ScripturePicture Plays
Introduction and Guidebook with Pictures and Scripts
by
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John He is risen! He is risen! When I heard the angel say those words and saw the empty tomb, it was as if a light had been turned on. Suddenly, beyond my joy at the good news, everything seemed to make sense. We have been struggling in darkness and now the light has revealed the truth. Jesus, who was crucified and buried, has risen just like he told us he would. It was the sign of Jonah. When the Pharisees had asked for a sign he had said, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign; but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will arise in judgment with this generation and condemn it for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.” Something greater indeed! Death could not contain the Son of God! But why did death need to come at all? If Jesus could overcome death, as he has, why did he have to die in the first place? Because God requires justice. Jesus was the sacrificial lamb. He took all of our sins upon himself and took them to the cross. Justice has been served, sin atoned and God’s mercy is bestowed on us all. I remembered when I first saw Jesus. I was with Andrew who had gone to see John the Baptist. When Jesus approached to be baptized John the Baptist had cried in a loud voice, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world!” Back then those words seemed to mean that John recognized that Jesus was special but we didn’t take it literally. Now his prophecy is fulfilled. Christ was sacrificed on the altar of greed and fear and hate and has risen triumphant. Sins have been atoned and are washed away by his blood. “Behold, the Lamb of God!” How many times did Jesus tell us this would happen yet we did not understand? He said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” “Greater love has no man than this; that he lay down his life for others.” “The Son of Man came not to be ministered to, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many.” “The son of Man will be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and when he is killed, after three days he will rise.” We didn’t understand and were afraid to ask him what this meant. Now he has died, sins are forgiven and mercy is extended to all. He is risen, and all who will receive him in their hearts can share in his resurrection to eternal life. He is risen!
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About the Book
The ScripturePicture plays are twelve dramatic presentations of miracles, parables, and events recorded in the Gospels. More than just entertainment, they are carefully crafted Bible studies in a form that invites participation, reflection, and understanding. The Christmas story, the healing of the man born blind, the parable of the prodigal son, the accounts of the empty tomb, and other scriptures come alive through the actual pictures of the events and the accounts of those who were there at the time. They can be used as dramatic productions for the church and community, as a tool for Christian education, as a resource for Bible study groups, or for individual meditation and enjoyment. They are flexible and easy to use alone or as part of a worship service, choir concert, church camp, or other activity.
About the Author
William “Bill” R. Ramsay retired as vice president of Berea College in 1994 and lives with his wife, Rose, next to the family’s Happiness Hills Farm and Retreat Center in the foothills just east of Berea, Kentucky—an area called the Pinnacles. Born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in 1931, he graduated from Berea College in 1952 and married classmate, Rose Moore, from Greene County, Tennessee. After serving in the US Army Medical Corps as an X-ray technician and graduate study in public administration, he held management positions at the Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Studies and Southern Regional Education Board before returning to Berea in 1970. His special interest has been the linking of learning to work or service and the phrase “service-learning” was coined in his office in Oak Ridge in 1967. He served as a charter member and later president of the National Student Employment Association and president of the board of Pine Mountain Settlement School. He and Rose have been active in church and community service activities such as civil rights, childbirth education, and literacy over many years. They have six children, twenty-two grandchildren, and are expecting great-grandchild number twenty-four. They say they have been richly blessed with family. Having met in the drama club in college, they have always had an interest in drama and have used their experience with their family, at work, in church, and in the community. The ScripturePicture Plays bring together their love of drama and their Christian faith.