Travis and God, PAC IV, STAFF
Need singer offstage
TRAVIS: Lord?
GOD: Hi, Trav.
TRAVIS: Man, we’ve seen so much this summer, haven’t we?
GOD: Unbelievable… always so good…so different…
TRAVIS: I’ve never seen You praised in so many ways…
GOD: Duct tape. Last week’s duct tape was a first, I think.
TRAVIS: Remember the rubric’s cube?
GOD: (laughs) Yeah… and you couldn’t see it from back on the light board, but there was a girl who always snapped her fingers during prayer. And one kid….I loved this…he always swayed back and forth and hummed every time someone would begin to pray.
TRAVIS: Now that’s new. That’s what I like about camp, Lord. You can be a little crazy… I’ll tell you the truth.. it’s pretty hard to go back to regular church once you’ve to camp.
GOD: I’ve noticed.
TRAVIS: (a beat) I ..uh… I haven’t been too regular, have I?
GOD: I’m keeping your pew open.
TRAVIS: Lord, I gotta be honest… I just can’t…I can’t find myself in church anymore. It all seems so…you know..pointless…dull…made for old people.
GOD: Something wrong with old people?
TRAVIS: No..no… It’s just that I don't want to worship like one. But out here…You’ve seen it, Lord. People turn prayer into a dance….they learn scripture through the music…they…they worship you with a mime…. It’s all so fresh…. And then on Sunday I’ve got to sit down in a pew and turn to a certain page and say the same old words…
GOD: Not very relevant, huh?
TRAVIS: And Lord, the music…man, it puts me to sleep. The same old.. (sings dully) What a Friend we have in Jesus….
GOD: A friend of mine… His name was Joseph…Joseph Scriven…born in Dublin, Ireland, right where you’re headed next week…
TRAVIS: Cool.
GOD: He was a carpenter and got engaged to be married. She drowned on the night before their wedding. Joseph moved to Canada and worked only for people who had no money. Fell in love again, and again his fiancé died before their wedding.
TRAVIS: My gosh…
GOD: In fact, he drowned too a few years later, but he wanted to send something home to his mother in Ireland. He had no money so he wrote her a poem..something to help her we he couldn’t send money… It was his last words to her….After he died a friend set it to music… These are his last words to his mother… SINGER: What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear! What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer! O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. TRAVIS: Wow. That..uh…that makes it all different. But I really love the praise music out here, Lord. I mean, that’s okay isn’t it?
GOD: The music at camp is great, Travis.
TRAVIS: And I like that new one.. (recite or sing some of the lyrics of a new camp song)
GOD: How about this one? “Now as we come to the setting of the sun, and our eyes behold your light, We sing your praises, O God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Come the night…come the night.”
TRAVIS: Cool! How does the tune go?
GOD: It doesn’t have one. It’s from the Book of Common Prayer..from the 1500’s. Five hundred years ago, Travis. I guess it must be for boring old people.
TRAVIS: Lord, I…
GOD: These Remember your Grandma Caroline?
TRAVIS: Sure.
GOD: Somebody once brought drums into her little Nazarene church… She nearly fainted.
TRAVIS: Yeah…that was Grandma alright.
GOD: Like when she saw your first earring. Those kids tomorrow, Travis… Someday they’ll be worshipping in a way that you’ve never seen before.. And it’s going to bother you a little…maybe you won’t be used to somebody snapping their fingers as they pray. And they’re going to look at your praise songs and your mimes and it’s going to bore them to death.
TRAVIS: (a beat) I get your point.
GOD: Be open, Travis. I’m not just new for each generation, I’m new every morning. If you let me…I ..am…new…every…morning. Please…please don't pray for success tonight. Don't even pray for an answer to your problems… Pray for…wonder. Pray to be amazed…pray to be opened up to kinds of worship and praise you’d never dreamt of. Pray to have your idea of me explode….
TRAVIS: That’s uh…that’s scary. I guess I’m comfortable right where I am…
GOD: …You’re boring.
TRAVIS: Boring?
GOD: Compared to what you could be…compared to what I want you to be. Pray to be astonished, Travis. Dumbfounded… Let me be new to you. …each morning.
TRAVIS: So….I mean..how should I pray?
GOD: You might try snapping your fingers and humming… or maybe you could just get really old-fashioned… SINGER: Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged; take it to the Lord in prayer. Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share? Jesus knows our every weakness; take it to the Lord in prayer.
PAGE * MERGEFORMAT 1
Travis & God, IV, Staff PAGE * MERGEFORMAT 1