Here’s
a readers’ theatre setting of 1 Kings 17, Elijah’s encounter with the widow at
Zarephath. It is set for 3 voices; a narrator, Elijah and the widow.
Readers’ Theatre: 1 Kings 17: 8-24
Narr:: Then the Lord said to
Elijah,
“Go and live in the village of Zarephath, near
the city of Sidon.
I have instructed a widow there to feed you.”
So Elijah went to Zarephath.
As he arrived at the gates of the village,
he saw a widow gathering sticks, and he asked
her:
Elijah: Would you please bring me a little water in a
cup?
Narr: As she was going to get it, he called to
her:
Elijah: Bring me a bite of bread, too.
Widow: I swear by the Lord your God
that I don’t have a single piece of bread in
the house.
And I have only a handful of flour left in
the jar
and a little cooking oil in the bottom of the
jug.
I was just gathering a few sticks to cook
this last meal,
and then my son and I will die.”
Elijah: Don’t be afraid!
Go ahead and do just what you’ve said,
but make a little bread for me first.
Then use what’s left to prepare a meal for
yourself and your son.
For this is what the Lord, the God of
Israel, says:
There will always be flour and olive oil left
in your containers
until the time when the Lord sends
rain and the crops grow again!”
Narr: So she did as Elijah said,
and she and Elijah and her family continued
to eat for many days.
There was always enough flour and olive oil
left in the containers,
just as the Lord had promised
through Elijah.
Some time later the woman’s son became sick.
He grew worse and worse, and finally he
died.
Then she said to Elijah,
Widow: O man of God, what have you done to me?
Have you come here to point out my sins and
kill my son?
Elijah: Give me your son.
Narr: And Elijah took the child’s body from her
arms,
carried him up the stairs to the room where
he was staying,
and laid the body on his bed.
Then Elijah cried out to the Lord,
Elijah: O Lord my God,
why have you brought tragedy to this widow
who has opened her home to me,
causing her son to die?”
Narr: And he stretched himself out over the child
three times
and cried out to the Lord,
Elijah: O Lord my God, please let this
child’s life return to him.
Narr: And the Lord heard Elijah’s prayer,
and the life of the child returned, and he
revived!
Then Elijah brought him down from the upper
room
and gave him to his mother.
Elijah: Look! Your son is alive!
Widow: Now I know for sure that you are a man of God,
and that the Lord truly speaks
through you.
