The Precious Names

THE PRECIOUS NAMES

A Three-Act Biblical Pageant and Musical

By Jewell Ellen Smith

Nonprofit groups may perform this play without payment, but if you plan to perform it Jewell's children request that you e-mail her older son David at DSmith1204@aol.com, as they wish to keep track of which plays are performed.

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Theme: The Biblical story of how God sent His Son and how He gave to Him many great, and simple, and beautiful names to reveal His nature and His glory to men.

Method of Presentation: Dialogue, pantomime, singing.

Résumé: A young married couple, out shopping on the streets of an American city, pass a church where a 10-foot Bible has been constructed on the lawn, as an advertisement to encourage people to attend Holy Week services.

A Messenger walks out of the pages of the Bible and invites the couple to go inside the Holy Scriptures to learn of the many beautiful names given to Christ, the Lord.

Once inside, the couple and the Messenger meet Biblical characters and observe scenes from both Old and New Testaments, which reveal who the Lord is: A Star out of Jacob, Immanuel, The Prince of Peace, Jesus, the Savior which is Christ the Lord, the Good Shepherd, the Great Physician, the Triumphant Risen Lord.

Finally, the audience is admonished to "take the precious name of Jesus… where’er you go."

Length: 20 to 25 minutes.

Players: From 16 to 25. All ages may be used. Chief characters must be able to sing well. Several players take two or more parts.

Costumes: Traditional Biblical costumes. The Christ Figure, the Messenger, and the Angels wear white. Mary, blue.

Scenery: Should be kept simple. Theater-in-the-round method of staging works well indeed. For background these are needed:

1. A large Bible, made so individuals can walk out and in.

2. A semi-pastoral scene - simple greenery, plastic sheep.

3. A traditional manger scene with animal figurines.

4. A hill scene, with three crosses.

5. The empty tomb, showing the stone rolled away.

6. Props: Bundles and boxes George and Alice have purchased; Harp (real or fake) for David, several plastic sheep; scroll for Isaiah, crutches, walking sticks, bandages; street corner sign: Church St - Bibb St.; road signs: Jerusalem, Jericho; piano or organ.

Music and Hymns: Most selections are in any standard hymnbook, and are included at the end of the play. These songs are featured:

1. Duet (Alice and George)--"I have found a hiding place," by Charles K. Weigle and Gladys B Muller, page 2, in Favorites, Number 3, compiled by Alfred B. Smith, Singspiration, Inc., Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Mich.; Belwin, Inc., Rockville Center, Long Island, NY

2. Solo (David)--"The Lord is My Shepherd."

3. Group singing (Isaiah scene)--The Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah. A simplified arrangement is suggested, or the music at the end of this play may be used.

4. Part solo, part trio, and group--"Angels We Have Heard on High."

5. Quartet (Persons healed)--"The Great Physician," by William Hunter and J. H. Stockton.

6. Trio--Spiritual, "Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?"

7. Group--"Christ the Lord is Risen Today."

8. Entire Cast--"O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing," by Charles Wesley and Carl G. Gläser.

9. Entire Cast--"Take the Name of Jesus With You," by Lydia Baxter and William H. Doane.

Characters (In the order of their appearance):

Alice

George

Messenger

David

Isaiah

5 to 8 followers of Isaiah, including

First Spokesman

Second Spokesman

Mary, the mother of Jesus

Angel Gabriel

Joseph, husband of Mary

Three Shepherds

Three Angels

Christ Figure

Throng of People--maimed, halt, blind, including

1. Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue

2. Woman of Capernaum

3. The Bowed-together woman

4. Bartimaeus, blind beggar of Jericho

5. Companion of Bartimaeus

Apostle John

Two Angels at the Tomb

Three Women at the Tomb

Suggested use of players: Let David also take parts of Joseph and Blind Bartimaeus. Let Isaiah be Jairus in N. T. scene. Let Shepherds and Women at the Tomb appear in Isaiah scene and Great Physician scene. Also, switch Angels from scene to scene. To achieve volume in some of the singing, use voices behind the curtains.

Synopsis of Scenes:

Prologue: Sidewalk in a modern American city, at the corner of Church and Bibb Streets. Time: One morning during Holy Week.

Act I: Old Testament Era

Scene I: Area near Bethlehem, when King David was yet a Shepherd Boy. About 1050 BC.

Scene II: Land of Judah. About 700 BC at the time of the Prophet Isaiah.

