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LIVING WATER

by Cheri Mueller

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LivingWaterAn Easter vigil

by Cheri Mueller

Performed at Family of Christ Church, Easter 2010

CAST OF CHARACTERS

NarratorReaders 1-4

AdamEve

PercussionistsNoah

NaomiSeth

HammahHecklers Ezekiel

GodBlocks Chorus

Joe Mary PeterJohn

Many of these parts may be double cast. Following is a suggestedbreakdown for the lowest number of actors required (ten).

Narrator: You should not try to double this role, as the Narratoris involved throughout most scenes.

Group 1: Readers/Percussion Chorus (Five total persons needed.)Draw from this group to serve as the three Readers in Scene 1,the Percussionists in Scene 2, the five Hecklers in Scene 3, thefour Readers in Scene 4, the Blocks Chorus in Scene 5, and thethree Readers in Scene 8. At least two of them should be ateenager (Reader 2 in Scenes 1 and 4 and Reader 3 in Scene 4).Consider using teens for the entire group, as this is a great wayto involve them in your Easter worship.

Group 2: Actors (Four total — two males, two females) Male 1 (Younger) — Adam (Scene 2), Seth (Scene 3), Ezekiel(Scene 5), Joe (Scene 6), Peter (Scene 8). Male 2 (Older) — Noah (Scene 3), God (Scene 5), John (Scene 8). Female 1 (Younger) — Eve (Scene 2), Hammah (Scene 3). Female 2 (Older) — Naomi (Scene 3), Mary (Scene 8).

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This perusal script is for reading purposes only.No performance or photocopy rights are conveyed.

PRODUCTION NOTES

Overview: A “first” celebration of Easter that revisits gospelstories from Genesis to John with an emphasis on living water,the fountain of eternal life that wells up within us, quenchingduring difficult times and providing relief in the wasteland ofour circumstances.

Scripture: “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me anddrink” (John 7:38).

Stage: The stage is bare. Upstage Center is a stack of risersor platforms to form a set of stairs that will eventually becovered with shimmering blue fabric to suggest a river.

You will also need a large free-standing cross and hay bales orsomething else for Hammah to hide behind.

Props: Any household objects or percussion instruments thatcreate the desired sounds for each segment of the narration inScene 2. Suggestions are provided, but only as a springboardfor further brainstorming. Participants should explore, playwith, and discover their own creative sounds, using rehearsalsto develop their discoveries into an orchestrated performance.Percussive orchestra ideas: four water-filled glasses, long tubewhistle, bass drum, water-filled metal bowl, mallet, gong andmallet, two pitchers of water, large tub, can, chimes or harp,sand in a pitcher, bowl, maracas, bubble wrap, washboard andstick, xylophone, rain stick, sand in box, guitar, wind chimes,and fast food cup with straw.

You will also need a match, pooper scooper or broom and long-handled dustpan, a branch with leaves to represent an olivebranch (a fake branch is fine), sets of wooden blocks, blueshimmery fabric for the river, Bible, and a folded burial cloth.

Costumes: The characters in the third, fifth, and eighthscenes may wear biblical costumes if desired. For the Noahstory in Scene 3, they may add silly touches such as rainslickers, rain hats, or galoshes and umbrellas. ThePercussive/Blocks Chorus may wear matching T-shirts. TheReaders may wear all black.

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Sound Effects: Running water.

Responsive Reading: The same responsive reading isrepeated after several of the scenes. Please include the readingin your bulletin or make a PowerPoint slide to be projectedonto a screen at the front of your sanctuary.

All Scripture is based on or taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEWINTERNATIONAL VERSION ®. NIV ®. Copyright © 1973,1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permissionof Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

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Scene 1

Easter Thirst

(Readers Trio)

READER #1: In the book of Exodus, the Israelites ask a

question we’ve all asked at some point in our lives …

READER #2: “Is the Lord among us, or not?”

READER #1: The Israelites asked the question while

wandering the wilderness. They’d been delivered from

Egypt through parted Red Seas and were searching for

God’s Promised Land. In difficult desert terrain they

suffered from terrible thirst, discouragement, and doubt.

