The account of the day of Pentecost in the book of Acts gives us a quick sketch of what happened that day – the early believers, still a little dazed and confused after the death of Christ, are gathered together when God sends his Holy Spirit upon them. We can’t tell what the believers thought or felt (except for Peter) but we know that onlookers varied in their interpretation.

This drama looks at the events from the point of view of two bored bystanders. Nothing ever happens around here, they moan – and then something amazing does happen, and for once they are lost for words! Seeing events through their eyes helps us to appreciate what a mind-numbing event this was.

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Update 11 May 2012 US President Barack Obama yesterday announced that he believes gay couples should be free to marry. It’s just a statement and has no legal implications, but like similar previous statements by David Cameron and new French president Francois Hollande, it is a further indication of where the discussion is going.

Gay marriage and the question of the sanctity of marriage is a hotly debated topic on both sides of theAtlantic.  Presidential hopefuls express opinions, the Archbishop of York has warned governments (and the British government in particular) not to meddle. On Facebook there are petitions. The contention seems to be that if Governments allow same-sex couples to marry they will be interfering in a sacred issue and will somehow “break” the institution of marriage. Can this be true?

This issue must be important because it even reared its head at our recent church annual general meeting, alongside the usual Sunday-club report and appointment of stewards! But before we throw ourselves behind one camp or the other, as Christians we need to stop and ask ourselves some questions. What is marriage? What is a good marriage? What makes it different from any other relationship? The word sanctity that is being bandied around really just refers to the qualities or attributes which set something apart as special or holy – so what is it that makes marriage special?

Legality and Biblicality

Marriage is, of course, a legal status – most states long ago took on the role of defining who could get married, registering those who are and controlling how a marriage could be ended. Governments see marriage as a useful institution that creates stability in society and provides care and support for most of the youngest and weakest in society. Marriage is a convenience to society, but if that was all it is, if it were just a variety of business agreement then no-one would be bothering to argue much. There has to be more.

For a Christian our first thought is often that definitions should be “Biblically based”, but it is actually quite hard to find any consistent image of marriage either in the Old Testament (where those who are not polygamists seem to be adulterers, and marrying out of love was not a consideration) or the New (which seems strangely devoid of married people). It has long amused me as I have sat at wedding ceremonies down the years that the best the traditional liturgy could come up with to justify the Biblical nature of marriage is to say that Jesus once went to a wedding! And all we know about that wedding was that there was plenty of alcohol involved! No, marriage as we know it today, an equal and exclusive loving relationship between two individuals, voluntarily entered into and with a commitment for life, is the result of a process of refining and clarifying that has taken place over thousands of years.

What’s so special?

The New Testament does have something deeper (if more vague) to say about marriage. Although its writers never explicitly call the Church the bride of Christ, many verses imply it, and though the language used reflects the moralities of the day, the basic image is a compelling one. In this scenario, just as God made mankind in his image, marriage is a reflection and a representation of the relationship that God has with his people. This understanding might begin to give us a glimpse of what God intends for marriage.

So, what is it that makes a marriage special, unique sanctified? Some suggestions might be love, unity, intimacy and fellowship. The following list is not meant to be definitive – your list might be a bit different. It also doesn’t imply that your marriage is bad if it is lacking in some of these respects – it might suggest what areas to work on over the next few years!

• Love in mind, body and spirit. A married couple give to each other without expectation of receiving, sacrificing their own feelings and thoughts and energies for each other.
• Unity in mind, body and spirit. A married couple move in union, thinking together, feeling together, sharing their bodies together.
• Intimacy in mind, body and spirit. A married couple open themselves up to each other, willing to make themselves vulnerable in the belief that they can trust their partner to be honest and gentle with them and faithful to them, and that this is exclusive and forever.
• Fellowship in mind, body and spirit. A married couple give mutual support and companionship, providing someone who is always there to talk to, to sympathise with, to pray with, to keep warm at night.

Ignoring the superficial

Marriages aren’t sanctified by rules surrounding who can enter into them, a marriage is sanctified by the way those inside it treat each other. We live in a world that has superficial interests in Marriage. Governments like the stability marriages bring to society. Society seems enthralled with the usually short-lived celebrity marriages and the glitzy photographs from the wedding. Many young people seem obsessed with having a spectacular or unusual wedding ceremony or an even more spectacular honeymoon, whatever the cost, and give little thought to the reality of what it will mean to live with this person day-in day-out for life. As a church we should ignore the superficial things and emphasize the quality of the relationship.

We might think that is what we do, but is it really? Many of us are aware of relationships within our congregations that are wrong, where couples don’t talk anymore or, worse, are hurting each other emotionally or even physically. Often the whole congregation knows about this, but the general attitude is that it’s a personal matter that the couple have to work out between themselves. On its own that would be a sad but defensible attitude, but when those same congregations are signing petitions to prevent same-sex couples, however loving, from entering into marriage at all, we really have to ask ourselves what on earth we are playing at. What is more important, the number of male genitalia a couple share, or the love they share? How you answer that may tell you an awful lot about what you really believe in.

