A good play has a message in it. Here’s one to try with your Sunday school or CYC. “The Case of Samuel Q. Fence-Sitter” is one of several short plays about developing Christlike character. All the plays in the series are set as a dialog between Dr. Good word and a patient who comes to his Spiritual Clinic. The afflictions that the good doctor treats are chronic disorders like pride, hypocrisy, and temptation.1
The play is short and simple. Add a few props and costumes and you are ready to go to work. Encourage the kids to put feeling into it and be sure to have someone behind a video camera. Your cast and crew will enjoy watching the play afterward, and so will the rest of the ecclesia. The message doesn’t grow old.
Enter Doctor Good word and Sam. Sam has a persistent case of Worldly Distraction.
The Case of Samuel QA. Fence-Sitter Characters:
Announcer, Doctor Good word, Samuel Q. Fence-Sitter, one or more Bible readers.
Props:
The setting is the doctor’s office. A desk (card table) and two chairs will do. The doctor has a pencil, pad, and Bible on his desk. Give Doctor Good word a white coat, spectacles, and a moustache, and you are ready for the camera(s) to roll.
Script:2
Announcer: Patients come and patients go at the Spiritual Clinic of Dr. Good word, but none more frequently than Samuel Q. Fence-Sitter. Hardly a day passes but what he puts in an appearance at the clinic to register a chronic complaint. And, sure enough, today is no exception, for we find Sam now in the office of the saintly old specialist for another consultation — the third this week! Listen, the Doctor is speaking.
The Play
Doctor: Now, Mr. Fence-Sitter, what can I do for you?
Sam: It’s my eyes again, Doctor. Doctor: Same trouble? Sam: Yes sir, only worse.
Doctor: What is it this time?
Sam: I’m beginning to see double, sir.
Doctor: I was afraid of that. Sam: You were?
Doctor: Yes. I’ve been expecting it sooner or later. You see, it runs in your family. Fence-Sitters have been afflicted this way for centuries.
Sam: It’s very annoying, Doctor.
Doctor: Of course, I understand. But can you tell me just how this ailment affects you?
Sam: Well, my greatest trouble is this. I find myself unable to distinguish between God’s values and the world’s values. They’re all a big jumble to me.
Doctor: In other words, your focus is bad?
Sam: That’s what it amounts to, I guess. There was a time when I felt close to Christ.
Doctor: But now?
Sam: I still see the Lord Jesus, but he’s pretty faint. There are so many other things in the margin of my vision.
Doctor: For instance?
Sam: Well, to be honest with you, Doctor, a lot of worldly pleasures. Doctor: I suspected as much.
Sam: And they’re not only in the margin of my vision, sir. They’re crowding Christ to the side and taking over the central place.
Doctor: Worldly pleasure is bound to do that, if we’re not careful.
Sam: I still see Christ, you understand, but not as plainly as I did before my eyes started going bad.
Doctor: That’s usually the way it is with these double-vision problems.
Sam: And worst of all, Christ just doesn’t appear as attractive to me as he once did.
Doctor: Worldly pleasures are really dazzling, aren’t they?
Sam: I’ll say they are! Sometimes I almost feel that they’re all I want. I don’t need the Lord Jesus Christ at all. I hate to say it, Doctor, but I’m afraid if worldly pleasures crowd him out of my vision completely, I won’t even miss him!
Doctor: You’re in a bad state, lad … a very bad state!
Sam: I know it, Doc. That’s why I’m here. I can’t go on like this any longer.
Sam: (Working self into frenzy). Do you hear me? This double vision is killing me! It’s killing me, I tell you.
Doctor: Now, now … take it easy, son. I think we’ll be able to help you.
Sam: Either Christ goes, or these worldly things go! I can’t have them all in my vision.
Doctor: We’re going to see to it that it isn’t Christ who’s crowded out, my boy. That’s the way you want it, isn’t it?
Sam: Yes, sir. That’s the way I really want it. Doctor: Fine. That’s half the cure!
Sam: But seeing all those other things has made me so confused. Sometimes they look so attractive that I wonder what I ever saw in Christ.
Doctor: That’s the way with these double-vision cases. Compromise is a very dangerous practice, Mr. Fence-Sitter. But there’s one thing that will straighten you out, I’m sure.
Sam: Do you mean it, Doc! I was afraid there wasn’t any hope for me.
Doctor: There is, if you follow my instructions. I’m going to prescribe some exercises for you that will bring your eyes back into proper focus.
Sam: You mean Christ will be back in the center of my vision again?
Doctor: That’s right. You remember the old song: “Fix your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.”
Sam: That’s what I need, Doctor, more than anything else — to get my eyes focused on him. But how am I going to do it?
Doctor: These exercises will help.
Sam: Tell me, Doc! I promise I’ll follow them faithfully.
Doctor: All right. Here they are. First of all, you’re going to have to get down off the fence.
Sam: But, Doctor …
Doctor: No objections now. I must be very firm about this. You’ll have to get down off the fence. You’ll have to give up all compromise with the world. As long as you try to straddle the fence and belong half to the world and half to Christ you’re going to see double. Now, are you willing to do that?
Sam: Isn’t there any other way?
Doctor: No other way, son … no other way!
Sam: All right, then. I’ll do it. I’ll get down off the fence. I’ll get down on the Lord’s side.
Doctor: Good. You’ll be amazed at the difference that’ll make.
Sam: Why, I feel better already. My eyes are clearing up, Doctor! My eyes are clearing up!
Doctor: Fine. I knew that would help your focus. Now here’s the rest of the prescription. Go home and start doing your daily Bible readings again. Get back into your prayer closet, too. And start serving Christ’s brothers and sisters, not just yourself! I guarantee that you won’t be troubled with double vision any more. Christ will fill your line of vision so completely that there won’t be room for those other things
Sam: Thank you. Doctor. I am going to do everything you’ve told me to do. And on top of that, I’m going to change my name, too. No more fence sitting for me.
Reader: “How long will you go limping between two different opinions?”(1Kgs 18:21.
Reader: “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other” (Matt 6:24).
Reader: “A double-minded man (is) unstable in all his ways” (James 1:8).
Reader: “But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil 3:13-14).
Curtain.
If you would like printable copies of the plays in the series, just drop me an email. I will send them to you in PDF form
- The plays in this series are quite old. They are not Christadelphian in origin and the source is unknown. Anyone who recognizes the plays and has information about their origin is asked to contact me. I would like to credit the source if possible – Jim Harper.
- Play scripts have been revised, and in some cases familiar Christadelphian terms like ecclesia, CYC, daily Bible readings, etc. have been introduced.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One