READER #2: I know what that feels like! Last summer Mom

and I went hiking in Arizona. We got lost and ran out of

water. It was scary. I’ve never been so thirsty in my life!

READER #3: What happened?

READER #2: In the same way that God watched over the

Israelites, Mom kept telling me that God was with us,

helping us. But honestly, I didn’t know what to believe.

My throat was burning and my stomach was twisted with

cramps. I was scared we’d never make it home!

READER #1: How did you survive without water?

READER #2: We walked for hours, and then Mom found a

creek winding through some boulders. I cupped my

hands and scooped cold clear water to my lips. Boy, did

that first sip of water taste like heaven! Instantly I felt

better. I even started laughing! It may sound funny, but

as soon as my thirst was quenched, my fears slipped

away.

READER #3: You weren’t afraid anymore?

READER #2: Nope! And we made it home safely. Now

whenever I’m scared, sick, tired, worried, or waiting,

Mom reminds me that I can take a drink of living water.

READER #1: Living water?

READER #2: God is living water. When we’re parched with

thirst, asking, “Where’s God?” we can go to the Bible for

a long-needed drink.

READER #3: The Bible quenches thirst?

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READER #2: It quenches God-thirst. The Bible replenishes

our confidence in a Savior who sees, cares, acts, renews,

saves, and satisfies. It’s one of the reasons that we keep

vigil at Easter, telling and retelling stories of God’s

faithfulness.

READER #1: Because we’re thirsty for God and we don’t know

it?

READER #3: All this talk-talk-talking is making my throat

dry! So where in the Bible do we get this spiritual drink?

What should we read?

READER #2: Oh, there are lots of stories, but our first taste of

living water is found in Genesis. There, the first thing we

learn about God is that God makes good and beautiful

things from nothing. God hovers over our impossible

voids — everything that feels formless, empty, and

dark — and brings forth life.

Scene 2

In the Beginning …

(Percussive Storytelling from Genesis 1:1-8, 10-14, 16, 19-20, 23, 26-31, 2:2, 10.)

(This percussive “song” uses ordinary household objects anditems from nature. The percussive arrangement should enliventhe visual images given in Genesis.)

NARRATOR: (Starts with day 1.) In the beginning …

PERCUSSION: (Strikes gong once.)NARRATOR: God created the heavens and the earth. Now the

earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the

surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering

over the waters.

PERCUSSION: (Rubs fingers over rims of four glasses filled withdifferent quantities of water. Waves a long, flexible tube whistleoverhead. Strikes a bass drum once. Strikes a water-filled metalbowl with a mallet.)

NARRATOR: And God said, “Let there be light.”

PERCUSSION: (Strikes a match. Three recorders twill at 1/3

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intervals of each other.) NARRATOR: And there was light. God saw that the light was

good and he separated the light from the darkness.

PERCUSSION: (Strikes bass drum once, followed by three recorderstwilling again.)

NARRATOR: God called the light “day” and the darkness he

called “night” and there was evening, and there was

morning —

PERCUSSION: (Strikes gong once.)NARRATOR: The first day. (Pauses before continuing with the

second day.) And God said, “Let there be an expanse

between the waters to separate water from water.”

PERCUSSION: (Pours pitcher of water into a large tub or can. Pourssecond pitcher into a second tub or can, preferably with differentsounds.)

NARRATOR: So God made the expanse and separated the

water under the expanse …

PERCUSSION: (Strikes mallet on bowl of water with the deepersound.)

NARRATOR: From the water above it.

PERCUSSION: (Strikes mallet on bowl of water with higher sound.)NARRATOR: God called the expanse “sky.”

PERCUSSION: (Runs stick across an octave of chimes or strums aharp.)

NARRATOR: And there was evening, and there was

morning —

PERCUSSION: (Strikes gong once.)NARRATOR: The second day. (Pauses before proceeding with the

third day.) And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be

gathered into one place and let dry ground appear.”

