God…Son… and…Who ?
(A Play within a Play in One Act)
Cast of Characters
(In order of appearance)
Narrator: graciously played by Rachel Roberts
God: graciously played by Kathy Johnson
Jesus: graciously played by your Pastor
Holy Spirit: graciously played by Tom Wolverton (known affectionately as “H.S.”)
Sir Devil: graciously played by Freddie Byron
Hopeless Fear: graciously played by Joan Roberts (Demon Wannabe in training)
Pain – No Justice: graciously played by Peter Robinson (Sir Devil’s son and Wannabe)
Angry Categories: graciously played by Jimmy Doyle (also a Demon Wannabe)
Stage Crew: Angela and Harper
God…Son… and…Who ?
(A Play within a Play in One Act)
Narrator:The play is set in Heaven, on a typical day…it is around 10:50 am down below. The Trinity has come to the end of another long heavenly day of being loving-God. As usual the Trinity enjoys relaxing in front of a nice warm fire, their feet up and still covered in plaid wool socks. As often is the case, they are in a fine humor and begin sharing their day’s adventures in a light hearted fashion. God begins the conversation with Jesus (playing off a theme made popular by Abbott and Costello sometime in the mid-20th century)
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God: “Hey you…”
Jesus: “Hey yourself”
God: (playfully) “Who are you today?”
Jesus: “I am…of course.”
God: “I am who?”
Jesus: (matter of factly) “You are, I am.”
God: “I am?”
Jesus: “Yes, you are.”
God: “Well if I am…who are you?”
Jesus: “No, I am not who…I am, I am.”
God: “Then who’s who?”
Jesus: (pointing to the Holy Spirit) “That’s who…”
God: “Who?”
Jesus: “Yes, right here next to me.”
Holy Spirit: (speaking up defensively) “Hey now, stop picking on me, just because you two get all the attention…. doesn’t mean I don’t have feelings! I am very sensitive, you know.”
God: “You’re right, just kidding.”
Jesus: “You know it is always such a puzzle that H.S. is so misunderstood. I know we joke with you H.S. about being the great ‘I wish I was’, or our ‘silent partner’ but in truth H.S., your role is often so very critical. After all, you are the point of contact with humanity on so many personal levels.”
God: (adding) “And…you get to be the ‘person of mystery’ so often… what a joy it is to cause our loved ones to wonder, to ponder, and ultimately to surrender their trust.”
Jesus: “You know… maybe being the mysterious one would be nice… after all, people call my name out millions of times each day, every one of which I hear, and most of which end up being false alarms! Oh, and there are also those folks who feel that I am the sum total of we three…folks who base their entire faith understanding on me alone, idolizing me and oftentimes ignoring the both of you.”
God: “I know what you mean Jesus. I have been boxed, labeled, and had my name put on so many bumper stickers, lots of which are on cars driven by folks who never even let me say hello to them. For many of them, ‘God Bless America’ is not a prayer but a statement of pride and entitlement…(somewhat pensively) so different from what I had hoped for them…[1] In fact I am not, and I do not wish to be boxed into a role of ‘Empire Sustainer’ or ‘The One who Blesses Privileged Society’.”
Holy Spirit: “Maybe you both are right, being mysterious can have its advantages… but you know… I am “I am” too!”
God: (laughing) “Yes, You surely are.”
Jesus: (kiddingly) “Even if we are the only ones who are aware of it most of the time!”
God: “So, how was your day Jesus? How was your particular stretch into humanity?”
Jesus: “Simply wonderful, so much to do…yet I often find myself wishing people would not take themselves so seriously! I tried to show them so many times when I was with them that life was meant to be joyous and fun…I think some of my best jokes have been lost in translation.”
Holy Spirit: (now taking his turn to kid) “Either that, or they weren’t so funny… don’t forget, timing is everything…”
Jesus: “Go on; finish it like you usually do… (speaking in a high pitched voice) and a day in our sight…is like a thousand year old joke to someone else… ha, ha, ha.”
Holy Spirit: “You said it, I didn’t.”
Jesus: “That’s because I am!”
Narrator: At this all three persons of the Trinity enjoy a long laugh, tears of joy stream down. After settling down once again, God continues the conversation.
God: “Well, quite frankly my day was somewhat tough…I feel a bit stuffy and sore after being tossed around down there, don’t forget it has recently been political season all over, and the misunderstandings and misrepresentations are rampant.”