Why wait to be told?

The Bishop of Salisbury said recently about the subject of gay marriage, “As a parish priest I was struck that I could bless a bridge over the Thames and new toilets (cleanliness is next to Godliness) but not a Christian couple who said they loved each other so much that they wanted to be together for life.”

We are God’s people. We were made with love, made to be loving, purchased with love. Our greatest commandments are to love God, and to love our neighbours as ourselves. And yet we niggle over who should be allowed to love who – surely that is the Pharisee way of interpreting God! We should concentrate on the quality of our relationships and support other loving, supportive relationships wherever they are found. We shouldn’t have to be told by our governments that all people are equal and that loving relationships are good – we should be telling them that! Surely it’s time to kick our old Pharisee habits and embrace the love?

What is the relationship between Father, Son and Spirit? How can all three be God? The early leaders of the Church struggled to come to terms with the exact nature of God so how can you be expected to explain it to a congregation ages seven to 97? Who can help?

No problems! Step Forward God in three persons who, in a brief and lively way, present the threefold nature of God in their own words!

This script uses relevant Bible verses in a humorous context, raising the ideas but making sure that the audience don’t feel overwhelmed. The more serious-minded listeners will be comforted that it is based in scripture, the bewildered will be comforted by the jokey tone!

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The other day as I sat with friends who had a small child I noticed the child’s shape sorter and thought, Church is like that shape sorter – but broken.

Everyone is different. This is obvious but the Bible is very clear that this is not chance or the result of sin, but is the way God designed it, this is the way the universe is meant to be. We all know what Bible passages such as Romans 12:4-8 make quite clear, that we need it to be that way, we need diversity. This is true in any group of people but for the church it is vitally important, not just for those inside but for those outside.

The church is God’s family of believers and we need to be able to accept anyone and everyone – as St. Peter discovered with Cornelius at Caesarea (Acts 10), it is not up to us who to accept or reject. I love his words in Acts 11:17, “So if God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?”

The church should be God’s shape sorter – people of all shapes can come and find a way in that is made just for the way they are, and in this way they can feel welcomed to God’s world. Unfortunately that shape sorter is largely broken – only the square hole is open! The other holes are in varying degrees blocked. Worse than that – we the church have done it to ourselves!

The problem is that the church and its individual congregations easily become institutionalised. Those inside expect everyone to enter by the square hole, and so people wanting to share in our life with God feel compelled to squeeze themselves into that square shape to get in and, once in, try to hide their real nature.

I confess now that it’s not an original illustration, I think I picked it up from the “Eternal Echoes” blog some time ago, but it has stuck with me and grown because ultimately I think it expresses a very powerful truth.

I think this simple analysis is also an important one. It explains why many people who stray onto the margins of our gatherings never enter further. It explains a lot of tensions within the church – almost everyone inside it is squashing themselves, bending themselves, trying to look and act the same – square shaped.

We do this partly in fear that we will be looked down on or ridiculed if people see what we are really like, partly because we come to believe that our difference from others is because we are “bad Christians”. And trying to be something you are not is never a good thing. Our young people, who are exuberantly differently-shaped, and proud of it, feel increasingly pressured to be a shape they are not and ultimately give up and leave us, often never to return.

Tensions within the church are often just a public expression of the tensions of a people who are trying to be all the same shape and failing. It is time to give in. and celebrate our differences. If the Christian sitting next to you has very different points of view from you, or a different lifestyle, that is the glory of God’s creation, the glory of his kingdom which isn’t one where everyone has to conform. If you are a star or a triangle, be one proudly and love those who aren’t!

It’s Easter. You are watching Ruby, a Christian TV cook creating her latest delicacy – a Resurrection Roll. Alex, the host of the show, is alarmed – Isn’t this silly and simplistic? can chocolate really represent Jesus? Is it real cooking? Is it real Christianity? As the baking goes on the arguments grow until we reach an alarming climax. It’s crazy, funny and might just make you think…

There are many frivolous customs surrounding Easter – Easter eggs, Easter bonnets, the Easter rabbit. These have nothing to do with the Christian faith but often Christians are willing to use them as a way in to talking about faith, which is fine so long as we don’t let our fun trivialise important things and make God seem small. This sketch asks how much fun you can have with faith?

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You might also want to take a look at Sunday 4am, an Easter monologue set in the dark of the morning.

What exactly happened in Easter week 2000 years ago? Oh, you know about the last supper and the crucifixion and the trial and the resurrection – but who was where, with whom and when? This visualisation from Bible Gateway attempts to answer those questions in a simple way, following the main actors in the story and allowing you to see their movements and interactions, as well as giving bible verses so you can read it for yourself.