PERCUSSION: (Pours sand from a pitcher into a bowl. Knocks woodblocks together for a deep, resonant sound.)

NARRATOR: God called the dry ground “land,” and the

gathered waters he called “seas,” and God saw that it was

good. Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation:

seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit

with seed in it, according to their various kinds.”

PERCUSSION: (Shakes homemade maracas. Twists bubble wrap to

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pop. Plays alto xylophone. Runs stick over washboard. Movesrain stick back and forth. Shift sand in a box back and forth.Pluck guitar strings without resonance.)

NARRATOR: The land produced vegetation … and God saw

that it was good. And there was evening, and there was

morning —

PERCUSSION: (Strikes gong once.)NARRATOR: The third day. (A pause, then the fourth day.) And

God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to

separate the day from the night, and let them serve as

signs to mark seasons and days and years.”

PERCUSSION: (Strikes several sets of wind chimes, each with adifferent sound, sequentially or simultaneously.)

NARRATOR: God made two great lights — the greater light to

govern the day …

PERCUSSION: (Strikes lower-sounding chime.)NARRATOR: And the lesser light to govern the night.

PERCUSSION: (Strikes higher-sounding chime.)NARRATOR: And there was evening, and there was

morning —

PERCUSSION: (Strikes gong once.)NARRATOR: The fourth day. (Pauses, then starts the fifth day.)

And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures.”

PERCUSSION: (Rubs rims of jars filled with water and pulls strawthrough plastic lid of a fast food cup to mimic dolphins andwhales.)

NARRATOR: “And let birds fly above the earth across the

expanse of the sky.”

PERCUSSION: (Uses duck call, tweets, snare drum “swish” for wingsbeating.)

NARRATOR: And there was evening, and there was

morning —

PERCUSSION: (Strikes gong once.)NARRATOR: The fifth day. (A pause before moving on to the sixth

day.) And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures

according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move

along the ground …

PERCUSSION: (Oinks, moos, baas, shakes maracas for snake rattle.)

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NARRATOR: And wild animals.

PERCUSSION: (Roars, howls like wolves, makes “whoo” owl-likesounds.)

NARRATOR: (ADAM and EVE enter.) Then God said, “Let us

make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule

over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over

livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures

that move along the ground.

PERCUSSION: (Repeat all previous seed, water, and animal soundsin a growing crescendo throughout the following narration.)

NARRATION: Male and female he created them. God blessed

them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in

number; fill the earth … I give you every

seed-bearing plant on the face of the earth and every tree

that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.

And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the

air and all the creatures that move on the ground —

everything that has the breath of life in it — I give every

green plant for food. Rule over it all! Subdue it!”

ADAM and EVE: (Ad-lib shushing PERCUSSIONISTS.) Shhhh!

Please! (SOUND ORCHESTRA freezes. Dramatic pause.)NARRATOR: God saw all that he had made, and it was very

good. And there was evening, and there was morning —

PERCUSSION: (Strikes gong once.) NARRATOR: The sixth day. (A pause, then finishing with the

seventh day.) By the seventh day God had finished the

work he had been doing; so on the seventh day, he rested.

(All PERCUSSIONISTS sit down simultaneously.) ADAM and EVE: (Together) And a river watering the garden

flowed from Eden. (ADAM and EVE move Center Stage andpull a runner of blue fabric down the stairs. The sound of runningwater is cued and should be heard and continued throughout theplay — except where noted otherwise, i.e. “Valley of the DryBones.”)

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Responsive Reading

(Based on Isaiah 43:18, 55:1 and John 4:10-14)

LEADER: Forget your fears and worries about the past.

PEOPLE: See, God is doing a new thing!

LEADER: Now it springs up and surprises. Can you feel it?

Can you perceive it?

PEOPLE: It is living water, welling up within us. It is the

fountain of eternal life that will quench us during

difficult times and provide relief in the wasteland of our

circumstances.

LEADER: Whoever drinks this water will never thirst again!

PEOPLE: We are worried and fearful, doubtful and desperate.

LEADER: Come to the living waters.

