The Word of God
by Angela Weir
Well, we’ve done it! Twenty-six actors, ranging in age from 7 to 70+, gave three performances of “The Gospel of Mark” which took place in our Methodist Church over the middle weekend in October, much to my relief and slightly to my surprise, even though I knew it was on God’s heart that we should do it. Afterwards the comments were “so powerful,” “so moving,” “it spoke to me personally”.
Please understand that I am not writing this to say how brilliant the production was, my purpose is to stress the power of God’s word, particularly when it is spoken out. We can sometimes read our Bibles during our quiet times, and take in the word with our eyes, but there are occasions when we tend to skim-read, and the words don’t always penetrate the soul and the spirit. I sometimes find it helpful to try to visualise what was actually happening, particularly when reading the gospels or Acts, and to try to imagine how the people involved in the different events actually felt, otherwise Bible-reading can sometimes feel a bit of an academic exercise. It’s even a good idea to read aloud to yourself as the spoken word seems to penetrate more deeply. Try reading aloud some of Mark’s Gospel for yourself and catch the excitement he felt as he wrote – the word “immediately” appears something like 11 times in the first three chapters!
In these latter days it is so important that we should feast on the Word. Jesus says that even the elect may be deceived (Mark 13:22), and the only way of being sure that we are not is to hold fast to what is written. During the course of the Gospel, Jesus says: ‘Heaven and earth may pass away, but My words will never pass away’ (Mark 13:31). The truth of these words became abundantly clear as we performed “The Gospel of Mark.”
Prayer: Father God, Thank You for the power of Your Word which still has the power to change lives. Please encourage me to study more deeply and allow the Word to penetrate to the core of my being and bring about the changes in my life that You want. Thank You, Lord, Amen.
Angela Weir has been associated with Ellel Ministries from the very beginning, first as an associate member of the ministry team and later as an associate teacher. She trained as an actress before moving to Cumbria, where she taught drama in a girls’ school. She now teaches and ministers at various Ellel Centres.
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