Here’s a readers’ theatre setting of Hebrews 12:
18-29, the suggested epistle reading for Proper 16, Year C (the thirteenth
Sunday of Pentecost). It is set for two
voices.
Readers’
Theatre
(Hebrews 12:18-29)
You
have not come to a physical mountain,
to
a place of flaming fire, darkness, gloom, and whirlwind,
as
the Israelites did at Mount Sinai.
For they heard an
awesome trumpet blast
and a voice so
terrible that they begged God to stop speaking.
They
staggered back under God’s command:
“If
even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.”
Moses himself was so
frightened at the sight that he said,
“I am terrified and
trembling.”
No,
you have come to Mount Zion,
to
the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,
and
to countless thousands of angels in a joyful gathering.
You have come to the
assembly of God’s firstborn children,
whose names are
written in heaven.
You
have come to God himself,
who
is the judge over all things.
You have come to the
spirits of the righteous ones in heaven
who have now been
made perfect.
You
have come to Jesus,
the
one who mediates the new covenant between God and people,
and
to the sprinkled blood, which speaks of forgiveness
instead
of crying out for vengeance like the blood of Abel.
Be careful that you
do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking.
For
if the people of Israel did not escape
when
they refused to listen to Moses, the earthly messenger,
we
will certainly not escape if we reject the One
who
speaks to us from heaven!
When God spoke from
Mount Sinai his voice shook the earth,
but now he makes
another promise:
“Once
again I will shake not only the earth but the heavens also.”
This means that all
of creation will be shaken and removed,
so that only
unshakable things will remain.
Since
we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable,
let
us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe.
For our God is a
devouring fire.