PEOPLE: We are thirsty for God’s new thing. We come!

Scene 3

Noah and the Riders of the First Ark

(Sketch Comedy)

NARRATOR: Then God saw how corrupt the earth had

become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their

ways. The Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and

your whole family, because I have found you righteous in

this generation (Genesis 6:12, 7:1). Take with you every wild

animal according to its kind, all livestock according to its

kind, every creature that moves along the ground

according to its kind, everything with wings.”

Pairs of … all creatures … came to Noah and entered the

ark. Then the Lord shut them in. For forty days the flood

kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased

they lifted the ark high above the earth (Genesis 7:8, 16-17).(NOAH and two children, HAMMAH and SETH, enter from StageRight and huddle together on several bales of hay, Center Stage.Noah’s wife, NAOMI, stands Upstage Left with a bucket andpooper scooper, cleaning up after one of the animals.)

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SETH: This stinks!

NOAH: Well, don’t sit so close to the orangutans, son.

HAMMAH: No, Dad, he means this. (Gesturing to the entire ark)This stinks, this whole thing.

SETH: Whose super-soaked idea was this, anyway?

NAOMI: Not mine! Cleaning up after the three of you was

enough! Now I really feel like I live in a zoo!

NOAH: We’ve gone over this a hundred times. Do you honestly

think I was gung-ho about building a seaworthy barn?

HAMMAH: Six Flags over Rome would have been way more

fun. Why couldn’t we have stuck to the plan?

SETH: That’s kind of obvious, isn’t it? Our whole life is 20,000Leagues under the Sea.

NAOMI: I miss our home and the taste of fresh bread.

HAMMAH: I miss my friends, laughing with them and

weaving baskets.

SETH: I miss camel tipping and the sound of Dad’s hammer

twenty-four seven.

ALL: (Together) Huh?

SETH: It was comforting. Even when I was in bed trying to

sleep, I could hear Dad out there, building God’s future

for us.

HAMMAH: How could you hear his hammer above the

crowds? The Palestinian paparazzi wouldn’t leave us

alone! We were a spiritual spectacle! (A chorus ofHECKLERS gathers Upstage Right, as if NOAH and his familyare remembering.)

CROWD #1: Where do we buy tickets for the crazy cruise?

CROWD #2: I hope your wife packed her bikini!

CROWD #3: Yeah, don’t forget your beach towels!

CROWD #4: Or your sunscreen!

CROWD #5: Whatever floats your boat, nutcase … (HECKLERSexit.)

HAMMAH: We were the laughingstock of the neighborhood.

NOAMI: (Chuckling to herself) Whatever floats your boat.

NOAH: Yes! Thanks to God, we’re floating, and all those

hecklers, they’re … well … well, the ark was God’s idea,

and I say it’s a good one!

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HAMMAH: Yeah, great idea, Dad. We’re floating on a watery

grave. (Stomping her feet) Ooooh, and my fingers are

starting to look like raisins!

NAOMI: It’s OK, honey, I know you don’t like soggy. (PullingNOAH aside) So, what happens next, Noah? There were

instructions for how to build the boat, but is there more?

Is there a game plan? Like, how long do we float like this?

NOAH: Thanks to my ‘ark’itectural skills, I trust we’ll be

floating for a loooong time.

NAOMI: Stop it, Noah. It’s not funny.

NOAH: Oy vey, what happened to the bees? Ahhhh, they’re in

the ark-hives.

NAOMI: Noah, I refuse to laugh at your jokes. I need answers.

When you said you wanted to build a better future, I

certainly didn’t picture this. How could I have known

what I was agreeing to? What kind of future is this?

NOAH: These waters promise new life, Naomi. God’s water

changes everything. We have to trust. Even in this storm,

God’s water is bringing a future and a hope.

NAOMI: So you think being doused with water is an answer?

Isn’t water the problem here?

NOAH: (Gesturing to the ark) You can accept “all this” as

problem or provision. I choose provision, even though we

don’t know where we’re going.

