound like something bad.
Person 6: It is bad. It is bad because God is giving you freedom as a gift. It's bad to prefer this world's slavery to God's freedom.
Person 5: But what do I get out of being free? What's in it for me?
Person 6: A life where you belong, where you're an insider, not an outsider. A community where no one treats you like a stranger, where everyone calls you friend. A home that's yours forever. A home with God where you can live, and die, and live again, for eternity.
Person 5: That sounds pretty good, but how do I get all that?
Person 6: By letting go of the world that wants to keep you as a slave. By letting go, and grabbing on, grabbing on to God. Just that quick, you're free.
Person 5: You know, these bitter herbs really are awful. Thank God that when our slavery is over, we won't have to eat them anymore.... I wonder what kind of meal God is going to give us while we are living out our freedom?
Person 6: Bread and wine. That's the food slaves eat after God has set them free. Not slavery's bitter herbs, but freedom's bread and wine.
Reader (may be one person reading all three scripture passages or three different people, each reading one passage)
Person 1-6 (six people, may be of either sex, names may be used instead of numbers one through six)
Props
Table and six chairs
Place settings for six
Bowls of food
Setting
A table is placed in the center of the chancel area. The table is set for six. The play opens with five persons sitting at the table. There are bowls of food on the table. The five persons are talking quietly to each other.
Reader: (goes to lectern) The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs. You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the passover of the LORD. (sits down)
Person 1: (runs into the room, shouting) Hey, Everybody! It's time to go!
Person 2: Don't be in such a hurry!
Person 1: Moses told us we should hurry!
Person 2: We can't go, yet. We haven't eaten.
Person 1: That's right. We have to eat before we go. What's for supper?
Person 2: Roast lamb.
Person 1: Great. I love roast lamb ... but ... the only lamb we own is my pet lamb, Bildad. By the way, where is Bildad? He wasn't in his pen ... Wait a minute ... The roast lamb isn't? ... Oh, no. You couldn't have!
Person 2: We had to. You know that Bildad was a perfect lamb. Bildad was the prettiest, nicest, best lamb our family has ever owned. Moses told us that tonight belongs to God in a very special way. That means that the lamb for our Passover Meal must be a very special lamb. Tonight, God is doing his very best for us. God is ending our old slavery and giving us new freedom. When God does something so special for us, we show our gratitude by doing something special for him. Because God is giving us his best, we give our best. The best we have is Bildad.
Person 1: But I loved Bildad.
Person 2: We all loved Bildad.
Person 1: Why couldn't you have gone to the market and bought a lamb? I know we could only afford the cheapest ones they sell. But we could have kept Bildad.
Person 2: We have a perfect God, who is giving us his best. We can't say, "Thank you," to God with anything less than our very best.
Person 1: I wish you had given me to God instead of Bildad!
Person 2: God would never ask us to sacrifice a child to him. Abraham believed that. So do I. If anyone is going to set slaves free by sacrificing a child, it is going to be God.
Person 1: Would God do that? Would God sacrifice his own child?
Person 2: If that was the only way to set us free, God would. God loves us. God loves us just the way you loved Bildad. You were willing to die so Bildad could live. God would give up his Child, the center of his life, if it was the only way you and I could live.
Person 1: I still miss Bildad.
Person 2: God has promised us a new land, a land of 1,000 hills, each hill covered with sheep. You'll find another lamb.
Person 1: Not like Bildad. Bildad was the best.
Person 2: That's why Bildad had to be our gift to God. Now, sit down and eat. Bildad died to give you strength. You'll need that strength because it is almost time for our freedom journey to begin. Pass
(name)
the lamb, and the bread, too.
Reader: (goes to lectern) The Israelites journeyed from Ramses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides children. A mixed crowd also went up with them, and livestock in great numbers, both flocks and herds. They baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had brought out of Egypt; it was not leavened, because they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.
The time that the Israelites had lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. At the end of four hundred and thirty years, on that very day, all the companies of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt. That was for the LORD a night of vigil, to bring them out of the land of Egypt. That same night is a vigil to be kept for the LORD by all the Israelites throughout their generations. (sits down)
Person 3: What kind of bread is this? It's flat as a pancake, and hard as a rock. Did somebody forget to leaven the dough?