For instance, you can follow Peter and John as they are go to prepare the upper room for the Passover, then after the supper at Gethsemane are taken aside by Jesus to pray, then after the betrayal follow at a distance to the trial, where John enters into the court while Peter stands outside, denies Jesus then hears the cock crow.   Or you can follow Judas as he sneaks off from the disciples to make a secret deal with the Jewish leaders, returning in time for the last supper before departing abruptly half-way through, and finally committing suicide.

Some of it is guesswork or inference. There are four gospels and they don’t necessarily tell the same stories, and when they do they are not necessarily from the same point of view. See the Wikipedia entry on the Empty Tomb for a discussion of whether Mary went with other women, whether she went twice, whether there were angels and if so when etc. A bit of interpretation and discernment is required to make this all make sense. This wonderful diagram is based in part on work by Justin Taylor at The Gospel Coalition, though the first attempt at producing Gospel harmonies dates back to at least the 3^rd century.

All the best ideas in life are stolen from/inspired by something different.  The diagram may look a bit like a map of the London Underground, but the format is actually based on a 2009 XKCD comic visualisation of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings films. Have fun browsing it, and maybe it will inspire you to go and look up the texts to see if it is all correct!

Don’t forget our instantly downloadable drama scripts, including our Easter Sunday monologue Sunday 4am and the slightly wacky script about Easter, faith and chocolate, A Chocolate Tomb.

What would happen if you stood some children in front of you and asked them to tell you the truth about their mothers? In this simple-to-stage and easy-to-perform drama script for Mother’s Day three children tell us why they love their mothers – and in that oh-so-honest way that children have they let slip some other things about their mothers and the family home!

This very humorous Mother’s day drama script needs very limited preparation and the children can read their lines if necessary. It would work well in any gathering in which there are mothers or children!

It has a cast of 4 (at least three of them children) and is about 4 minutes long – depending upon the children of course! The script gives suggested ages for the children, the point being to try and involve different ages,  but it is only a suggestion – you know your children and if a child is eager give them a go!

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The church year would be oh so simple if it weren’t for Easter. As everyone inside or outside the church is aware, Easter jumps about apparently randomly in March and April, dragging all its associated dates with it – Lent with its feasting (Pancake Day, Mardi Gras etc.) and fasting, Ascension, Pentecost. So, when is Easter this year? The following table should be a help.

As I said in a post last year, whenever two or three Christians are gathered together one of them will ask “When is Easter this year?” Many years ago I wrote a program to calculate the dates of Easter, and though I can’t make it interactive here (yet) this table is based on it. I haven’t included all possible dates – you would just get bored!

Don’t forget that we have a couple of Easter-period drama scripts available for download on this site for use in church services – God in Your Cupboard for use in Lent, an Easter Morning script Sunday 4am, and the inexplicable script about Easter, faith and chocolate, A Chocolate Tomb.

This Easter monologue brings to life Mary Magdalene’s agitation as she gets ready to set off for the tomb on that dark Sunday morning. We hear her as she starts to sort through her turmoil of thoughts and feelings. Was she special to Jesus? Was he special to her? More importantly, what exactly was it that was different about him? Apart from the Miracles, the teaching, the wisdom…And what will she do next – what will any of them do next?

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You can see our Easter drama scripts here.

So what do people give up for Lent? Last year OpenBible.info surveyed what Twitter users said they were giving up and came up with a top 100. Now what people say they are giving up and what they really give up may or may not have much connection (there is evidence in the list that not everyone was entirely sincere), but it is interesting nevertheless. So, the top ten on the list were:

1. Twitter
2. Facebook
3. Chocolate
4. Swearing
5. Alcohol
6. Sex
7. Soda
8. Lent
9. Meat
10. Fast food

Clearly food, drink and social media are what people feel they need to cut down on. (For non-US readers, Soda is carbonated/fizzy drinks).   This is confirmed by the rest of the top 100, where is also a strong thread of humour and/or anti-religious wit,  with “giving up Lent” (8) being joined by ”giving up giving up things” (12),    ”School” (13),    ”Religion” (14),  ”Virginity” (37) and “People” (87).

I’m baffled by the celebrity ones “Charlie Sheen” (23) and “Justin Bieber” (60) but quite impressed by “Procrastination”, “Negativity” and “Sarcasm”.

Meanwhile in the real world (or does that list represent the real world?) there are lots of Lent resources, which would each lead you in a different direction. Christian Aid have a couple of resources available, one of which is their now-familiar “Count Your Blessings” resource, while Tearfund want you to sign up for their Carbon Fast, either by downloading a guide or receiving a daily email.

I rather like the few simple thoughts on Lent activities at the Simeon Centre for Prayer and Spiritual Life. Perhaps rather than giving one thing up for lent you should pause and use the period to give yourself a short spiritual checkup.

Finally, that list from Twitter reminded me of 40 ideas for Lent from Ship of Fools in 2008. Parts of the list are highly impractical for most of us, but the idea is good and could be adapted and genuinely used.

Don’t forget our very funny and thought-provoking drama script God in Your Cupboard, instantly downloadable and with all necessary rights included in the low price.  

Main image © Paul / FreeDigitalPhotos.net