Holy Spirit: “Well that’s why I had such a wonderful day. You know they say ‘one person’s misfortune is another’s gain’…I just so love to be needed, and now more people than ever seem to be looking for me… many even hang around long enough for me to whisper back a ‘hello’.”
Jesus: “Sounds like a typical day on earth.”
God: “Yes, it does.”
Holy Spirit: “So…what do you want to do tonight? Do you want to enjoy our favorite show?”
Jesus: “You mean ‘The Daily Devil’? That sounds like fun… it always is so amusing.”
God: “Do you want to watch reruns of past failures or today’s edition of ‘Fresh Frustrations’?”
Holy Spirit: “Oh, ‘Fresh Frustrations’ for sure…it is always fun to see the day’s work from someone else’s perspective.”
Jesus: “You mean your day’s work… much of mine ends up being long-term you know. But you are right, it is fun to watch the Devil get so steamed up…especially since he has no idea we are looking in on him!”
God: “And I just love seeing H.S. make all of the Devil’s work so unfulfilling and (winking at H.S.) ‘fruitless’…so to speak…”
Holy Spirit: (ignoring the pun) “So, let’s watch, I am always up for a good laugh.”
Narrator: The Holy Spiritreaches over and turns on the big flatscreen TV so they can watch). The screen comes on and to a background of ragtime piano music ‘The Entertainer’ from the movie ‘The Sting’. The title flashes across the screen: ‘The Daily Devil – Fresh Frustrations from the 21st Century’. The on-screen scene opens up in a classroom where the Devil is sitting facing the class. Seated in the class are three of the Devil’s minions known as Demon-wannabe’s, each one waiting their turn to speak to the Devil. The Trinity leans back to enjoy the show, occasionally interjecting a comment, which of course cannot be heard by the Devil.
Sir Devil: “Ok…bad day to all of you!”
3 Demon Wannabes: “And bad day to you as well!”
Sir Devil: “No, thank you.”
3 Demon Wannabes: “You are not welcome.”
God: “Isn’t it funny that they work so hard to be mean and yet are still saying thank you and good day?”
Holy Spirit: “It always makes me smile.”
Sir Devil: “Well, it is that time again… I know each of you have been trying to raise Cain all day in search of your Devil’s horns, so let’s see how you have done today. Who wants to be first to give their daily regress reports? Don’t forget, I am well aware of what we are up against… and especially of the fact that that darned Holy Spirit never, never feels that he has to play fair! It gets me so mad, in fact I get furious and all hot under the collar… anyway… who is first?
God: (laughing in response) “I am!”
Jesus: “No, I am.”
God: (After a pause –both God and Jesus turn to H.S.) “No… you are!” (they all laugh at the play on words.)
Holy Spirit: “How can he say ‘not fair’? Doesn’t he realize that all is fair in love and war?… And this is love!
Sir Devil: “So who here is fired up?”
Narrator: a small demon wannabe named Hopeless Fear timidly speaks up.
Hopeless Fear: “I…I am so upset…I was sure I had this disaster all set, I was already getting ready to try on a new pair of starter horns.”
Sir Devil: “What was it, and whatever went wrong?”
Hopeless Fear: “Well, I had a farmer, actually an older couple on the verge of complete despair. Their little farm in the Midwest was barely surviving with the most blessed lack of rain lately and a huge wind storm was blowing in from the north…”
Sir Devil: (interrupting quickly) “Uh, oh. You know you have to be careful with wind – every time. Speaking of which, were there any advance words floating in on the winds this time?”
Hopeless Fear: “I know Sir Devil you always tell us to listen carefully in order to counter their threat but so often they just do not make sense to me. The advance words on the wind said something about ‘Be strong all you people of the land, declares the Lord, and work. For I am with you… this is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.’[2]”
Sir Devil: “Is that all?”
Hopeless Fear: “No, the winds also rustled on about something from Joel, something like, ‘And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophecy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions, even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.’[3]”
Sir Devil: “Well, what happened?”
Hopeless Fear: “Well, I was sure this was a gimme’… you see the farmer’s husband is an invalid and I was just sure the dust storm would wipe them out and send them into total despair…it was a huge dust storm and was guaranteed to pass right through their farm.”