Person 4: We didn't forget. God told us not to do it.
Person 3: Why? Has God made a deal with the dentist? This stuff will break your teeth.
Person 4: Cut it out. It's not that hard. It's just crispy, like a potato chip.
Person 3: Some potato chip, a stale one, without any salt on it, or anything else to give it taste.
Person 4: How it tastes is not important. What is important is that it is, "bread for our journey."
Person 3: What journey?
Person 4: Our journey out of slavery into freedom.
Person 3: Where does this freedom journey start?
Person 4: We start right here.
Person 3: When does it start?
Person 4: We start right now. God doesn't even want us to wait for our bread to rise. We had to bake it without the leaven.
Person 3: So here we are with this flat, tasteless stuff you call bread.
Person 4: It's freedom bread. We don't eat it because it tastes good. We eat it because we need the strength to go where God is sending us, out of slavery into freedom.
Person 3: But it's really hard to chew. I'm afraid it's going to break my teeth.
Person 4: Don't worry about your teeth. Worry about your faithfulness. God has plans for us. Eating this bread will help us live up to the responsibilities of God's gift of freedom. We have some hard work ahead of us.
Person 3: Hard work? I'm used to hard work. I've been a slave all my life.
Person 4: Living in freedom brings with it a different kind of work. Living in slavery requires a strong body. Living in freedom requires a strong soul. That's what this bread is for, to give strength to our souls, strength for doing the hard work of faithfulness.
Person 3: But, I'm telling you, this bread is too dry. I need some wine.
Person 4: Bread and wine. That's a meal that would give us the strength to do just about anything.
Person 3: Anything?
Person 4: Anything God asks; anything our faithfulness to him requires.
Reader: (goes to lectern) The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: "Speak to the Israelites, saying: In the second month on the fourteenth day, at twilight, they shall keep it; they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs." (sits down)
Person 5: Please pass the bitter herbs.
Person 6: You can have them! Yuck!
Person 5: They taste so bad, I kind of like them.
Person 6: Are you nuts? They are supposed to remind us of all the bitter years we have spent as slaves in Egypt. Don't tell me you liked being a slave?
Person 5: Actually, it hasn't been that bad. I work in a nice house. I always have plenty of food. Sometimes I even get to drive the family chariot, a four-horsepower Ramses Special, with ABS and air bags. That's a real set of wheels.
Person 6: But ... you're a slave. You can't go where you want, and you can't do what you want.
Person 5: I don't want to go anywhere, and I don't want to do anything. I'm happy with things as they are.
Person 6: What if God has some place for you to go? What if God has something for you to do? As a slave you would have to pass that up.
Person 5: What could God have that's better than what we've got right here? Sure we're slaves, but we're slaves in the richest country in the world.
Person 6: I suppose you want to die in Egypt.
Person 5: What?
Person 6: I suppose you want to die in Egypt as a slave and a stranger, a person who doesn't really belong, a person who isn't really at home.
Person 5: You make being a slave sound like something bad.
Person 6: It is bad. It is bad because God is giving you freedom as a gift. It's bad to prefer this world's slavery to God's freedom.
Person 5: But what do I get out of being free? What's in it for me?
Person 6: A life where you belong, where you're an insider, not an outsider. A community where no one treats you like a stranger, where everyone calls you friend. A home that's yours forever. A home with God where you can live, and die, and live again, for eternity.
Person 5: That sounds pretty good, but how do I get all that?
Person 6: By letting go of the world that wants to keep you as a slave. By letting go, and grabbing on, grabbing on to God. Just that quick, you're free.
Person 5: You know, these bitter herbs really are awful. Thank God that when our slavery is over, we won't have to eat them anymore.... I wonder what kind of meal God is going to give us while we are living out our freedom?
Person 6: Bread and wine. That's the food slaves eat after God has set them free. Not slavery's bitter herbs, but freedom's bread and wine.
