THE ALPHA AND OMEGA: ACT 1

Years ago I put together a simple play for four voices juxtaposing pertinent biblical passages (to be spoken by two men – voices 1 and 3) and selections from C.S. Lewis' Narnia Chronicles (read by two women – voices 2 and 4). The first “act” describes the Creation and utilizes material mainly from The Magician's Nephew. Act II was concerned with more eschatological events and relied primarily on passages from The Last Battle.

Twice I have presented it in church settings using “volunteers” as the four speakers. If you are tempted to give it a try in one of your own groups, it is best to first give the audience a quick reminder that the Chronicles describe the adventures of a group of English school children who find themselves in an enchanted land called Narnia in which there is a lion called Aslan who is a type of Jesus Christ.

For convenience sake, I have broken the play into two acts. The first one below is titled “Alpha.” Biblical references are included for your information.

(1) In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters. (Genesis 1:1-2)

(2) In the darkness something was happening. A voice had begun to sing. Sometimes it seemed to come from all directions at once. Sometimes he almost thought it was coming out of the earth beneath them. Its lower notes were deep enough to be the voice of the earth herself. There were no words. There was hardly even a tune. But it was, beyond comparison, the most beautiful i e had ever heard. It was so beautiful he could hardly bear it.

(3) And God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, and let them be lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. (Genesis 1:14-15)

(4) Then two wonders happened at the same moment. One was that the voice was suddenly joined by other voices; more voices than you could possibly count. They were in harmony with it, but far higher up the scale: cold, tingling, silver voices. The second wonder was that the blackness overhead, all at once, was blazing with stars. The didn't come out gently one by one, as they do on a summer evening. One moment there had been nothing but darkness; next moment a thousand, thousand points of light leaped out – single stars, constellations, and planets, brighter and bigger than any in our world.

(1) Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise him in the heights!

(3) Praise him, all you shining stars! Let them praise the name of the Lord!

(1) For he commanded and they were created. And he established them for ever and ever; He fixed their bounds which cannot be passed. (Psalm 148:1-6)

(2) The Voice on the earth was now louder and more triumphant; but the voices in the sky, after singing loudly with it for a time, began to get fainter. And now something else was happening.

(4) The eastern sky changed from white to pink and from pink to gold. The Voice rose and rose, till all the air was shaking with it. And just as it swelled to the mightiest and most glorious sound it had yet produced, the sun arose.

(3) And now men cannot look on the light when it is bright in the skies, when the wind has passed and cleared them. Out of the north comes golden splendor; God is clothed with terrible majesty. (Job 37:21-22)

(2) You could imagine that it laughed for joy as it came up. And as its beams shot across the land the travellers could see for the first time what sort of place they were in. It was a valley through which a broad, swift river wound its way, flowing eastward towards the sun. Southward there were mountains, northward there were lower hills. But it was a valley of mere earth, rock and water; there was not a tree, not a bush, not a blade of grass to be seen.

(1) Thou didst set the earth on its foundations so that it should never be shaken

(3) The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place which thou didst appoint for them.

(1) Thou makest springs gush forth in the valleys; they flow between the hills.

(3) From lofty abode thou waterest the mountains; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy work.

(Psalm 104:5, 8, 10, 13)

(4) The earth was of many colors: they were fresh, hot and vivid. They made you feel excited; until you saw the Singer himself, and then you forgot everything else. It was a Lion. Huge, shaggy, and bright it stood facing the risen sun. Its mouth was wide open in song and it was about three hundred yards away.

(1) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. (John 1:1-4)

(2) The Song had now changed. The Lion was pacing to and fro about that empty land and singing his new song. It was softer and more lilting than the song by which he had called up the stars and the sun; a gentle, rippling music. And as he walked and sang the valley grew green with grass. It spread out from the Lion like a pool. It ran up the sides of the little hills like a wave. In a few minutes it was creeping up the lower slopes of the distant mountains, making that young world every moment softer.

(3) Thou dost cause the grass to grow for the cattle, and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth. (Psalm 104:14)

(4) The light wind could now be heard ruffling the grass. Soon there were other things besides grass. The higher slopes grew dark with heather. Patches of rougher and more bristling green appeared in the valley.

(1) Praise the Lord from the earth, mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars! Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted. (Psalm 148:7, 9, 13)

(2) The Lion was singing still. But now the sound had once more changed. It was more like what we should call a tone, but it was also far wilder. It made you want to run and jump and climb. It made you want to shout. But what the song did to humans was nothing compared with what it was doing to the country.

(3) And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. (Genesis 1:24)

(4) Can you imagine a stretch of grassy land bubbling like water in a pot? For that is really the best description of what was happening. In all directions it was swelling into humps. They were of very different sizes, some no bigger than mole-hills, some as big as wheelbarrows, two the size of cottages. And the humps moved and swelled till they burst, and the crumbled earth poured out of them, and from each hump there came out an animal.

(4) And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the cattle according to their kinds, and everything that creeps upon the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. (Genesis 1:25)

(2) And now, for the first time, the Lion was quite silent. He was going to and fro among the animals. And every now and then he would go up to two of them (always two at a time) and touch their noses with his. At last he stood still and all the creatures whom he had touched came and stood in a wide circle around him. The others whom he had not touched began to wander away. Their noises faded gradually into the distance. The chosen beasts who remained were now utterly silent, all with their eyes fixed intently upon the Lion.

(3) Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. (Genesis 2:7)

(4) The Lion opened his mouth, but no sound came from it; he was breathing out, a long, warm breath; it seemed to sway all the beasts as the wind sways a line of trees. For overhead from beyond the veil of blue sky which hid them the stars sang again: a pure, cold, difficult music.

(2) Then the deepest, wildest voice they had every heard was saying: “Narnia, Narnia, Narnia, awake. Love. Think. Speak. Be walking trees. Be talking bests. Be divine waters.”

(1) And God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living that that moves upon the earth.” (Genesis 1:28)