NAOMI: A-ha! I knew you didn’t have a map. (With sarcasm) Oy

vey, what happened to the lions? (Shoving the bucket in hisdirection, angry) It’s your turn with the pooper scooper.

NOAH: What? Seth!

SETH: No way! I took my turn with the elephants, and that

was a big job!

NOAH: Hammah? (Looking around for her) Hammah?

HAMMAH: (Peeking out from behind a hay bale) Are we there yet?

I’m scared.

SETH: (Groaning) Oh, and I’m feeling seasick again.

NAOMI: See, Noah? Enough of your pie-in-the-sky theology!

We need answers! Real answers. Are we going to die in

this storm or not? (NAOMI comforts HAMMAH and SETH,with arms around them. NOAH steps Downstage Right to talk to

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God. )NOAH: God, help me out here. You led us into these waters.

You’ve kept us afloat. But have you looked outside? It’s

been raining forty days! Between You and me, I’m

starting to ask the same questions as my family. Are we

there yet? How long do we keep floating on faith? (Sees anolive branch at his feet and picks it up, stands, and studies it fora minute.)

NAOMI: (Noticing) What is it, Noah? What’d you find?

NOAH: Oy vey, what’s happened to the doves?

ALL: (Groaning, ad-lib) Oh, Noah. Dad, stop. Not again!

NOAH: No, look! This is an olive branch! And the doves.

They’re leaving again.

SETH: So it’s a branch. What’s the big deal?

HAMMAH: Yeah, Dad. Who cares?

NOAH: This branch is green. It’s a sign. The Lord is faithful!

SETH: Let me see.

HAMMAH: Dad’s right.

SETH: Yep. There’s dry land out there somewhere!

NAOMI: So water is the provision. It’s providing us with a

fresh start, carrying us to solid ground! You’re off the

hook, Mr. Arkitect. I guess God knows the way after all!

Responsive Reading









circumstances.




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Scene 4

Road to the Red Sea

(Readers Quartet)

NARRATOR: The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of

my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out

because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about

their suffering” (Exodus 3:7). So the Lord sent Moses to

bring the people out of Egypt. After four hundred thirty

years of slavery, Pharoah let the people go. But God did

not lead the people on the easy road through the

Philistine country, though that was shorter. He led the

people around by the desert road to the Red Sea.

READER #1: And the road to the Red Sea was long.

READER #2: The road to cancer-free was long.

READER #3: The road to a steady job was long.

READER #4: The road to good grades was long.

READER #1: I couldn’t figure it out. Did God free us from

Egypt only to lead us on a desert road to die?

READER #2: The doctor said I wouldn’t die, that my chances

with this type of cancer were good. But he also used big

words like Hodgkins, stage three, and chemotherapy.

Mom said, “Those are just facts.” But the facts sounded

scary.

READER #3: The facts were: nobody would hire my dad. He’d

knocked on door after door for months on end. He’d

always tell me, “Keep your chin up and something will

happen.” But yesterday I heard him say we might lose

our home.

READER #4: I’d beg Mom to let me stay home. Home was

comforting. School was torturous. Reading came easy for

everyone else. But for me, letters were jumbled,

backwards, an impossible maze.

NARRATOR: So God did not lead them on the easy road

through the Philistine country, though that was shorter.

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God led the people around by the desert road to the Red

Sea.

READER #1: And the road to the Red Sea was long.

READER #2: The road to cancer-free was long.

READER #3: The road to a steady job was long.

READER #4: The road to good grades was long.

NARRATOR: Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid.

Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will

bring you today” (Exodus 14:13).READER #1: Stand firm? With a Sea raging in front of us and

an Egyptian army overtaking us from behind?

READER #2: Deliverance? Does chemo really work? Not even

the tumor made me feel this sick.

READER #3: If we lose our home, where will we go? Be not

afraid?

READER #4: I look at the words and all I see is a wall. Does the

Lord even know what I’m up against?

NARRATOR: Moses said, “The Lord will fight for you; you

need only to be still. The Egyptians you see today you will

never see again.” Then Moses stretched out his hand over

the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back

with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land

(Exodus 14:13-14, 21).READER #1: We walked through the sea on dry land. The

waters were divided, with huge walls of water on either

side. My heart was racing. Only God could be holding

these waters back!