Sir Devil: “And?”
Hopeless Fear: “Well the storm was gathering speed and a neighbor called to warn them to take cover. Immediately the farmer went in to see her husband and together they prayed to the Holy Spirit…calling the Spirit a ‘Holy Comforter’ or something and saying they were sure the Spirit would help them during times of desperate struggle. And then…just as the storm got to their property fence line it just sort of lifted up and went high overhead, not setting down again until it was on the far side of their land…not even harming a single plant! I couldn’t believe my eyes – I was so sure this one was already in the bag.”
Sir Devil: (trying to calm the distraught minion) “Now, now – let’s learn a lesson here, everyone. If we can figure out the various modes of action used by the Holy Spirit, then the next time we can be better prepared to counter his moves.”
Hopeless Fear: “Are you sure the Spirit is a ‘him’? It seemed to me to be more like a woman’s touch, although I can’t be sure.”
Sir Devil: (impatiently) “Whatever… anyway, what modes of action were you able to identify?”
Hopeless Fear: “There were at least two employed…the first was the old one of manifesting God’s presence through the beauty and awesomeness of Creation. And then there was the one that always drives me crazy, the seeming complete disregard for natural laws which the Holy Spirit pulls once in a while…it just goes against my essence.”
Sir Devil: “Oh I just hate it when that darn Spirit refuses to play by the rules – lifting the storm! Absolute nonsense!…When the Spirit acts that way it betrays the wildness and radicality of God!”
God: “H.S., you are such a tease! Oh well, someday the Devil will realize that natural laws are really only guidelines for God…usually helpful, but not binding by any means.”
Holy Spirit: “And the Devil missed one of my main points, or ‘modes’ as he calls them, that I as Spirit was able to be sensed physically, and that truthfully I was at that moment the living, available, and present aspect of God to humanity.”
Jesus: “Sometimes the Devil can be so blind…how is he ever going to teach his students? But then I guess foresight and vision were never his strong suits!
Sir Devil: “Well Hopeless Fear, I am sorry to say you failed again… and I thought that project was so well suited for your essence…Better luck next time! Remember, if at first you succeed…we’re coming after you!”
Hopeless Fear: “Yes, yes, I am afraid I will have to try harder.”
Sir Devil: (looking about) “Who else has been roaming about the earth today and has a story to share – preferably a victory for our side?”
Narrator: None of the gallery moves as the demon-wannabes shift uncomfortably in their seats, avoiding the gaze of the Devil. After a strained silence the Devil continues
Sir Devil: “Nobody? Does no one have even a small victory to share today?” (dead silence continues) “Ugh, I hate days like this… learning days for all of you are my worst nightmare! Ok… so who else failed me today? How do any of you expect to ever get your horns this way?”
Jesus: “Tough day!”
Holy Spirit: “That’s my job! His pain, our gain”
God: “Shhh…. someone else looks like they want to speak…”
Sir Devil: “Ahhh… my own dear son ‘Pain No-Justice’… what have you got to tell me? How was your day? You always have interesting stories… especially since humankind is so addicted to injustice.”
Pain No-Justice: “Not all of humankind I’m afraid… but surely most of the humans we already own…”
God: “Isn’t he a bold one?… ‘the ones we already own’… won’t he be surprised to find out they all still belong to me?”
Jesus: (reflectively) “It was sufficient you know.”
God: “I know…that was the plan.”
Holy Spirit: “Shhh… I can’t hear them talking – this was one of my favorite ones today.”
Sir Devil: (to his son) “Where were you today?”
Pain No-Justice: “Well, I was again down in New York City, actually on the Willis Avenue Bridge between The Bronx and Manhattan.”
Sir Devil: “Ah yes, one of our favorite harvest fields…”
Pain No-Justice: “A young man had gotten into a bad drug deal and was shot in the late afternoon….He stumbled onto the bridge, collapsed and died right there while rush hour commuter’s just rolled on by.”
Sir Devil: “That sounds like a victory to me! What could have possibly gone wrong with that? He even died all alone, and lots of people were able to choose to either feel bad or superior!”
Pain No-Justice: “Well you see, this young man had a family, a younger brother in fact, who upon learning of his brother’s death almost immediately turned his life completely over to God!”
Sir Devil: “No… weren’t you able to stop him, or at least take away that option? After all he was a minority wasn’t he?”