Act II: New Testament Era

Scene I: A City of Galilee, named Nazareth. About 2 BC.

Scene II: Bethlehem of Judea, the night when Christ was born.

Act III: Jerusalem, about 30 AD, when Jesus went about doing good.

Scene I: Roadside between Jericho and Jerusalem.

Scene II: Golgotha, the Place of a Skull. The day of the Crucifixion.

Scene III: The Empty Tomb in the Garden. The day of the Resurrection.

SCRIPT

Prologue

An American city sidewalk, Holy Week, 1970’s. George and Alice, a young married couple, are on a shopping trip. George is loaded down with bundles of things Alice has bought. She is vivacious, bubbling over with excitement. George is exhausted.

ALICE: Oh, George, isn’t shopping fun! I just love buying things! Looking in all the shops!

GEORGE: Yes, Alice. But take it easy, will you? Shifts bundles to his other arm Have mercy on my poor flat pocket book and my feet! Pats wallet pocket

ALICE: You’ve never told me you have flat feet! All these years we’ve been married, and you’ve never mentioned it!

GEORGE: I said my pocket book’s flat! Not my feet! Wait just a minute, Alice. Lem’me tie my shoelace. Stoops to re-tie laces Whew! We must’ve walked five miles already!

ALICE: Aw, come on, George! We’ve already at Church Street and Bibb. Just around the corner is the Central Avenue Church. And right past that is that coffee shop. You can have yourself a cup of coffee while I go across the street to try on hats! Then, soon as I get my-- George! Look at that huge Bible over there by the church! Why do you suppose they built that? Points to large Bible replica on church lawn

GEORGE: I imagine the pastor’s using it to remind folks that this is Holy Week. And, to sort’a encourage them to come to Easter services.

Messenger, robed in frothy white gown, comes out of Bible, walks slowly toward Alice and George. Alice grabs George’s arm. Gasps. Steps back.

ALICE: George! Do you see what I see?

GEORGE: You bet! Walking right out of that Bible!

ALICE: Is it an angel?

GEORGE: Uh-- I don’t know! I have never seen an angel!

ALICE: What’ll we do? George, I’m scared! It could be a spirit or something! Maybe a ghost!

MESSENGER: Have no fear! Dear friends, I am not a ghost, nor a heavenly angel. I am a messenger stepped out of the pages of Holy Writ, to give you a message for this Easter Tide, a message for all the days of your lives.

GEORGE: Well, we-- That is, uh-- What sort of a message?

MESSENGER: It has to do with the Names of Jesus. With the many lovely, and powerful, and beautiful names God gave his Son so that the whole world could recognize Him, see His great glory, and worship Him.

ALICE: You man names like "The Messiah," and "Son of Man," and "The Redeemer"-- names like that?

MESSENGER: Yes, Those, and more. Many more. You see, from days of old, when inspired men first began to write out the 66 books that now make up the Holy Bible, God began to reveal through these writers how He would send His Son to the earth, and what He would be like. Name after name He gave to the Lord.

God caused one of the first prophets to tell of the coming of the Lord as the rising of a star. It is recorded in the book of Numbers that the Prophet Balaam said "I shall see him, but not now; I shall behold him, but not nigh; for there shall come a Star out of Jacob." Later, Jesus called himself "the Bright and Morning Star."

ALICE: Oh yes! And didn’t somebody call Him "The Rose of Sharon?" And "The Lily of the Valley?"

MESSENGER: True. Then you two must know--

GEORGE: We’re Christians! Turns to Alice Alice, this reminds me of that song titled: "I Have Found a Hiding Place."

ALICE: It does! How does that song go? Alice hums a few bars, then sings out the last phrase: "... Fairest of Ten Thousand to my soul."

Alice and George complete above song as duet

MESSENGER: Come with me into the pages of the Bible! And I will show you more magnificent names that proclaim God’s omnipotent love and tell of the glory due His Son.

Curtain

ACT I

Scene I: Pastoral scene near Bethlehem. About 1050 BC.

David, dressed as a shepherd holding his harp, sits near a tree, running his fingers over the strings of the harp. Messenger, George and Alice come on, left stage.

MESSENGER: There is David, the shepherd boy God chose to be king of the Israelites after Saul. On this day, little did David know that God would send the Messiah through his house and lineage and that Jesus would be called "thou Son of David."

David thinks of God as a Great Shepherd who watches over him as he watches over his own sheep. This foreshadows the New Testament name for Jesus. He said of himself, "I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep."

