Leaping Off the Page: Any Time of the Year Edition

  DAMASCUS

  A monodrama

  (Please note:

  This monodrama has much of the same text as the short play, “Thine is the Kingdom.”)

  Themes: The Lord’s Prayer; Thine is the Kingdom; faithfulness; courage; New Testament times; persecution; assurance; prayer; Bible; women; praise; worship.

  Setting: It is a few years after the death and resurrection of Jesus. The followers of the way have heard that Saul, the persecutor of Jesus, is on his way there. We are in a small house in Damascus. It is a cold, bleak room, sparsely furnished. Maybe just one bench.

  Character: Abigail is a Jewish woman and recent convert to “the Way”. She has been a believer a very short time and is now facing a severe test of her faith.

  Scene: This monodrama is a play in which the imaginary “fourth wall” of theatre is utilized. Never is the actor to look at the audience or acknowledge it. This is a slice of life and nobody is in the room except the character and her God.

  Abigail enters, carrying a scroll. She looks around fearfully. She is afraid of being seen or overheard. She is in great turmoil. She tries to pray.

  Great and mighty God. (Stops, a little panicked, wails a bit) I don’t know how to pray. I don’t know what to say. My thoughts are so confused. Dark fears and doubts press me down. (To the door. Puts hand on it as if to keep him out) Saul is on his way here. (Turns and leans her back against the door) Already he has killed many followers of Jesus. I fear for my life and for my friends. We will be next. The fear has dimmed our hope. (Steps away from door, hold a hand out in a plea) Shine your light on us, Jesus, give us rest from this persecution. (Moves back into center stage) I must talk to you. Somehow I must express my mind and my heart. I know you know these already, but I don’t! I have to talk to you for my sake. Please excuse me if I do not pray with eloquence or learning. (Muttering) I am only a woman in a land where women count for little. (With great intensity) I don’t know how to pray! But pray I must. I must. I am so new to this. Praying was something men did, not women. Help me. Enlighten me. (Step down stage) Give me the words. (Stands in an attitude of prayer then suddenly cocks her head as if hearing something. Take your time with this) What’s that? (Tilt head the other way) I hear no voice, yet something is speaking to me. (Listens some more) Pray my prayer? (Repeats it) Pray my prayer? Whose prayer? (Paces frenziedly) Who is talking to me in a voice I cannot hear? Why am I so sure it’s important? How could I receive such a...(Stops, eyes wide in wonder) It’s the Holy Spirit! Talking to—to—me! Pray my prayer, he says. (Discovery) Why, he must mean the prayer Jesus taught that day on the mountain. Joanna told me about it! I remember it. (She closes her eyes, holds a beat and then begins) I’ll pray your prayer, Jesus! (As she prays, she takes the time to internalize each sentence, so it becomes her prayer. She kneels by a bench, placing the scroll on it) Our Father—(She stops then begins again with the more personal pronoun, a shy, gentle smile in her eyes) My Father in heaven, your Name is to be praised above all others. Your kingdom come, (pray with real meaning) your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today the bread we need. (Looks up and adds) Give me, too, the courage and grace I need today. Forgive my sins (falters, then firmly as she realizes she must forgive Saul) as I forgive those who sin against me. Do not lead us into temptation (a real plea) but deliver us from the evil one. (Finish with strength) For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours forever. Amen. (Finishes the prayer, then frowns over the last sentence) The kingdom is God’s? How can that be? This land isn’t God’s. (Paces vigorously about the room) The Romans own it, rule it. They and others before them have occupied it for centuries. It’s not God’s. We Jews can do nothing without our overlords’ permission. The great glories of David’s kingdom are gone forever. So how can the kingdom be God’s now? How can the kingdom be His, when it is Tiberius who reigns? And when we can be threatened by the Pharisee, Saul? Wait. (Picks up scroll, looking at it. The story of David is in the scriptures. Slowly sit on bench) I remember the story of David. He built a great kingdom. It was Israel’s finest hour. What was that he said at the end of his life? (Open scroll) “Yours, O Lord is the greatness and the power, the glory, victory and the majesty...Yours is the kingdom, O Lord.” The kingdom is yours, Lord. That was the king speaking. Does that mean Israel is God’s, no matter who is king? Whether it’s David or the Persians or the Assyrians, the Greeks or the Romans? The kingdom is the Lord’s and whoever reigns does so by His grace. Daniel even told Nebuchadnezzar that it was God who had given him kingdom, power, and strength and glory. (Up, moving strongly as she works this out) But there must be more. There must be! Is the kingdom limited to Israel? Is it an earthly, political thing of history only? No, it must be more than that. God is bigger than any dominion ruled by man. (A real discovery. Awed) The kingdom is wherever He is! (Back to working it out) The kingdom is heaven where God reigns in glory. (Excitement as she realizes the personal nature of it) But it is also here in me because He is in me. Why, (holds up the scroll) the psalmist said God inhabits my praise! My worship is His throne! (She opens the scroll and smiles, then begins to read from Psalm 145:10-13, 17-19, speaking the words as if they are hers, spoken with fresh, new meaning) “All your works praise you, O Lord…They speak of the glory of your kingdom and talk of your power. They make known to the sons (adding) —and daughters—of men your mighty acts and the glorious majesty of your kingdom. “Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and your dominion endures throughout all generations… “…The Lord is righteous in all his ways and gracious in all his works. The Lord is near to all who call on him, (realizes that she is doing just that and that the Lord really is near to her) to all of us who call on him in truth. He satisfies the desire of all who fear him. He hears our cry and he saves us.” (A brief pause while she absorbs this promise and takes it in her situation. New energy.) So. The kingdom, the power and the glory are yours, Lord. They are yours right here. Right here in this room as I wait for Saul to come. When I sing praises to you all of heaven rejoices with me. My adoration of you lifts me up and you fill me with your power and your glory. It is seen in me as I give it to you. The kingdom, the power and the glory are yours—yours—forever. (Carefully places scroll down and looks up with a real serenity) Amen, Lord, and thank you. I’m ready. When Saul arrives I’ll be ready. I’ll be ready, for your kingdom is here, right here in Damascus. Thank you, Jesus.

  Suggested companion readings: Jude 24-25; Rev. 1:6; 4:8-11; 5:7-14; 7:9-12; 21:23-26

  Curtain

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