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SCENE II. The Garden of Suffering. Same garden with the flow ers removed, possibly, and a mbre somber setting. Header: Yes, lost is the world’s bright Eden— But, God who remembers still, Came once again to a garden That night on Olive’s hill; And there, by His friends forsaken, In the place of Gethsemane, God prayed alone ,in a garden And went to His Calvary. The depth of the thing-He suffered No human can understand— That night He turned from the garden And went to the cross He planned; There was never a grief like His grief, There was never such pain, and yet, God loans us an hour of anguish That we may not forget: For scarcely the heart remembers That agony lone and brief; Except when the shades of darkness Are drawn on its own stark grief, And all who would follow Jesus, And close to His presence cling, W ill find that their steps must enter The Garden of Suffering. Music: “ I Come to the Garden Alone.” This should be sung by a woman’s voice as the ' Mother enters the garden and seats, herself. When the song is finished she opens : her Bible. Reader: The ’ Gethsemane story as told in Mark 14:32-42. Music: A woman’s voice - singing: “ It Was Alone the Saviour Prayed in Dark Gethsemane.” „ (Enter a messenger who hands her a letter from her soldier son. She opens if.) Reader: Dear Mom: We’re shipping off—I don’t know where: There is so very little one can say. I only know that Jesus w ill be there Because He has been with me, all the way; I only know that nothing can erase (However far my feet may have to roam) The changeless beauty of His quiet face, Nor all the well-loved faces left at home. It will be Easter in the Garden soon . . Go pick a lily for me: Let it be The silent .pledge that, morning, night and noon, My love goes with you all. We cannot see Into the morrow, but—“His w ill be done.”
There’s a gold star in the window of her home, As she waifc for one who nevermore w ill come; , . But, beyond the present gloom, She beholds the empty tomb— There’s a gold star in the window of her home. There’s a gold star in the window of -her heart, And its brilliance rends the darkness wide apart; As, by faith, she sees afar Jesus Christ, the Morning Star—^ There’s a .gold star in the window of her heart. (Mother seats herself and opens her Bible.) Reader: The Easter story as told in Mark 16:1-7. (When the reader has finished, the Mother takes a letter from her bosom, opens it, and scans the page.) Reader: We want to tell you- what it meant to know Your son, through all the trials of these days. There was no journey that he had to go For which he could not sound the note of praise; He always had a hand that we could hold In our uncertain moments: So'we came To share our hearts’ need with him, and he told Our lijtle griefs to God, in Jesus’ name. We’re just rough fellows, ma’am. We cannot see A ll that he saw, nor why he sac rificed ; So much for us; but still, we want to be True to the thing he taught: “Not I,.but Christ.” We want to share, some day, the heavenly joys That he shares now. God bless you; ma’am. THE BOYS. (She folds the letter and replaces it.) Reader: "Jesus said unto her, I am the resur rection, and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and be lieveth in me shall never die. Believ- est thou this?” (John 11:25, 26). “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condem nation; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24).
God bless and k e e p you—as He keeps YOUR SON. Music: A woman’s voice-singing: “I Need Thee Every Hour.” ★ SCENE III. The Garden of Victory. Same garden with a pro- „ fusion of lilies, and a gold star in evidence in the win dow in the background. Reader: In the hush of the early morning, Still wet with the night-wind’s breath, God walked again in a garden— He, who had been with death; And % sweet was the Easter message, To hearts that were wounded sore, That He spake that day to Mary: “ Go tell them I go before.” Oh, lost is the world’s bright Eden; But brighter than Eden—far— Are the sunlit heights of promise Where all believers are; And they, who will follow Jesus, Right up to the end, will see That the grave is the gate that leads to The Garden of Victory. Music: An unseen choir singing: “Lo, in the Grave He Lay.” (Enter the Mother. She plucks a lily and goes and stands for a moment before the gold star in her window.) Reader: There’s a gold star in the window of the world, For the hope of all the ages has been furled: Christ, the Son of God, has died— But. the tomb is open wide! • There’s a gold star in the window at the world.
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