Here’s a readers’ theatre setting of 2 Kings 2: 1-2,
6-14, the suggested Old Testament reading for Proper 8, Year C. It is set for three voices.
Readers’ Theatre
(2 Kings 2: 1-2, 6-14)
One: When
the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind,
Elijah and Elisha
were leaving Gilgal.
Elijah said to
Elisha,
Two: Stay
here, for the Lord has told me to go to Bethel.
Three: As
surely as the Lord lives and you yourself live,
I will never abandon
you!
One: So
they went traveled down to Bethel together.
And
again, Elijah said to Elisha:
Two: Stay
here, for the Lord has told me to go to the Jordan River.
Three: As
surely as the Lord lives and you yourself live,
I will never abandon
you.
One: So the
two men traveled to the Jordan River together.
Fifty
of the prophets’ disciples also went,
and watched from a
distance
as Elijah and
Elisha stopped beside the Jordan River.
Elijah removed his
cloak and rolled it up;
then he struck the
water with it, and the water divided.
The river divided,
and the two of them went across on dry ground!
When they reached
the other side, Elijah spoke to Elisha:
Two: Tell
me what I can do for you before I am taken away.
Three: Please
let me inherit a double share of your spirit.
As your successor,
I want to have twice the portion of your power.
Two: You
have asked a difficult thing.
If you see me when
I am taken from you,
then you will get
your request.
But if not, then
you won’t.
One: As
they were walking along and talking,
something
incredible happened!
A blazing chariot
pulled by blazing horses stormed down from the heavens.
It drove right
between them, separating them.
And Elijah was
swept up into heaven by the fiery whirlwind.
Elisha saw it and
cried out,
Three: My
father! My father!
I see the chariots
and charioteers of Israel!
One: And as
they disappeared from sight, Elisha tore his clothes in distress.
He picked up
Elijah’s cloak,
which had fallen to
the ground when he was taken up into heaven,
and then he went
back to the Jordan riverbank.
He took the cloak,
and struck with water with it, crying:
Three: Where
is the Lord, the God of Elijah?
One: And the
Jordan River divided again,
just as it had when
Elijah struck the waters.
And Elisha waked
across on dry land.
