This Land I Gave You© - Readers Drama Giving praise for our country. This drama uses readers drama method, although it could be done as regular drama. Ensure that lines are well rehearsed and movements are well thought out and natural. In order to allow maximum movement and animation have books on music stands, thus leaving hands free. Cast Four readers, any age or sex. No special sets, props, lighting or sound. Script Group stand in line on stage (from left): Judy, Nancy, Barry, John (local) national anthem plays Group mimes a parade passing by, move heads very slowly from left to right, showing that the parade is passing by. Judy sings along, all others hold hands to heart, salute, whatever is country-appropriate after parade goes by John:
Man, really upliftin’!
Barry:
Really was, wasn’t it?
Nancy:
Really makes you proud to be (nationality), doesn’t it?
John, glances at Judy:
Maybe you guys didn’t notice?
Nancy:
Notice? Notice what?
John:
Salute? (shakes head) Duh!!!
Barry:
Salute? Salute what?
Nancy:
Whatever are you talking about, John?
John:
Didn’t you see? Judy, she didn’t salute as the parade was goin’ by! Didn’t even so much as lift her hand to her heart! I tell ya!
Barry:
I don’t believe you! Have a look at Judy, will you?
John:
Look? What do you mean look?
This Land I Gave You – Readers Drama© ©Copyright DramaShare® 2000
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Barry:
Notice something different about her? Her arms maybe?
John:
I most certainly did! Never once did her arms move to salute the flag as it went by!
Barry:
John! Open your eyes, will you! What does she have on her arms?
John:
Well, I’m gonna tell you, from the way she’s standin’ you’d swear she was in a full body cast! (laughs uncontrollably) Arms in a body cast! Good one, huh?
Nancy:
John! Wake up and smell the coffee! Judy is in a full body cast!
Barry:
Yeh, maybe that’s why she didn’t salute? D’ya think?
John:
Full body cast? Well, just the same, I mean, she just, . . . stood there!
Nancy:
What did you expect her to do, John? Full body cast! (mimes) You know, . . . . like, . . . can’t move!
John:
Well, she surely coulda done something, I mean . . . .
Nancy:
Actually she did, she sang the national anthem. Didn’t you hear her? Beautiful voice!
John:
Sang?
Barry:
Yes, she did John. Didn’t notice you singing John! Not very patriotic!
John:
Me? Was so!
Nancy:
You were not, John!
John:
Was too! Was too!
Barry:
I was standing right beside you, John! I guess I would have noticed if you were singing!
John:
Well, I was! I was . . . . . I was . . . . singin’ in my heart, that’s what! Us guys that are patriotic, we sing in our hearts, all the time! Yeh, that’s it!
Barry:
“In your heart”, John! You were singing in your heart? That’s a new one!
John:
Least you coulda done, Barry, was sing in your heart too.
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Barry:
I don’t believe you, John! How could you possibly know whether I was, or was not, singing in my heart?
John:
Well, your lips weren’t even moving.
Barry:
But your lips weren’t moving either, I was watching you!
John:
Well, that’s different. See, when I sing in my heart, my lips don’t move. I’m different that way.
Nancy:
You’re different alright! And that has nothing to do with your lips moving!
John:
Watch, see, I’ll show you. (badly sings a few lines of anthem, not moving lips) See how I did that? Cool, huh?
Barry, disgusted):
Yeah, real cool!
Judy:
Isn’t it wonderful, this land that God has given us?
Nancy:
God? This land?
Judy:
Yes, this land God has blessed us with! We have so much, all given freely to us, from God’s own hand.
John:
Hey, whoa there, Judy! Look, I’m as much into church and things as the next guy, but . . . .
Barry:
“ . . . into church”? You? Only time I ever saw you in church was when your sister got married!
John:
Not true! Matter of fact, I happened to be in church just this last weekend, thank you very much!
Nancy:
John, I really don’t think attending the Fish and Game Association luncheon in the church basement qualifies as going to church!
John:
And just why not, I ask you, Nancy? I’ll have you know that the Fish and Game League is a very respected cause! So, maybe I’m not always at church on a Sunday morning . . . .
Barry:
Everyone move away from John! There may be lightning any moment now!
John:
Who says I have to be in church to be a church-going person?
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Nancy:
Aaaah, who wants to take that one?
John:
I’ll have you know that though I may not be in my pew on a Sunday, I am worshippin’ same as you other guys. See, I’m different, I can worship God in my . . . .
Barry, moves in line quickly: . . . in your heart, right? Don’t tell us, you worship God in your heart without moving your lips, right, John? John:
Exactly, Barry! Now ya got the concept! Maybe I’m on the golf course, maybe I’m on the lake fishin’, maybe I’m watchin’ the Rams playin’ football . . . . doesn’t matter! In my heart I’m smack dab in the middle of my church, worshippin’!
Nancy:
Uuuhhhhhh, ya! (looks at John, shakes head) Anyhow, Judy, you were talking about this land that God has given us.
John:
And that’s where it all comes unglued! See, like I bin tellin’ you guys, I believe in God and all, same as the next guy, but this country here, well I worked hard for it. It’s guys that don’t work, don’t fight for their country, they’re the ones need to be brought up short!