Let us listen as David sings of The Good Shepherd.

David sings solo: "The Lord is My Shepherd." He walks off left stage. Stage hands remove sheep.

Scene II (Pastoral scene)

Isaiah and a large group of people enter from right. Isaiah leads the way, gesturing and talking, reading from his scroll.

GEORGE: To Messenger Who are these coming now?

MESSENGER: This is the Prophet Isaiah and a group of the Children of Israel. Isaiah lived some 700 years before the time of Christ. Yet he foretold the coming of the Lord in much detail. Let us listen to his prophecy.

ISAIAH To the people accompanying him: The Lord himself shall give us a sign: Behold a virgin shall conceive, and shall bear a son, and shall call his name IMMANUEL.

PEOPLE: Murmuring together Immanuel?

1^ST SPOKESMAN: What does this name Immanuel mean?

ISAIAH: It means "God with us."

1^ST SPOKESMAN: The Lord cometh here? To us? The children of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob?

ISAIAH: He will come as a child that is born, as a son that is given.

2^ND SPOKESMAN: What manner of person will He be?

ISAIAH: He will be like a man--a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. Yet He will bear our griefs and carry our sorrows. He will be wounded for our transgressions, He will be bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace will be upon Him, and with His stripes we shall be healed.

2^ND SPOKESMAN: How can this come to pass?

ISAIAH: He will be brought as a lamb to the slaughter. The Lord will lay on Him the iniquity of us all.

1^ST SPOKESMAN: Isaiah, thou art a prophet chosen by the Lord. Yet what a strange report!

ISAIAH: Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? Hear, O you people, His words:

Isaiah unrolls his scroll

The Lord saith: "Therefore my people shall know my name; therefore they shall know that day that I am he that doth speak: behold it is I …... and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

“Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever."

PEOPLE murmuring: A king! A king to reign forever! And ever!

ISAIAH: Yea! The King of Kings! Lord of Lords! He shall reign forever and ever!

Biblical characters sing the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s The Messiah.

The audience will stand, keeping to tradition

Curtain

ACT II

Scene I: A City of Galilee, named Nazareth.

Garden backdrop. Low bench, covered in green. As curtain opens Mary is seated to the right of center stage. Angel Gabriel is talking with her. Messenger, George, and Alice enter from left, stop.

MESSENGER: We are approaching the city of Nazareth in Galilee. Look there! That’s Mary, and the Angel Gabriel speaking to her. Listen! He is telling her she is to be the mother of Christ. He will also tell her the precious name she is to call her Son!

GABRIEL: Mary, thou virgin of the house of David, thou art highly favored. Blessed art thou.

MARY rising: What manner of salutation is this?

GABRIEL: Thou hast found favor with God. And, behold, thou shall conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS.

MARY: I shall call him Jesus?

GABRIEL: He shall be great, and shall also be called the Son of the Highest!

Gabriel fades back. Mary steps toward front.

MARY: Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. My spirit doth rejoice in God, my Savior. She leaves stage

Messenger, George and Alice move to front of stage so curtain can close behind them. The three continue talking.

Curtain

GEORGE: Alice, isn’t this wonderful! We’re walking through the pages of the Bible to see how God gave names to His Son!

ALICE: It’s marvelous! Turning to Messenger What name will be next?

MESSENGER: Next, I’m going to take you to Bethlehem of Judea.

SCENE II

As curtain opens, manger scene is on center stage--with Mary, Joseph, the Babe, animals. Shepherds are standing in the wings on right. Behind them are three angels.

MESSENGER: See! You know this scene as it is recorded in the book of Luke. The Babe in swaddling clothes lies in the manger. Angels have already told the good news of His birth to the Judean shepherds out in the fields. And they will come to adore the Savior, which is Christ the Lord. Hear the shepherds singing?

Shepherds enter, singing first stanza of "Angels We Have Heard on High." Angels step up on risers in background and sing the refrain: "Glo--ri-a in excelsis Deo," etc.

GEORGE: Alice, let’s sing with them!

George and Alice sing second verse as duet. Angels repeat refrain. Shepherds sing third verse. Omit refrain. Shepherds, Angels, George, Alice, and Messenger all sing fourth verse. Mary and Joseph join entire group in singing last refrain.

Curtain

ACT III, Scene I: Roadside, between Jericho and Jerusalem.

