BACK SEEKING 6'1m1f Seeking Christ at Christmas Time (scene: bare stage except for a small end table on Amy's end of the stage with Bible, cordless phone, TV remote control) AMY --- (enters, wearing robe over pajamas and slippers, paces briefly, picks up remote, turns on imaginary TV at back of audience, changes channels, bored with each one, picks up phone, dials number on TV screen, turns off TV; during the conversation she alternately paces and stands still for emphasis and variation) (caution: pacing with a phone will cover your mouth and/or muffle your words. Pace with the phone under your chin) JOSH -- (warm, confident, patient voiceover OR enters opposite with phone to ear, remains near exit) Suicide prevention hotline, this is Josh. How may I help you? AMY --- Yeah, hi. Say, listen, you're going to think I'm a little nuts, but I can't sleep and there's nothing on TV, and I just thought that if you have nothing better to do, we could just talk a little. JOSH -- No problem. What do you want to talk about? AMY --- Listen, I know you guys have, like, this 911 panic button just in case I took a bottle of pills or something, but I just want you to know I'm not going to kill myself or anything. I just wanted to.... JOSH -- It's okay. We can just talk. It's not a problem. No squad cars or ambulances will wake up your neighbors. I promise. What do you want to talk about? AMY --- Listen, if you get an urgent call from someone on a fourteenth floor ledge ready to jump, you can just cut me off. Okay? JOSH -- Okay. It's a deal. My name is Josh. What's yours? AMY --- Call me Babs. On TV the name Babs is always good for a laugh. JOSH -- Okay, Babs, what do you want to talk about? AMY --- How about Christmas? JOSH -- Do you have all your shopping done? AMY --- I'm not talking about that Christmas. JOSH -- You're not? AMY --- Well, I am and I'm not. You must think I'm a psycho case or something, calling at three o'clock in the morning just to talk. And then I don't even know what I want to talk about.... JOSH -- Babs, I get a lot of people calling who just want to talk. So, let's get back to Christmas. AMY --- Actually, this happens every year at Christmas time. JOSH -- What happens? AMY --- I get restless. I can't sleep. I read somewhere that the suicide rate really increases around Christmas time. Not that I am suicidal or anything. You must really think I'm a wacko. Maybe I shouldn't have called... JOSH -- You called to talk, Babs. Let's talk. So, why do you think you're restless and sleepless at Christmas time? AMY --- I don't know. I think maybe I'm too analytical. I see people spending money for gifts, half of which nobody needs. I see all the hectic shopping and decorating and parties and for what? It all started 2000 years ago as someone's birthday party. And now, it seems everybody gets a gift except the birthday boy. The first Christians didn't even celebrate Jesus' birthday. JOSH -- Do you think it would be better if we didn't celebrate Christmas? AMY --- Yes. No. Yes. You must think I'm a few sandwiches short of a full picnic. JOSH -- Babs, I'm not judging you at all. Tell me first why you DON'T think we should celebrate Christmas. AMY --- Because the way we do it now, it doesn't mean anything. It's just gifts and parties. JOSH -- Okay. Now tell me why you DO think we should celebrate Christmas. AMY --- Because it's an important birthday. We celebrate the birthdays of presidents and a lot of people thinks that Jesus is way more important than presidents. JOSH -- Do YOU? AMY --- To tell the truth, I don't know. I mean, some of the stuff they say about him is pretty fantastic, don't you think? JOSH -- Like what? AMY --- Like the miracles and stuff. JOSH -- The miracles are not too fantastic if he was who he said he was. AMY --- You mean the son of God thing. JOSH -- Yes. AMY --- See that's what I don't get. I don't get how one God could be Father, Son and Holy Spirit all at the same time. I don't get how Jesus could be all God at the same time he is all man. JOSH -- You took college physics. How can there be light waves and light particles at the same time? AMY --- How did you know I took college physics? JOSH -- Did you? AMY --- Yes, but.... JOSH -- Is it possible for light to be both a particle and a wave? AMY --- Well, yes, under certain energy conditions light can be explained better if we speak about it as a wave. And under other energy conditions the photon particle explains it's behavior best. JOSH -- But it's all light. AMY --- So, you think Father, Son, and Holy Spirit might be just God's way of explaining his nature to numb-nuts like us who only have college physics to explain things? JOSH -- Maybe. AMY --- But that still doesn't explain Jesus. He didn't seem to exist until he was born. There's no record of him in the Bible before that. JOSH -- You've got a Bible there. Look up Colossians 1:16. AMY --- Sure. (picks up Bible, flips a few pages, straightens) Wait a minute. How did you know I had a Bible right here? JOSH -- Did you? AMY --- Well, yes, but... JOSH -- Well, what does it say in Colossians 1:16? AMY --- (turning paging pages) This is, like, really spooky. Do I know you? JOSH -- Just tell me what it says in Colossians 1:16 about Jesus? AMY --- (reads while pacing) For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. (stops pacing) JOSH -- Why did you stop pacing? AMY --- (looks both ways) How did you know I stopped pacing? All the drapes are drawn. How did you know I stopped pacing? Do you have, like, a TV camera in here or something? (clutches lapels) JOSH -- Babs, you're perfectly safe. I tell you what, you answer my question first. And then I'll answer yours. Why did you stop pacing? AMY --- (points to Bible) Because this answers the question that's kept me so restless and sleepless at Christmas. JOSH -- What question? AMY --- If Jesus was just a guy or even an angel; if he was just created or invented, then what's all the fuss? Why bother with Christmas at all? In fact, why bother with LIFE at all? JOSH -- It was not just a mere coincidence that you called the suicide prevention hotline, was it? AMY --- (paces) Well, now that I've found the answer, I don't mind admitting that every Christmas I keep thinking if it wasn't really God who was born in Bethlehem, then it wasn't really God who came to save the world. And I don't stand a chance of making it to heaven. And if I'm not going to heaven then, all there is left is gifts I don't need and parties with people I can do without. Then, what's the point of going on living? But it really WAS God who became a man, wasn't it? JOSH -- Yes, it was, Amy. AMY -- (stop, straightens) Wait a minute. You just called me Amy. I told you to call me Babs. Mister, you have some explaining to do! Who are you? JOSH -- Would it help you to know that you were the only one in the world who saw that phone number on television? AMY --- (disbelief) Jesus. JOSH -- Yes. AMY --- (paces, arm outstretched) Oh, Man! Jesus! JOSH -- My Hebrew name is JOSHUA. AMY --- Why me? I mean, I know I called you, but, I mean, you didn't have to answer. JOSH -- Look in your Bible, there, Amy. Matthew 7:7. AMY --- (turning pages) I was just reading that chapter this morning. JOSH -- I know. AMY --- Here it is: "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." (looks up) You heard my prayer after I read that. JOSH -- I don't usually answer prayers by phone. But you did ask, seek and knock. AMY --- Oh, man! I'm talking to God himself. Oh, man! JOSH -- So, Amy! Do we celebrate Christmas this year or not? AMY --- (tearful pause) Happy Birthday, Jesus. JOSH -- Thanks, Amy. Call me anytime. (both exit) ©2008 Bob Snook. Conditions for use: Do not sell any part of this script, even if you rewrite it. Pay no royalties, even if you make money from performances. You may reproduce and distribute this script freely, but all copies must contain this copyright statement. http://www.bobsnook.org email: bob@bobsnook.org BACK |