Pain No-Justice: “Yes he was in fact, but the Holy Spirit suddenly showed up and was just too strong…such a shame, I was hoping to get the whole family.”
Sir Devil: “I can’t believe it; it seems like such a perfect tragedy! How did the Holy Spirit get through to the kid-brother? I remember him, he was surely no angel…and he had a very useful chip on his shoulder in his bitterness against injustice.”
Pain No-Justice: “I am not sure but the advance winds were blowing strongly again…something about ‘When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth’[4].”
Sir Devil: “Is that all? That doesn’t sound like a very strong wind at all, were there any other hints?”
Pain No-Justice: “Actually the wind had almost a drumbeat to it as it repeated over and over saying, ‘The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him… the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding… he will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears… with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth’[5]. The effect was startling… I saw this young confused boy transformed right in front of my eyes. The Holy Spirit just coaxed him into correct thinking… and did it so gently!”
Sir Devil: “Enough! Don’t sound so impressed! What modes of action did you observe that we might all learn something from?”
Pain No-Justice: “Well, first there was that darn ‘Peace that passes understanding’ that always gives us fits, but the real kicker here was that the Holy Spirit, unbeknownst to us, set a number of things in motion well in advance of the actual shooting… and then revealed all the connections to the younger brother…it was like he had been leading him to this point all along.”
Sir Devil: (exasperated) “I simply can’t stand it when our very worst can be turned around to make something positive for someone. It makes me want to quit!… Well, not really… but it does burn me so!”
God: “Such a small, petty little demon.”
Holy Spirit: “Well, we have been changing his ‘worst’ into our ‘best’ forever… We have always sought to bring good out of sorrow and extreme trial.”
Jesus: “Ah, yeah, tell me about it!”
Holy Spirit: “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to imply…”
Jesus: “Relax… it was the plan…remember?”
Sir Devil: (continuing his tirade) “But the worst of it is that this one was a standard, no fail, throw-away job for us…that now somehow has a whole family turning towards God! The Holy Spirit thwarts our every bad intention, takes them and just redeems them. Every miss-step we can cause, and even the ones we can’t take personal credit for are turned around into teaching, training, moments of hope. No matter how bad a person has been, the Holy Spirit is able to transform that life and make those negatives into (sarcastically) ‘Holy Life Building Blocks’! Ugh!”
Holy Spirit: “Don’t you just love it?”
God: “I think there might be hope yet for the old scoundrel, he is so well acquainted with the ways of God.”
Jesus: “Maybe, but then this show would become less entertaining for sure!”
Sir Devil: (still fuming) “Doesn’t anyone have a story to tell that doesn’t continue to reveal all the positive strengths of the Holy Spirit? I am so tired of hearing of the Spirit as ‘the healer of physical, relational, emotional’… ugh, I can’t even finish! Come on, who had a day for our side? I am beginning to be sorry we had this meeting at all; I would rather be fishing, casting about all by myself. I guess we have time for one or two more, have to stay within that precious one-hour time frame you know… any negative news that is positive for us out there at all? Anyone?… No?”
Holy Spirit: “Don’t you just love this show?”
Jesus: “Show-off!”
Holy Spirit: “Yes…I am…”
God: “Don’t start!”
Sir Devil: (continuing) “Anyone? Perhaps a short one… it is getting late…”
Angry Categories: “I… I think mine is short…Although I must confess I don’t understand what went wrong…”
Sir Devil: “Where were you?”
Angry Categories “Well I was stubbornly pursuing…”
Sir Devil: (interrupting) “Careful!…stubborn is also one of the Holy Spirit’s main attributes!”
Angry Categories: “Well I was pursuing this struggling pastor all week. Her life was in shambles…her church, and her denomination was all over her case for not playing by the rules. I even had her questioning the Book of Order…even though it is a relatively safe book as far as the Holy Spirit goes…”
Sir Devil: “What went wrong?”
Angry Categories: “I’m not really sure…actually it is still sort of in-process… but I think I have it mostly secured…after all, there was very little advance wind, almost none…I intercepted a bunch of incoming breezes and managed to distract them with things like ‘congregational loyalty’, and ‘gratitude for being a woman pastor of a large suburban church’– senior pastor no less… and so on.”
Sir Devil: “You said you intercepted ‘most’ of them? What breezes got through?”
