April 13, 2009

The Ministry of Drama Ministry

I recently asked one from our Thursday CITA group what it has meant to her Christian life and growth to be involved in Drama Ministry. Here's what she wrote:

Im a late bloomer and only started being involved in drama ministry in end year '01 (I think). My friends find me a drama cos I constantly have my hands flying all over when I talk to them and if I want to emphasis on something I will drag my speech.
I thought being in drama was just to come up and prance around. You get a whole audience to look at you. But having been involved through the years I realized that I have more to learn and is still learning.

I have to confess that Im no bible thumping from cover to cover. Ask my mom and she complains that I don’t even memorise the order of the bible be it the Old or New Testament. I now cheat by having tags on the sides of it.

Having done a few shows have helped me studied the bible (not all of it yet). You see I have to memorise the script and most important of all thoughts will be flying through me and it does seem that God is speaking to me through the script. Here are some excerpts from the scripts I have learnt.

In The Gift by Glenn A Hascall (Reader’s Theatre), our lines are only either one word or phrase but yet it kept telling us what this Gift from God is where it is from, where it is coming. Priceless, precious and perfect gift. And we all know that the Gift is Jesus.

Temple Merchant (John 2:13-23) by Debbie Lee. This is the only chapter that I will shiver if had been in the temple. I wouldn’t have thought that Jesus would be so angry. I can safely say that I don’t come to church to make money but on hindsight Church has often been my playground. I get to meet and chat with friends and sometimes loose my focus of coming to church.

All of us know the Lord’s Prayer by heart but what does it actually mean? I only got in depth when I did the Lord Prayer by (I don’t have the name) . Hallowed be thy name, and just like my part in the script that says “It means….it means…(loss of words) Goodness! How should I know what it means? It’s just part of the prayer. (pause) By the way, what does it mean? Does it break your conscience when you say “Forgive us our debts even as we forgive our debtors?” It was quite tough doing this script, I did sit down and cried a few times. I need to reconcile with what I have to say and now it is a constant reminder to me whenever I say it.

In a Christmas play “Saviour” no idea who wrote this. I learnt of the prophets from the Old Testament who predicted the Messiah’s birth. Micah predicted that the messiah would be born in the village of Bethlehem and it’s the village where King David is born. Isaiah predicted that the messiah will be born into the family of King David. Isaiah also predicted that the messiah of Israel will be God himself in human form. The messiah will be known to his disciples as Immanuel which means God with us. Mary already knew that her baby will be a boy who is the messiah. He will be called Joshua, a Hebrew name which means God is Salvation. The Greeks will pronounce His name as Jesus.
So yes, Christian drama does help me understand the bible better. It also helps me to have a closer walk with God. I just cant go out and say lines without it’s true meaning.

SIEW CHENG LEE, Wesley Methodist Church, Singapore

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