Judy:
I do agree that we need to work, sometimes even fight, for our freedom and our rights, but before we ever did anything, God was there, at work, providing for us. Providing families, friends, relationships. And he also gave us this land, this country. He lovingly protected our forefathers as they struggled to create a home and a future.
Nancy:
This land, this country. God did provide, didn’t He? In the early days of this country God was a very present force, working along with those who set out to conquer a new land.
Judy:
Not only did God provide back then, He has been providing for His people throughout history, and He still provides today.
Barry:
In the Bible, God promised Abraham that He would provide a home for him and his people. God said to Abraham, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.”
Nancy:
And God told His people, “Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever. I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth, so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then your descendants can also
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be numbered. Arise, walk about the land, through its length and breadth; for I will give it to you. I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and your descendants after you, throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you, and to your descendants after you.” Judy:
An everlasting covenant! A covenant of provision. A covenant of support and care. A covenant of protection.
Barry:
For God promised, “I shall also grant peace in the land, so that you may lie down, with no one making you tremble.”
Nancy:
“No one will make you tremble!” A promise of protection.
Judy:
But the promise came with an expectation. And a command.
Barry:
First the expectation: “All this goodness shall come about, if you listen obediently to my commandments which I am commanding you today, to love the LORD your God and to serve Him with all your heart and all your soul, that He will give the rain for your land in its season, the early and late rain, that you may gather in your grain and your new wine and your oil. He will give grass in your fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.”
Nancy:
Then the commandment: “Beware that your hearts are not deceived, and that you do not turn away and serve other gods and worship them.”
John:
But they did turn away from God. They worshipped many other gods, the gods of those with whom they shared the land, adopting other man’s gods as their own.
Judy:
And He rejected this and said, “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God.”
John:
A jealous God. I think of jealousy as bad, I don’t think of jealousy as a characteristic of the almighty God. Hmmmm, “God is jealous that I might serve another god?”
Judy:
As the Israelites began their life in the new land, the land of milk and honey, gradually they began worshipping foreign gods.
John:
Worshipping foreign gods. Does this apply to us? Does this apply to (name of country)? Are there foreign gods in our land, (name of country)? We don’t worship other gods, do we?
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Judy:
God’s commandment still holds true today, “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God.”
Barry:
Who are the “other gods” at large in our land, in (name of country)?
Nancy:
Here in (name of country) there are many other “religions” with their own gods. And sometimes we Christians tend to dabble in their powers.
John:
Oh, yes, things like tarot cards, mysticism, horoscopes. Those are the property of “other gods”, aren’t they?
Judy:
Yes, they are. But, perhaps more insidious, more subtle are those things in our lives which tend to slowly, silently, secretively, become our gods.
John:
The gods of the masses! Like money.
Be very quick in shouting out the following, leave no space between comments Nancy:
Power
Barry:
Influence.
John:
Position.
Nancy:
Career.
Barry:
Friends.
John:
Hobbies. (pause) Yes, like fishing, and golfing, . . . ok, and watching the Rams play football!
Judy:
All good things on their own, but when they make us lose sight of the one true God, they make us fall. And, still today, they make God jealous.
Nancy:
A jealous God wants His own . . .as His own. A jealous God does not accept a part-time position with His chosen people.
Barry:
Surely we all can see how God has blessed this land of (name of country)! Look back on the achievements, the great measure of success in all fields of endeavor! Is there one of us who is reckless enough to ascribe the past glory and success of (name of country) to mere human intelligence, to just “being at the right place at the right time”? Those who do have a much greater belief system than I!
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John:
Surely, every last one of us must realize that this country owes it’s success to God’s blessing, to God’s benevolence toward us. Mere chance simply doesn’t cut it as an answer!
Judy:
Yet, blessed as we are in this land, we must realize that we, the people of this nation, have, individually and corporately, “sinned, and fallen short of the glory of God’.
Nancy:
God said, “I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God.”
Barry:
Seems as though we, the people of this country, somehow believe that God has rescinded his command. We, everyone of us, Christian and nonChristian alike, appear to be living as though to say, “God wasn’t really serious about that.”
John:
Will we never learn from history? What happened when the Israelites began to worship other gods?
Nancy:
Are we brave enough to believe that God will somehow, with a smile and a wink, overlook “these our trespasses?”
Barry:
Or is it time, right here and now, to make a change, to take a new direction in our personal and corporate lives?
Judy:
I believe God is, today, restating the reality and fact of His jealous nature.
John:
(name of country), establish today the god who you shall serve. The time for decision is here, now!
Nancy:
But, what impact if it’s only me? What can I, an individual, hope to accomplish?
Barry:
I would like to, but, really, can I make a difference?
John:
As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!
Judy:
As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!
Nancy:
As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!
Barry:
As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!
John:
As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord! (looks into audience) And, what of you and yours? In celebrating the glorious past of this great nation, and looking forward to it’s future, the challenge is there; choose today what god you shall serve. You have heard the stated position of
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those of us here on the platform. Would you care to stand and to join with us in declaring your allegiance to God? All together: As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord! Then sing (national) anthem Closing prayer -
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