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Edited on Tue Mar-01-05 01:49 PM by bowens43
The War Prayer By Mark Twain
Reader’s Theater Edition #5
Adapted for reader’s theater (or readers theatre) by Aaron Shepard
****** CITIZEN 3: Then came the minister’s prayer.
CITIZEN 4: Never in our church had we heard the like of it for passionate pleading and moving language.
MINISTER: Ever-merciful and benign Father of us all, watch over our noble young soldiers. Bless and shield them in the day of battle and the hour of peril. Bear them in Thy mighty hand, make them invincible in the bloody onslaught. Grant to them and to their flag and country imperishable honor and glory. . . .
CITIZEN 1: An aged stranger entered from the back and moved up the aisle with slow and noiseless step. His long body was clothed in a robe that reached to his feet, and his white hair fell in a frothy waterfall to his shoulders. His rough face was unnaturally pale, almost ghostly.
CITIZEN 6: With all our eyes on him, he ascended to the minister’s side and stood there, waiting. The minister’s own eyes were shut in prayer, and he went on unaware of the stranger.
MINISTER: Grant us victory, O Lord our God, Father and Protector of our land and flag. Amen.
CITIZEN 2: The stranger touched the startled minister on the arm and motioned him to step aside. The minister did so, and the stranger took his place.
CITIZEN 5: For some moments he surveyed his spellbound audience, then spoke in a solemn voice.
STRANGER: I come from the Throne of Heaven, bearing a message from Almighty God.
CITIZEN 3: The words smote us with a shock.
CITIZEN 4: If the stranger noticed, he gave no heed.
STRANGER: You have heard your minister pray, “Grant us victory, O Lord our God.” The Lord too has heard this prayer, and He will grant it—if such is your desire. But first I am commanded to explain to you its full meaning. For it is not one prayer, but two—one spoken, the other not. Listen now to the silent prayer:
“O Lord our God, help us tear the enemy soldiers to bloody shreds. Help us cover their smiling fields with their patriot dead. Help us drown the thunder of guns with the shrieks of their wounded.
“God our Father, help us lay waste the enemy’s homes with a hurricane of fire. Help us send out their women and children and elderly to wander homeless in rags and hunger and thirst.
“For our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, fill the hearts of the enemy with helpless fear and grief. Break their spirits, blast their hopes, and blight their lives. All this we ask in the spirit of Love, of Him Who is the source of Love. Amen.”
(pauses) You have prayed it. If you still desire it, speak! The messenger of the Most High waits.
* * *
CITIZEN 1: Afterward, we agreed the man must have been a lunatic. What he said made no sense at all.
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