Love

(1 Corinthians 13:1-13)

If I speak in tongues, but do not have love 

I am a resounding gong. A clashing cymbal

If I have prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and knowledge,

If I have all faith to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

If I give away everything, if I hand my body over, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient. Love is kind.

It is not jealous. Love is not pompous

It is not inflated. It is not rude.

It does not seek its own interests.

It is not quick-tempered. It does not brood over injury.

It does not rejoice over wrong doing. It rejoices with the truth.

It bears all, believes all, hopes all, endures all.

Love never fails.

For we know partially, and prophesy partially.

But when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.

When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child.

When I became a man, I put aside childish things.

At present, we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face.

At present, I know partially, then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.

So faith, hope, and love remain, but the greatest of this, is love.
1 Corinthians 13 King James Version (KJV)
13 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am
become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all
2 

knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not
charity, I am nothing.

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be
3 

burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is
4 

not puffed up,

Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh
5 

no evil;
6 
Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
7 
Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be
8 

tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
9 
For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
10 
But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but
11 

when I became a man, I put away childish things.

For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but
12 

then shall I know even as also I am known.

13 
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

Psalm 104: A Choral Reading for 10

This is a drama script for 10 speakers based on Psalm 104 from the NRSV.

By:
Joy-Elizabeth Lawrence

The chorus stands in the front. For the first half line, the speakers begin speaking alone, as if
speaking to themselves. Individuals join until a loud cacophony is heard. Then, the reading resumes.
ONE, adding until ALL are speaking [disorganized, repeating]: Bless the Lord, O my soul.

ALL: O Lord my God, you are very great.

The following lines speed up, gaining momentum, excitement, and volume, and suddenly slowing
down at the end. This dynamic, rhythmic change occurs after each pause.

TWO: You are clothed with honor and majesty,

THREE: wrapped in light as with a garment.

FOUR: You stretch out the heavens like a tent,

FIVE: you set the beams of your chambers on the waters,

TWO: you make the clouds your chariot,

FOUR: you ride on the wings of the wind,

FIVE: you make the winds your messengers,

THREE: fire and flame your ministers.

Pause.

SIX: You set the earth on its foundations, so that it shall never be shaken.

SEVEN: You cover it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.

EIGHT: At your rebuke they flee; at the sound of your thunder they take to flight.

NINE: They rose up to the mountains, ran down to the valleys to the place that you appointed for
them.

TEN: You set a boundary that they may not pass, so that they might not again cover the earth.

Pause.

ONE: You make springs gush forth in the valleys; they flow between the hills,

giving drink to every wild animal; the wild donkeys quench their thirst.

THREE: By the streams the birds of the air have their habitation; they sing among the branches.

NINE: From your lofty abode you water the mountains; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your
work.

FIVE: You cause the grass to grow for the cattle,

SIX: and plants for people to use, to bring forth food from the earth,
SEVEN: and wine to gladden the human heart,

EIGHT: oil to make the face shine,

NINE: and bread to strengthen the human heart.

Pause.

TWO: The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.

FOUR: In them the birds build their nests;

SIX: the stork has its home in the fir trees.

FIVE: The high mountains are for the wild goats;

THREE: The rocks are a refuge for the hyrax.

Pause.

TEN: You have made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows its time for setting.

ONE: You make darkness, and it is night, when all the animals of the forest come creeping out.

SEVEN: The young lions roar for their prey, seeking their food from God.

EIGHT: When the sun rises, they withdraw and lie down in their dens.

FOUR: People go out to their work and to their labor until the evening.

ONE, TWO, TEN: O Lord, how manifold are your works!

ONE, TWO, FOUR, EIGHT, TEN: In wisdom you have made them all;

ONE, TWO, FOUR, SEVEN, EIGHT, NINE, TEN: the earth is full of your creatures.

Small pause.

SIX: Yonder is the sea,

SIX, SEVEN: great and wide,

SIX, SEVEN, EIGHT: creeping things innumerable are there,

FIVE: living things both small

FIVE, SIX, SEVEN, EIGHT, NINE: and great.

NINE: There go the ships,

TEN: and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it.

TWO, THREE: These all look to you to give them their food in due season;

FOUR: when you give to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with
good things.

ONE: When you hide your face, they are dismayed;

TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE: when you take

FIVE: away their breath, they die and return to their dust.

SIX: When you send forth your spirit,

ONE, SIX, TEN: they are created;

TEN: and you renew the face of the ground.

ONE, TWO: May the glory of the Lord endure forever;

THREE, FOUR: may the Lord rejoice in his works—

FIVE: who looks on the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke.

SIX, SEVEN: I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;

SIX, SEVEN, EIGHT: I will sing praise to my God while I have being.

NINE: May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the Lord.

TEN: Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more.

ALL(quietly, meditatively): Bless the Lord, O my soul. (louder) Praise the Lord!

Luke 15:11-32 King James Version (KJV)

11 
And he said, A certain man had two sons:

And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that
12 

falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living.

And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey
13 

into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.

And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to
14 

be in want.

And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his
15 

fields to feed swine.

 And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no
16 

man gave unto him.

And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have
17 

bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!

I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against
18 

heaven, and before thee,

19 
And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.

And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father
20 

saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.

And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and
21 

am no more worthy to be called thy son.

But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and
22 

put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:

23 
And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:

For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they
24 

began to be merry.

Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he
25 

heard musick and dancing.

26 
And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant.

And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf,
27 

because he hath received him safe and sound.

And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated
28 

him.

And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither
29 

transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that
I might make merry with my friends:

But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots,
30 

thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.

31 
And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.

It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead,
32 

and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.