Angry Categories: “Something short and I think probably unimportant… something about, ‘Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying’…”
Sir Devil: (interrupting, in a rage) “‘This is the way, walk in it!’[6] …you idiot!!! Don’t you know that is the dreaded ‘Whisper’?”
Angry Categories: “The Whisper?”
Sir Devil: “Yes, the Whisper! It is the most devastating of all advance winds. It throws all of our work right out the window!”
Angry Categories: “Maybe that’s why I couldn’t seem to get through to her…even with only a little puff of wind the Spirit seemed to be everywhere!”
Sir Devil: “That’s because the Spirit took your stubbornness and turned it against you…Don’t you know that the Holy Spirit also reflects the stubborn will of God… a will that refuses to be swayed, a will that in fact, will be done?”
God: “My, my can he preach!”
Holy Spirit: “Not for long…watch.”
Sir Devil: (catching himself) “What am I saying? In fact the Holy Spirit may be stubborn, … but so am I!”
3 Demon Wannabes: “Yea…Hip hip hooray for you!…”
God: (imitating the Devil) “ ‘but so-am-I’…Oooooo, scary!”
Jesus: “That’s why I like ‘so-I-am’ better!”
God: “Yes, much better…”
Sir Devil: “I think this one is a lost cause… but were there any observable modes of spiritual action?”
Angry Categories: “Well there was again the call against rigidity in religion… as well as the steadfast refusal to be bound and held in codified law and doctrine…that wild thing again I guess. Oh, and that ongoing revelation thing surfaced again… I think I was in way over my head.”
Sir Devil: “I think so too… This is a case where the Spirit was doing some very different things. This woman was pretty much ours for the taking. There were multiple issues from generational, to political, to gender and race. She had an open heart and mind and was ready to be molded any way we wanted…not to mention the flak she was receiving from all quarters…but then that darn Whisper…we were so close. She even held to a notion of the Holy Spirit being a present day person-specific interpreter of scripture...How relativistic is that? She was also trying to mold the church into a safe space for the Holy Spirit to function fully and without restriction, she was calling the church away from feel-good weak theology to mission based church life…the Spirit of boldness was getting her into big trouble. She was absolutely on the ropes…”
Angry Categories: “So, what happened?”
Sir Devil: (simply) “The Whisper… yes, the Whisper…it actually found her right where she was struggling, and gave her courage and strength to carry those crazy notions forward.”
Holy Spirit: “Crazy… but true…”
God: “Nice job H.S.”
Holy Spirit: “Some of my best work… thanks.”
Jesus: (kiddingly) “Show off”
Sir Devil: “So, this one, like all the rest, is just going to have to be one we need to learn from, sadly not one of our better days…but there is always tomorrow…Now, off with all of you…Pick up your daily assignments in the morning…”
Narrator: The TV screen fades and once again The Entertainer – ragtime piano music plays as the credits roll down… citing only the names of the one Triune God)
God: “Well, well, well…”
Jesus: “What’s that? One for each of us?”
Holy Spirit: “No that’s holy, holy, holy…”
Jesus: “Holy, holy, holy?”
Holy Spirit: “Yeah, didn’t you hear the one about the three holes in the ground?”
Narrator: God and Jesus groan as one, so to speak (God and Jesus groan)
God: “Anyway…tomorrow’s another day and it is getting late.”
Holy Spirit: “Yes, I am tired from such a busy…but, oh so wonderful day!”
God: (with a twinkle in her eye) “Who has the night shift tonight? Who is on call?”
Jesus: “I am.”
God: (laughing) “So you are.”
Holy Spirit: “Amen.”
[1] In his book, Faith Seeking Understanding, Daniel L. Migliore explores this notion of “Distortions in the Doctrine of God: Kathy”, which he credits to C.F.Richard Niebuhr. Migliore explains how contemporary faith expression can be side-tracked if only one person of the Trinity is given prominence over the other two. Migliore, Faith Seeking Understanding (Grand Rapids, Mich.:William B. Erdmans Publishing Co.,2004) 73-74
The balance of citations are from The Holy Bible, New International Version, from the passages noted:
[2] Hag. 2:4-5
[3] Joel 2:28-29
[4] Ps. 104:29-30
[5] Isa 11:2-4a
[6] Isa 30:21
