Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Post Game Interview

Post Game Interview
Romans 12:1-3
Isaiah 40:28-31

Cast:  Two adults of any age.  One is a sideline sportscaster and the other a coach headed to the locker room for halftime.  This could be a stand alone drama, but it is designed as a follow on to Game Day and the Half Time Interview.

Set:  Anything that presents a football stadium setting is helpful.  The interview will be standing with the sportscaster holding a microphone and moving it back and forth with the conversation.

The coach is running off the field with the players at the end of this contest.  Sportscaster catches the coach running of the field and has a short interview.


Coach!  Coach!  Can I get just a few words before you head off to catch up with the team.
Sure.
What a game.  You must be proud of your players.
I was really pleased at how everyone pressed on towards the goal.  Past mistakes were just that, in the past.  They kept pressing on.
Reading God’s word, making joyful sounds, the heart of worship, worshiping in spirit and in truth—I think your team hit all of these keys to success.
Yes.  We put our hearts into it.
I guess it’s time for a well-deserved rest now.
Not a chance!
What?
Now is when real worship begins.
But I thought this past hour was worship?
It was and it was good, but most of our worship takes place outside of this building.  Most of our worship takes place during the rest of the week.
I didn’t see that coming so I don’t have any official announcer questions.
That’s ok.  Our response to God’s grace and mercy is to worship him all the time. We are told that our entire lives are to be given to God as a living sacrifice. 
Living Sacrifice?  You made that up, right?  I have read enough of the Bible to know that the sacrifice doesn’t get to live.
In the Old Testament, sacrifices didn’t get to live; well, except for the scapegoat—but that’s for another time.  But now…
[Raises index finger to interrupt with an epiphany.]
Because Christ made a once and for all sacrifice for us we don’t have to make sacrifices every year.
Correct.  We make sacrifices every day with our lives not our livestock.
But we get to live?
You betcha, we get to live like never before.  When we give our lives completely to God, we live more fully than ever before.
Wow!  That’s something.
That’s everything.
Coach, just one more question.  I have been broadcasting for years, but I have never seen a scoreboard.  How do you know who wins?
[Big smile and large gestures]
Don’t you know?  The victory is already won.  Before we stepped foot on the playing field, God had already defeated sin and death with the blood of Christ.  We are already winners.
Wow!  I guess I never thought about how much God has done for us.

Listen to what the prophet Isaiah says about God:

Do you not know?
    Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
    and his understanding no one can fathom.
 He gives strength to the weary
    and increases the power of the weak.

Hey!  I know the rest of that…

 Even youths grow tired and weary,
    and young men stumble and fall;
 but those who hope in the Lord
    will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
    they will run and not grow weary,
    they will walk and not be faint.

The worship hour is over but our worship is just beginning.
And while you come to give your hearts to God, he sends you out to soar on wings like eagles.
Do you know what the theological term for that is?
No, what?
Cool beans.
[A little perplexed.]
That’s not theology, is it.
Gotta go.  See you next time.
[Facing viewing audience as coach departs]
And there you have it.  Living Sacrifice, soaring like eagles, and cool beans.  Worship, it’s not just for Sunday anymore.


The end.