1. JESUS LOVES LAZARUS" - a monologue by Mary, sister of Lazarus, as Conclusion of monologue: I've got to get back to Noah and my family, after all we've got a lot of work to do, a world to rebuild. Dreams don't come easy. And the next time you see a rainbow tell yourself that's not just a rainbow, that's a promise come true. Remember, fellow dreamers, dare to dream, because you serve a God who keeps his promises. (ACTRESS TAKES OFF HEADRESS AND REPEATS )Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished. 4. "EVE"- a monologue by the wife of Adam God doesn't hear. I don't know which is true, and I don't think it matters any more. God, right now I'd be complaining to Anna about Aaron or about You or perhaps about both of you. But I can't today--or ever again. And you know why. The Egyptians killed her today. She collapsed after lifting a brick and couldn't get up again. So they beat her to death. No loss, they said, she was too old to be worth anything. Miriam II Lord--I see where the grey veil has come from. The leprosy in my heart is what grew the weeds. And I watered it with my inward gazing. Heal my body--or don't....but you have healed my heart. Nothing has changed and yet everything has changed. If I am to die out here alone--my body rotting away day by day...I will do it with your song upon my lips. [PICKS UP TAMBORINE] [SINGS--FALTERING AT FIRST, BUT WITH GROWING STRENGTH] I will sing ....unto the Lord...for he has triumphed gloriously...the horse and rider thrown into the sea! YES!! My song is back. Aaron! You're coming too close! You say it's time to come home. But--my leprosy....you're right...I am healed-- I'm doubly healed. God said I could come back after seven days--and it's been that long? Well if you've come to walk me back, you'd better be ready to run--for you can't hold back an old woman with God's song in her heart! 6. "MARY'S MUSINGS" - the mother of Jesus muses about the very strange "baby gifts" (gold, frankincense and myrrh) given to her son . Gold, frankincense and myrrh. The more I think about them, the more appropriate baby presents they become--for this baby. Gold--you've enriched my life and as a man you will be enriching other lives, far more than gold ever could. Frankincense, just like incense, for certain ones you will be a sweet aroma of life they will seek out and desire--for others, a stench of death they will seek out to destroy! And the myrrh...ah Jesus, even now I can see following you will be hard, a kind of death. Death to the old way, but life--real life will result. 7. "JUST A FEW LOAVES" - a monologue by the mother of the boy who gave Jesus his lunch of five loaves and two fishes I realized I wasn't mad at Elisha. I was mad at God. But how could I be mad at God for giving my son" If God had never given me my son, I wouldn't be hurting so right now. But then I wouldn't have all these wonderful memories. jI just realized only the dead never hurt. And who wants to be dead inside... Thank you, Lord, for my son. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed is the name of the Lord.
she comes to grips with why Jesus let her brother die.
Message: How can God let the righteous suffer? (in this case, die.)
Oh, I have so underestimated Jesus. I underestimated His power--I believed, and yet I didn't believe. I knew He had the power of healing--but I didn't think He had power over death. I put limits around His power--and He has just blasted those limits away. I underestimated His mission. I suppose I thought of Him as a sort of private Messiah--here to love Lazarus, Martha and me and to meet just our needs. But He has a world to win--and I think we just had the privilege of being a part of that. And lastly, I see now I underestimated His love. He DOES love Lazarus...He loves us all.
2. "NOAH'S WIFE" - a monologue by Noah's wife
Message: Don't give up on your dreams.
(speaks directly to audience) So fellow dreamers, don't be afraid to live the dreams God has for you. Even when the whole world seems to be laughing at you and calling you crazy. And help your fellow dreamers, the way Noah helped me. When the storms of distress fill their ears and they want to abandon the dream, hold them tight and whisper God's promises to them.
3. "BLESSED IS SHE"- a dialogue involving a modern day disillusioned dreamer, and the biblical character Elizabeth, who finds her discarded dream of having a child comes true when she becomes pregnant with John the Baptist.
Message: God given dreams come true in God's strength and in God's timing and give the glory to Jesus.
I do believe my dream has come from you, Lord. I'm not going to give up. TAKES TYPEWRITER AND MANUSCRIPT OUT OF TRASH. I'm not giving up my dream. And when my dream comes true, in whatever form God wishes--it will be in God's power, and in God's timing--and just like Elizabeth's child in her womb--it will be pointing straight to Jesus.
(speaks directly to audience) So fellow dreamers, don't be afraid to live the dreams God has for you. Even when the whole world seems to be laughing at you and calling you crazy. And help your fellow dreamers, the way Noah helped me. When the storms of distress fill their ears and they want to abandon the dream, hold them tight and whisper God's promises to them.
I've got to get back to Noah and my family, after all we've got a lot of work to do, a world to rebuild. Dreams don't come easy. And the next time you see a rainbow tell yourself that's not just a rainbow, that's a promise come true. Remember, fellow dreamers, dare to dream, because you serve a God who keeps his promises.
5. "MIRIAM I and II"- two monologues by Miriam, sister of Moses
I suppose it's time to put away a little girl's dreams.
or He doesn't care
or He doesn't have the power to save us.
Lord, I want to believe. I thought I'd seen your hand at work--but I just don't know any more. I can't go on believing without some sign that you still care. For so long I thought Moses was a symbol of that caring--but I must have been deluded there. And yet....
I wonder if Aaron has left on his mysterious mission yet. (calling off stage) Aaron! (takes a few steps forward and shades her eyes) I don't see him anywhere. He must be gone. . . . (looks at the ground) How strange, he wrote me a message in the sand.
"Now that I have left, you can be told. God has not forsaken his people. The time has come.
Moses has returned."
Oh, I hear your father calling, Jesus. Something about an angel dream and a trip to Egypt. So I was right about the gold. I wonder about the frankincense and myrrh....
I was able to help Jesus! You know, I do not need the whole crowd to know that it was my fish and loaves that Jesus used for this miracle. But I have to admit, I wish Jesus knew.
...Jesus is looking right at me. Oh my, those eyes...He knows it was my fish and loaves...And even though he's not saying a word, it's as if his eyes are saying,
"If I could do all this with two fish, and five loaves, what could I do with a life fully committed to Me?"
8. "DARE TO HOPE" - a monologue by the woman in II Kings whose barreness is curred by Elisha, thuis giving her a child, and then later that same son is raised by the dead by Elisha. THEME: The pain that comes when long dead hope is revived, only to be killed again.
ELISHA!! My son is alive again!! (WEEPS)
(TO THE AUDIENCE) Remember, only the dead can't hurt. And who wants to be dead inside? Dare to hope, dare to hurt, dare to live.