Have you ever created a passion play for a church performance.
Tis the season to create. Holy week is upon us. How many of you are involved in a passion play or special Easter program? This is an opportunity to use your writing talent to magnify the message of our Savior’s resurrection.
As I reflect on celebrations of the past, I remember the joy in my heart when I saw my programs, readings, or skits performed. Christian writers have a unique opportunity to use their talents in a worship setting. Over the decades (I won’t say how many) I’ve been inspired to write numerous skits, often for the Christmas season and Holy Week. Some I have sold for publication. Others were too customized to my church family for anyone else to be interested. That’s not a bad thing. God can use our words for a small venue or a large one. Either way He is glorified.
An advantage of writing something to be performed at your church, you have a foot in the door to sell it later because the fine print states your work must have been performed before submitting. The publisher wants you to have gotten all the kinks out to make it easy on the group performing your work.
Worship is enhanced by a reading or performance. For some, the very novelty of it causes the listener to pay closer attention and recall the theme longer. Again, a well-written reading can be submitted for publication. Many excellent performers can’t write. (Yes, I know not all writers read well out loud.) But they bring your words to life in a performance.
Tis the time to get creative
So why am I mentioning this now? After all, Easter is a few days away. Because I want you to breathe in the season. Absorb the scripture passages. Allow your creative mind to ruminate over the events surrounding Jesus death and resurrection. If you do, lots of interesting writerly ideas will come to you. Get it on paper for next year. Your church will be thrilled to have a plan in place well in advance. Publishers want seasonal stuff six months to a year in advance.
What kind of things can you write?
Let me throw out a few ideas off the top of my head.
The last supper
What was in Judas mind?
A lesser disciple’s observations of events
Simon carried the cross for Christ. How was he impacted?
Who created the nails for the crucifixion or built the crosses?
Mary, Martha, and Lazarus discuss Jesus’ death as they remember Lazarus’ resurrection.
Recreate the Road to Emmaus
The donkey’s joy at carrying the savior.
The angels’ view of the cross
Pontius Pilate, his wife or someone on his staff’s account of events
Poetry capturing the emotion of the season
Devotional using the last words of Christ
Write a mime for an Easter song (yes, mimes are created on paper first.)
What story ideas do the stain glass windows evoke in your writer’s imagination.
All of these can be readings, skits, or full plays. Reader’s theater is easy to perform, as well. This is not an exhaustive list, and I haven’t even mentioned how to create an entire service of worship.
This is just a blog to get you started. Over the next few weeks I will share my how-tos for skit writing and program creating. If you have never consider this type of writing, I hope to inspire you to give it a try.
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