Hi Pastor Jim, Scene 2

Second Scene of Three.



Darkness. Ladders (two) on an otherwise empty stage. Voices only.
Zoe: Son of man, can these bones live?
Ezekiel: (as before) Oh… Lord… GOD. You know.
Homilist: Then he said to me -
Z: Prophesy to the bones.
E: Prophesy to the which?
Z: Bones.
E: Bones? THOSE bones? These? They’re not alive. Not now, and if they can live, YOU know, but you haven’t told me yet - now you want them to hear something?
Z: Yes.
E: Good. That’s settled, then.
Z: Prophesy to these bones and say to them, “Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.”
E: (sighs) Oh…kay.
H: So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them, and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.
E: Well, this is, eerie. And helpful. They look better, but not living.
Z: Yeah, one step at a time, this is the part where -
E: Oh, right.
H: Then he said to me,
Z: Prophesy to the breath, son of man.
E: (Feebly.) The… what?
Z: Prophesy, son of man, and say to it, “This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.”
E: Oh. Is that all then?
Z: That’s all.
E: (Working it out for himself.) Then they’re going to… Then they’ll be living. Right. Breath, breath of God, riding out on the winds to accomplish his… purposes… (Beat.) Wonder what that’s going to look like.
ZOE and EZEKIEL burst onstage, wearing capes, which fasten at the neck with elaborate bowties, and also bicycle helmets. They cross toward the ladders and climb them, sitting at the highest point. Once aloft, they are (physically) preparing to dive from this incredible height. EZEKIEL, junior of the two winds, is nervous and less comfortable with this prospect than is ZOE.
E: (As they approach the ladders.) Can you - slow down at all?
ZOE ignores him.
E: Because I know YOU know what you’re doing, but I - actually… I mean this is actually a little newer for me.
ZOE ignores him.
E: (Mid-climb now.) What I’m trying to say, is I’m nervous.
ZOE stops and looks at him. Contempt palpable. Keeps climbing. They reach the top.
E: You’re going to count to three first, right?
Z: Oh, get you’re helmet on straight; this gets easier every time you do it.
E: Yeah?
Z: Yeah. (Prepares to dive.)
E: Wait!
Z: (Waits.) What?!
E: Wait, I - Sorry, I’m not ready, yet.
Z: There’s no “ready” about it, we’re Wind, and this is what we DO. God calls, we answer. It’s - (words fail) it’s what we do!
E: What.
Z: (Confused.) What?
E: What - what is it we do, exactly?
Z: We - look, (gestures vaguely downward and outward) there’s no breath in the slain, okay? God wants there to be breath, wants them to live again.
E: Well we’re Wind, what do we have to do with that?
Z: I - hm. Well, he called us, too, when he called the Breath. I think the Breath is going to get there when and because we do.
E: How…?
Z: Not a question we ask, okay? We didn’t get put here to ask that. We got put here, by God, with specific instructions, to - (Gestures.) Whoosh! Helmet check.
EZEKIEL’s hands fly to his helmet. ZOE prepares to dive.
E: Hang on, wait! I’ve got - one more question!
ZOE ignores this.
E: I mean, it sounds great and all, us being the Wind and working with the Breath and all, but… The BREATH is the enlivening principle, right? The Breath is the actual work of God that’s going to bring life. There was a distinction in the prophecy: breath, come from the four winds… I’m just saying: it’s nice of God to have given us a job and all, but it seems like the Breath is the only thing that’s actually going to accomplish anything here. And having by definition airy properties and directional quality of its own, it might not even need Wind to get where it’s going and accomplish what it’s doing on it’s own, and so we wouldn’t have to (gestures) Whoosh, which is incidentally something I’m still incredibly. Nervous. About.
ZOE has turned slowly to look at EZEKIEL. Contempt is palpable.
Z: Your bowtie.
EZEKIEL scrambles to straighten it.
Z: Look, I’m not going to argue with you, and neither am I going to make you come with me. Of course the breath of God is the only thing ACTUALLY accomplishing anything of note here, but we are charged to cooperate. End of story. And you can stay and sit and sulk and be profound about your knowledge that only God can accomplish God’s will if you like, or you can take a chance and actually try and DO the one thing that seems to have been hard-wired into your system from the beginning, scare you as it does - and who knows! Maybe since God himself has been trying to get you to do it since Day One, he might have plans to bless it! (Beat.) Or he might not. Like I said, it’s taking a chance. (Adjusts helmet. Speaks mostly to self for a moment.) But did you ever sit back and go over the ways you’ve tried to feel alive, and wondered if you were missing the most obvious one? (Remembers EZEKIEL.) Ready over there?
E: Ready has nothing to do with it.
ZOE nods. In unison, a Superman tableau. Then they wordlessly clamber down and doff WIND costumes to become ZOE and EZEKIEL again. They cross to their ALBS and begin to robe for serving Communion.
Z: Hey, look, it’s really good to see you here; I’m glad you decided you’re okay to do this.
E: (Unenthusiastic, focusing on securing the alb.) Don’t worry about it, please. Just try and realize you’re short an acolyte prior to Confession and Absolution next time.
Z: Well, I HAD, but you weren’t here to save the day yet.
EZEKIEL’s head snaps up, wary of a latent accusation.
Z: I’m not picking on you! Hey, I mean, you weren’t LATE-late, you just - cut it a little close. Not that it… matters. At all.
E: I just… found myself taking a quick detour, is all.
Z: (Her attention is off-stage. Abruptly.) It’s fine. You don’t have to explain it.
E: I wasn’t going to EXPLAIN it; I wouldn’t know where to begin to explain it - are you even paying attention to me?
Z: (Trying to shush him.) AHEM! If you could kindly NOT talk over the Words of Institution?
Silence, briefly.
E: Is that our cue?
Z: Just about. Hey. You know that bit the pastor just said about, “In the same way also after supper he took the cup, blessed it, gave it to them and said, “Drink ye all of it, for this is -” Do you think he’s saying “Drink ye all of it” like “Drink ye ALL of it” or “Drink ye’all of it”, because I never know -
E: Zoe…
Z: - and it would be an easy enough thing to check, right? Either we get the ‘all’ in English out of a Greek collective, second person plural, or as a modifier for ‘it’, it being the wine.
E: (Firmly.) Zoe, shut up, please.
Z: And I mean, it would just be an interesting theological point either way, right? Radical inclusion of all the disciples at the Institution of the Sacrament - (gasps) I wonder if Judas Iscariot was there, do you think? - or else a firm enough injunction AGAINST wasting the consecrated host to make you wish for the days when Pastor Schroeder - remember him? - would wrap up communion by just swigging the rest of the common cup?
E: Zoe, I said, shut up! Just - are we doing this or not? I’m here and I’m not happy about it, if you haven’t noticed, and if you can’t stop (Words fail) being yourself, for just ONE MINUTE, I might not be able to handle it…
Z: I… Hm. Yeah, I suppose. In fact, that was the plan. I am going to stop being myself, and you’d better, too, because we’re up; we’re serving communion now, something neither of US is at all worthy to do. (Beat.) Um. Are you all right?
E: No.
Z: Because -
E: I know.
Z: I’m not going to make you come with me.
Beat.
EZEKIEL exits, brushing abruptly past ZOE. She follows.