The best acting award…
All week at Keswick we have used drama in our meetings. The Bible passages that we were learning from were from Luke and were excerpts from Jesus’s life and interactions with people he met.
All you need is a simple script (but be willing for participants ad-libbing), a few bits of costume and the odd prop or two. We also used the Accessible NIrV Bible all week.
On Monday we did two drama’s looking at Jesus and the sinful woman at the home of Simon the Pharisee and the parable of the two debtors – Luke 7:36-53
On Tuesday we looked at The 10 lepers who were healed – Luke 17:11-17
On Wednesday we looked at Zacchaeus – Luke 19:1-10
Zaccheaus and Jesus.
On Thursday we looked at Jesus calls Peter – Luke 5:1-11
On Friday we looked at The Disciples on the Emmaus Road – Luke 24:13-35
Drama has many advantages. First it slows down the story so that those who take longer to process information can do so. It breaks down the story into chunks and adds action to the dialogue. We show that the events happened to real people and that Jesus came to meet with and help people who had needs just as we do.
Sitting in an hour and a half long session could be really difficult and very boring if all we did was talk. Concentration and attention may be difficult for some of our guests (and the team!) and breaking up the session with drama, songs and puppets helps keep everyone’s attention and interest.
Participation can be a really good way to make people with learning disabilities feel valued. We believe passionately that we are all church together and giving the guests the chance to share the story telling with us is important too. Even those who don’t want to participate enjoy watching others who do. We were so blessed by all those who acted and brought their own expression and interpretation of the drama to our story. Three memorable moments for me were on Monday when a shy guest did a fabulous job of wiping Jesus’s feet with her hair (it was a wig!) and the joy as she joined in the drama nearly every day. Then the deaf/ partically-sighted lady who brought humour into the telling of our ‘parable of the debtors’ story. And the visitor from the Carlisle group on Thursday whose expression of shock, delight and excitement when Peter caught the whole net of fish in our makeshift boat. Here are some of the best photos.
So much happened this week that I have another couple of posts to do but I’ll get to them next week. I’m at home now and feel like I’m still there. I thank God with all my heart for a week of such blessings.
includedbygrace 
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