January 31st, 2015
Can ask this question at the beginning – What is it that you can give away but never runs out?
Answer : love – but you may get the answer ‘bread’ after this!
Cast
Narrator
Jesus
Peter – enthusiastic but short attention span and tendency to blame others
Mary – Kind but tired and irritated and feeling guilty about not doing more to help
John – self-righteous, very pragmatic, maybe a bit OCD
Congregation members ready with extra bread .
Props & Costume
Costume – should be modern day in my mind.
Props – Bread and 2 fish
Script
Jesus and disciples/friends are off stage
Jesus (OS): Let’s go and get a bit of peace and quiet.
Narrator: Jesus and his friends went somewhere for a bit of quiet but when they got there, loads of people were waiting. [Jesus and friends come out and see the congregation staring at them. ] When Jesus saw the crowd he had compassion on them.
Jesus: Look at them all! They look lost – like sheep without a shepherd.
John: Like lost children looking for a parent.
Mary: Why can’t they just leave us alone for a minute!
Peter: Now that’s what I call a decent crowd!
Narrator: So Jesus began to teach them many, many things. [Jesus stand and mimes talking. As he does, Mary and Peter start getting bored. John is entranced]He told them stories about the lost sheep and the shepherd who went looking for it, he told them about the Good Samaritan who helped someone who was beaten up by robbers. He told them how much God loved them. He told them to feed hungry people, give clothes to people who don’t have any and help people who are sick or in prison. They were there a long time.
(friends yawn through this, start twitching and then hint at Jesus)
Mary: We’re miles from town and it’s getting late.
Peter: You’re a great speaker, Jesus, but it’s difficult listening when I’m so hungry.
John: That was great teaching. Can you give them a blessing and send them home now?
Mary: Then they can buy themselves something to eat.
Jesus: No. they’re like our sheep. Like our children. We’ve got to look after them. You feed them.
All: What!
Peter (to Mary): He was looking at you.
Mary: No he wasn’t!
John: Do you have any idea how much that’s going to cost? That’s got to be 6 months’ salary! It’s hard enough feeding my own family!
Jesus: How much food have we got?
They look at each other panicking. Peter pulls out a half-eaten sausage roll or crumpled packet of crisps.
Jesus: Go and ask.
They run around the church asking people for food…. They get some and come back.
Mary: We’ve got 5 loaves of bread.
John: And these 2 fish. [they look at the food, look at the people and look at the floor]
Peter: We couldn’t even feed the front row. This is useless! I don’t see why it’s our problem!
Mary: I should have thought about this earlier – we could have done something…
John: You keep talking, Jesus. I’ll go to the nearest cash point, get as much bread as I can carry…
Peter: Can you give them a talk about the starving in Africa and how they should be grateful?
Jesus: Calm down. It’s going to be ok. And thank you.
All: For what?
Jesus: For doing what you could. We’ve got 5 loaves and 2 fish.
Narrator: Then Jesus took the 5 loaves and the 2 fish and looked up to heaven and gave thanks to God. He broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the 2 fish among them all.
Peter, John and Mary start giving out the bread to people. We have people ready in the congregation who’ve got bread as well. They start sharing it in their row.
SONG
while food is being distributed.
Narrator: And everyone ate and had enough.
THE END
This can then be followed by a brief talk/homily about
- God’s love that never runs out
- Parents bring what they can. Sometimes those offerings are very small. But we offer them to God who blesses them. We also need our community to support us so that our children can be fully fed and cared for
Susie Stead