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| June 22, 2008 |
Reading time: about five minutes Reader one: Out of the mists of time comes an ancient story. An old, old story about a matriarch, Sarah and a patriarch, Abraham. It’s a story that is at least three-thousand years old, and may possibly be twice as old. Reader two: Is the story of Abraham and Sarah history? Or is it a legend? Was there an actual Sarah and an actual Abraham and did they wander around the eastern Mediterranean area as the story in the Bible says they did? Reader one: We don’t know. We do know that the story was passed down from one generation to the next, long before it was written down. And stories change in the telling. Each generation adds, subtracts, modifies the story. Reader two: So is the story history or legend? Reader one: We don’t know. What we do know is that three of the world’s great religions point to the story of Abraham and Sarah and say, “This is where we came from.” People of the Jewish, Muslim and Christian traditions all point to Abraham and Sarah and say, “Our roots are in their story.” Reader two: And so we listen to this old, old story – not because of some idle curiosity about the past, but because inside the story, we find part of our own story. Reader one: We listen to this old, old story – because inside that old, old story we discover our own story. And in Abraham and Sarah, we find people very much like ourselves. Reader two: Listen to the ancient tale of Sarah and Abraham, as it is told in the book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible. In this first part of the story, their names have not yet been changed. They are still Abram (ABE-ram) and Sarai (SAR-eye). (SLIGHT ONE-BEAT PAUSE) Reader one: Now the Lord said to Abram: Reader two: "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." Reader one: So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother's son Lot, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. Reader two: When they had come to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram, and said: Reader one: "To your offspring I will give this land." Reader two: So Abram built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. From there he moved on to the hill country on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai (EYE) on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and invoked the name of the Lord. And Abram journeyed on by stages toward the Negeb. (NAY-geb) Reader one: Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to reside there as an alien, for the famine was severe in the land. When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai: Reader two: "I know well that you are a woman beautiful in appearance; and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his wife'; then they will kill me, but they will let you live. Say you are my sister, so that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared on your account." Reader one: When Abram entered Egypt the Egyptians saw that Sarai was very beautiful. When the officials of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house. And for her sake Pharaoh dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female slaves, female donkeys, and camels. Reader two: But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife. So Pharaoh called Abram, and said: Reader one: "What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? Why did you say, 'She is my sister,' so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife, take her, and be gone." Reader two: And Pharaoh gave his men orders concerning Abram; and they set him on the way, with his wife and all that he had. So Abram went up from Egypt, he and Sarai, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the Negeb. SLIGHT ONE-BEAT PAUSE Reader two: But that’s our story for next week.
NOTE: The above is written in the style of “Reader’s Theatre,” a very simple but effective way of presenting the biblical story that can be done in any church, large or small. For more information about how to do Reader’s Theatre, click on this link. Note: You have permission to use this in any worship service. No credit line is required, though it would be nice if you put in something like, “A Readers’ Theatre presentation of the Story-Lectionary.com project.” |