Obedience to God is always a struggle among God’s people. This dramatic reading challenges the congregation to examine their excuses for not following Christ in obedience.
The reading is designed for four readers, male or female, and one unseen voice (narrator). The dramatic reading takes approximately four minutes.
[All four voices are on the stage spaced five feet apart with their backs to the congregation.]
Voice 1: [turns to face congregation] Lord, you know I want to follow you. But first let me go and bury my father.
Narrator: Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”(Luke 9:60)
[Voice 1 turns back around, with back to the congregation]
Voice 2: [turns to face the congregation]Lord, he won’t follow you, but I will. Just let me go back first and say goodbye to my family.
Narrator: Jesus replied, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62)
[Voice 2 turns back around, with back to the congregation]
Voice 3: [turns to face the congregation] Lord, I will obey you. When I am tempted by Satan, I will say, “Get thee behind me, Satan, and let me go.”
Narrator: Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:7)
[Voice 3 turns back around, with back to the congregation]
Voice 4: [turns to face the congregation] Lord, whatever you want I will do. Wherever you say to go, I will go. Let me go and do your will—and let me do it in your way and in your timing.
Narrator: Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” (Isaiah 6:8)
[Voice 4 remains facing the congregation. Voices 1, 2, and 3 turn to face the congregation]
Voice 1, 2, 3, 4: We four represent you.
Voice 1: We all have our excuses for not obeying God—other things to do that crowd God out.
Voice 2: Some of us are letting family issues keep us from wholeheartedly following Christ.
Voice 3: Some of us feel keenly our inability to overcome temptation. Resist Satan and he will flee. Then trust and obey.
Voice 4: We all need to answer his call. May we say, “Here am I, send me.”
Voice 1, 2, 3, 4: Let us go. Let us . . . [pause] go!
Song of Response: “Will You Come and Follow Me” SNC 267, WR 350