- Lectern by Hospital wall;
- On the blue curtain at the front ( here's a picture ) :
Hospital side centre ( under the wooden cross ) Organ side OLD TESTAMENT red ribbon with arrow pointing left
4000 years
BC
"JESUS BIRTH", vertically, mounted on red material. NEW TESTAMENT red ribbon with arrow pointing right
2000 years
AD
- around walls :
- connect A2 time line pictures from Connect B1 pictures.
Properties : - for the Bible Play -
- Family Bible, small Bible, Maori Bible ready on table near flowers organ side.
- Books of the Bible cards for holding up.
- for the Mary Jones Play -
- "Welsh Bible" out of sight behind the lectern.
People : - Narrator at lectern,
- Reader at lectern,
- Computer person at computer,
- Organist at organ,
- People to hand out orders of service,
- People ready to give out music if required.
APOCRYPHA Views on the acceptability of the Apocrypha in the Christian church differ between denominations and at different times. For some further information, try here - and there's plenty more if that won't do ! For POETRY, try "Wisdom of Solomon", or "Ecclesiasticus" ( also called "Wisdom of Jesus, the son of Sirach" - or just "Sirach" );
The DETECTIVE STORIES feature Daniel the prophet as the detective; they are "( Daniel and ) Susanna" and "( Daniel, ) Bel and the dragon". They're not Sherlock Holmes, but both of them solve a puzzle and unmask evildoers.
the B I B L E We are not sure how we found out about this song, but we got the words and music from internet search. There are many versions, often with widely differing words; we selected verses from two of them. BEHIND LECTERN Really means "somewhere a bit away from Mary where he can pick up the "Welsh Bible" he's going to give her. CARDS There is a card for each of the eight groups of books ( or sometimes a single book ) of the Bible mentioned in the service. Each card is presented as a poster to be fixed to the wall, and shows the name of the group of books and a list of the individual books in the group. There are four cards for each of the Testaments; we put the Old Testament cards on one side of the church, and the New Testament cards on the other. Here are the cards ( much reduced in size ! ); click any picture for a ( possibly ) larger JPEG version ( still much reduced in size ).
CD PLAYER Not essential, but we didn't have the music. ( Making the organist start it might have been rubbing it in a bit, but as she wasn't doing anything else .... ) FAMILY BIBLE A large and impressively bound Bible - the larger, the better, within reason, to emphasise the contrast with the small Bible which comes next. Ours was a particularly handsome specimen, and we used it as a visual theme throughout. It appeared on the advertising flyer we distributed round the neighbourhood, and on the programme for the service, and in the projected copy of the script ( - for example ).
FLOWERS A position on the congregation side of the altar rail, near the wall; the flowers themselves are incidental, and have no part in the service. GATE You can see the "gate" open in the picture of the scenery. MANA A Maori word, combining dignity and honour. MAORI - because we're in New Zealand, which is why we used the Tarore story. READ YOUR BIBLE, PRAY EVERY DAY Tune : as for "I will make you fishers of men"; a further note. REPEAT THE SONG The song "I'm going to get my Bible today" goes to the tune "Here we go round the mulberry bush". We had no formal announcement; the organ played a line, and the cast joined in, and the congregation quickly followed without further prompting. We did show an invitation to join in on the projector screen, which probably helped. ( We wrote the song; use it freely. ) SINGERS To encourage the congregation. The song has an irregular metre, and a simple but not-quite-repetitive tune, so the lead of the singers is a significant help. SMALL BIBLE As small as you can get. Ours was about 3cm by 2cm, by 1cm thick; in fact, it was only a New Testament, but it made the point. TARORE The story of Tarore is at least approximately true; here is one version. If you wish to perform the script, note that the stress on a Maori name is commonly on the first syllable - so TA-ro-re, NGA-ku-ku.
WELSH BIBLE A book which might plausibly be a 19th century Welsh Bible. Authenticity isn't important; the book isn't used as a Welsh Bible in any way. WHISPERS It would have been better to rehearse the play sufficiently well that the actors would know their parts, and the whispers would then be unnecessary. On the other hand, it's better to put up with the whispers than have it all break down because someone has forgotten his word. We played safe.
