Worshiping with Drama
At Christmas and Easter, I love to attend Passion Plays. The re-enactments of watching the life come to Christ is so moving each and every time I see it and I receive something new each time.
Drama is another creative outlet that can allow us to draw closer to God.
Today, many churches now have their own drama groups in which you can become involved.
- 1 Corinthians 2:7,8,11,14 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known they would not have crucified the Lord of glory . . . For what man knows the things of man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God . . . But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned
- Matthew 13:13 Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand
- Ephesians 4:29 Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.
- Matthew 13:11,14,15 Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given . . . . And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: ‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive, for the heart of this people has grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their heart and turn, so that I should heal them’
- Matthew 13:34 Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable.
Jesus was a master storyteller and shared many lessons and points through parables.
Many of us are oral or visual learners and by hearing or seeing the story lived out before us we have a better understanding and grasp of what happened and the lessons.
So what are some ways to worship with drama?
- Attend a passion play
- Attend a Biblical/historical re-enactment
- Act out your favorite Bible story, either with a group or on your own
- Join a drama team
- Develop a character sketch of your favorite Bible character to act out
- Act out a favorite parable, lesson, miracle, etc. in the Bible
- Act out a character sketch of a hero of the faith
- Act out the story of an overall theme {love, forgiveness, mercy, being redeemed}
- Listen to Unshackled {a radio program of how a person has been redeemed}
- Listen to re-enactment programs such as Heroes of the Faith or Adventures in Odyssey
The entire point of story telling by re-enactments and drama is to bring the story to life and making it three dimensionally and four dimensionally. As the actor or the listener or watcher, you are placing yourself within the story and an active observer and/or participant.
How have you used drama as a means of worship?