READER #2: Only God could give me back my life. When the

PET scans finally showed I was cancer-free, Mom fell to

her knees. I jumped for joy!

READER #3: I was on my knees when Dad got the call. He got

a job! We can keep our home! I’m so happy Mom and Dad

aren’t fighting anymore.

READER #4: Suddenly the words stopped fighting with each

other. The letters unscrambled and made sense. A whole

new world opened up to me. I could read!

NARRATOR: God did not lead them on the easy road through

the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God

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said, “If they face war, they might change their minds

and return to lives of slavery.” So God led the people

around by the desert road to the Red Sea (Exodus 13:17-18). And when the Israelites saw the great power the

Lord …

ALL: (Together) They feared the Lord and put their trust in

him.

NARRATOR: May we trust the Lord when the road is not easy,

and when the road to divided waters feels long.

Responsive Reading









circumstances.





Scene 5

Valley of the Dry Bones

(Percussive Rap)

(BLOCKS CHORUS stands Upstage Center holding woodenblocks. The blue fabric, indicating a river, is removed and thesound of running water stops.)

NARRATOR: The hand of the Lord was on Ezekiel the priest,

the son of Buzi, and he brought Ezekiel out by the Spirit

of the Lord and set him in the middle of a valley; it was

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full of bones. He led Ezekiel back and forth among them,

and he saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley,

bones that were very dry (Ezekiel 1:3, 37:1-2). (The BLOCKSCHORUS begins tapping out a four-count rhythm with theblocks.)

EZEKIEL: I was minding my own business in the ’hood one

day,

When the Spirit came upon me in a weird kind of way.

I was floating, I was soaring like a bird in flight,

’Till I crashed in this valley. Then my face turned white.

BLOCKS CHORUS: (Chanting and tapping) Dem bones, dem

bones, dem (x) dry bones. Dem bones, dem bones, dem (x)dry bones.

EZEKIEL: A mountain of bones lay on the valley floor.

They were dry, (Yeah, you heard ’em) they could live no

more.

The scene was kind of creepy, all these skeleton bods.

So I turned my face to heaven for a chat with God. (GODenters the scene from behind the BLOCKS CHORUS, partingthem like a sea.)



EZEKIEL: God, what’s the story? These bones can’t move!

GOD: I see ’em, Brother Zeke. They’ve lost their groove!

So ask yourself the question, “Can they hip? Can they

hop?”

EZEKIEL: Only You know the answer! Is their hope dried up?



GOD: These bones are my people. They will not die.

So tell them God has spoken, you will prophesy.

EZEKIEL: (To the BONES CHORUS) Listen up, Dry Bones,

these words are from him.

He will bring you to life, he will give you new skin.

(To the audience) The bones began to rattle, they were

covered in flesh.

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But their hope was still gone. They needed God’s breath.

GOD: I will breathe, I will breathe from the great four winds.

I will open up your graves, bring you up from them.

I will sprinkle you with water, holy h2o,

And your bones will dance because I said so. (The runnerof blue fabric is replaced during EZEKIEL’s next line, and thesound of running water is cued again.)

EZEKIEL: Then the bones came to life, stood up on their feet.

And they hipped and they hopped all over the street.

(GOD and EZEKIEL break dance while BLOCKS CHORUSchants the following verse repeatedly, locking and popping asthey exit.)

BLOCKS CHORUS: We’ll hip and hop, and we won’t stop! We’ll

hip and hop, and we won’t stop!

Responsive Reading









circumstances.





Scene 6

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Thank you for reading this free excerpt from:LIVING WATERby Cheri Mueller.

For performance rights and/or a complete copy of the script,please contact us at:

CHRISTIAN PUBLISHERSP.O. Box 248 - Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52406

Toll Free: 1-844-841-6387 - Fax (319) [email protected]

by cheri mueller - christian publishers · pdf fileproduction notes overview: a...

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