As curtain opens, Messenger, Alice, and George stand on left. Slightly to right of center stage Christ Figure stands, surrounded by throng of people—mostly maimed, halt, blind. Some are on crutches. Two have bandages on head, leg, etc. The characters who are to speak are in forefront. Bartimaeus, the blind beggar, is seated on right and is holding out a container, asking alms. The crowd murmurs, jostles about, each person trying to get near the Christ. The blind beggar is constantly calling, "Alms for the blind! Pity the blind. Alms for the blind."

GEORGE: This must be Jesus healing the maimed, the halt, and the blind.

MESSENGER: It is. This is a day when He traveled toward Jerusalem, during the years when He went about doing good, and teaching, and healing. He has already told his followers: "I am the Light of the World, I am the Bread of Life, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."

And He has already said: "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end." Here we see a throng of people who look to Him as The Great Physician. Listen!

BEGGAR: Alms! Alms for the blind!

JAIRUS: Trying to get through crowd I pray thee, let me speak to Him. My little daughter lieth at the point of death. If the Master will come and lay his hands on her, she shall live.

BEGGAR: Alms. Mercy on the blind. Alms for the blind.

WOMAN of CAPERNAUM: Edging way toward Christ Let me but touch the hem of his garment! I have been ill for twelve years, and have spent all my substance, and have suffered many things of many physicians. If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole!

BEGGAR: Pity the blind.

BOWED-TOGETHER WOMAN: Pray let me go to him! For eighteen years I have had a spirit of infirmity! See how I am bowed together and can in no wise lift up my head! He can make me straight again, and I shall glorify God!

Jostling, gentle pushing continue.

BEGGAR: Who is this passing by?

COMPANION of BEGGAR: It is Jesus of Nazareth.

BEGGAR: Jesus! Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me! Me, the blind Bartimaeus! Have mercy! Have mercy on me!

Christ figure beckons to Bartimaus’ Companion

APOSTLE JOHN: Let the blind beggar be brought to the Master!

COMPANION: Come! Come! Rise, and be of good comfort. He calleth thee.

The crowd parts, making room. Companion helps beggar to his feet, leads him toward the Christ. Beggar kneels before the Christ.

Curtain

Jairus, the two healed women, and beggar--now able to see--come outside curtain to sing as quartet two verses of "The Great Physician." Then, they simply walk off stage.

SCENE II

Golgotha, the Place of the Skull

Curtains open to show on right side of stage a far-away hill scene, with three crosses.

The center cross, higher than the others, bears the sign: "King of the Jews."

Messenger, George, and Alice enter from left.

MESSENGER: Now we approach Golgotha, called the Place of the Skull, where the Lord was crucified, between two thieves.

ALICE: All of his beautiful, wonderful names--forgotten!

GEORGE: Star out of Jacob, the Good Shepherd, Immanuel, Mighty Counsellor, Prince of Peace, Jesus, Son of the Highest, Son of David, the Light of the World--all had been forgotten as he was nailed to the cross under the accusing, mocking title, "King of the Jews."

George and Alice kneel, facing the cross, for a few moments. Then they rise for the singing of "Were You There?" This can be done by a soloist off-stage, with George and Alice doing an echo effect of the "Were You There" phrases. Or, they can sing it is a duet--depending on the wishes of the director and talent available.

Curtain

SCENE III

Empty tomb in the Garden. At dawn, the day of Resurrection. Two angels sit at the door of the tomb, where the stone has been rolled away. Messenger, George, and Alice are on the left, as usual. Three women approach from the right. They are startled and step back when they see the angels.

MESSENGER: It is early morning--on the day of the Lord’s resurrection. And this is the garden where we’ll find the empty tomb. There! Points towards angels Let us listen as the angels tell of yet another name for Jesus--the Risen Lord.

ALICE: Who are the women?

MESSENGER: That is Mary Magdalene and two other followers of Jesus, who have brought spices to anoint His body.

1^ST ANGEL to women: I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here; for he is risen!

2^ND ANGEL: The Lord is risen!

1^ST & 2^ND ANGELS: Let men and angels sing his praise!

Angels and women sing first verse and refrain of "Christ the Lord is Risen Today." All members of the cast begin coming on stage-—-also singing. The entire group does one more verse and the refrain. Then the whole cast sings: "O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing."

MESSENGER Steps forward and address the audience: We bid you remember the great and wonderful and holy names of the Lord. We bid you take the precious names of Jesus with you--for your comfort and joy. For His glory.

Entire cast sings: "Take the Name of Jesus With You."

FINAL CURTAIN

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