From Now On

Father and children attending a church service.

The father hadn't attended for many years is the storyline, and music from the popular movie “The Greatest Showman,” (or other songs of choice), speaks of the life of Jesus from birth to resurrection, focusing on the unique individuals such as Mary Magdalene and Matthew who became part of his disciple group. The backgrounds of those disciples were less than exemplary, but Jesus accepted them with the admonition that their lives be changed “from now on.”

Cast:  4

• Dad, age 30ish
• Rory, son age about 12
• Sue, daughter age about 11
• Eddie, son around 8

Bible Reference:  various

Set:

• 4 seats at the front of the church, designed to be seen by the congregation

Lighting:  standard

Sound:     wireless mics if available

Song: 

• Music to be selected by the performing group  (to be obtained by the performing group at their expense)
• Example from “The Greatest Showman” Songs:  Come Alive, This Is Me, From Now On and Anthem by Todd Dulaney
• If using music, please support writers, performers and others involved including royalties

SFX:   none

Costumes:  standard

Props:

Special Instructions:

• The drama portion could be live or pre-recorded, might be performed behind scrim.
• Could have actors miming some of the action as the actors speak or have appropriate graphics in the background
• Pastor closes with message designed to fit the needs of the congregation
• In the final scene for actors, you may want Dad to get up and pace a little

 Time:  60 with songs  (Drama portion is 20)

Sample of script:   

Song:        Come Alive or other song of choice

lights down on singers, up on actors
Dad, Rory, Sue & Eddie enter from back of church, talking as they approach the front

Eddie:        Holy! . . . . Is it always this loud in church?

Sue:         I heard that church people sometimes sing really loud, isn’t that right Dad?

Dad:         Keep it down kids, with us coming in late, people are gonna get upset.

Rory:        Why didn’t we grab a seat at the back, people wouldn’t even know we were here.

Dad:         Maybe you didn’t notice Rory, only empty seats are up at the front.

Sue:         This is so embarrassing! I just hope there’s no one here from my school!

Eddie:        What was that song all about Dad? . . . Sounded kinda weird . . .

Dad:         Sometimes our life can be all bad stuff, and how we deal with it.

Rory:        What’s with that, it’s Easter, I thought the Easter story was s’posed to be a happy thing.

Dad:         See thing is, the Easter story isn’t just like a one-time thing. The Easter story really begins with Christmas.

Eddie:        So kinda like like puttin’ Santa Claus and the Easter bunny together, huh?

Dad:         Eddie, Christmas and Easter really aren’t about Santa and the bunny. Christmas is about the birth of the Christ child, Jesus, and Easter is about Jesus being crucified and brought back to life.

Eddie:        Holy!

Sue:         But Dad, if Christmas is about a baby being born that for sure should be a happy time.

Dad:         Fact is kids, sometimes happy stories start out sad, sometimes sad stories end up happy. . . . See, back more than two thousand years ago there was this young guy Joseph, and he was engaged to be married to a young girl named Mary.

Sue:         I like stories about falling in love and getting married to the handsome prince.

Eddie:        Gross me out! . . . . I’m not never gonna get married!

Dad:         Before Joseph and Mary got married Mary had a visit from an angel. The angel told Mary that she would get pregnant and that the child would be the son of God, the Messiah

Rory:        You mean the baby wouldn’t be Joseph’s son?

Eddie:        That would make Joseph some ticked off!

Dad:         Yes it did, and neighbors laughed at Joseph and said mean things about Mary. And like the song said, Joseph’s head hung low from the pain and unhappiness all this brought on.

Rory:        That would be hard. Joseph and Mary figured they had their future all planned, and then it all crashed around them.

Eddie:        How come you know all this junk about what happened like two thousand years ago Dad?

Dad:         Well, Eddie, when I was little like you, your Grandma and Grandpa used to always take me to church and to Sunday school. So I learned all this stuff.

Rory:        How come you never brought me and Sue and Eddie to church Dad?

Dad:         What do you mean, never took you to church, I took you guys to church lottsa times. . . .  Like we always go to church at Christmas.

Sue:         Not last Christmas.

Dad:         If you will remember Sue, we all went to Hawaii last Christmas.

Eddie:        And there’s no churches in Hawaii, right Dad?

Dad:         Right Eddie . . . I mean, no, there’s lottsa churches in Hawaii . . .  But thing is you oughta go to church with people you know.

Rory:        I don’t really know anyone at the church we sometimes go to. . . But I guess over the years we’ve only been there twice at Christmas.

Dad:         Was a lot more than twice, and what about all the times we went to church for Easter?

Rory:        Just once for Easter.

Dad:         You’re not remembering right! Anyways, back to the story about Mary and Joseph.
Mary and Joseph had written their plan of a love story in the stars, all about how they would have a  wonderful marriage, lots of kids and a happy life. . . But when the angel Gabriel brought God’s message to Joseph and Mary . . .  suddenly their story in the stars had to be rewritten!

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