What follows is a short skit that could introduce the bit of Mark Gospel that this week's recommended lectionary reading (Mark 6:30-34, 53-56) misses out, ie the Feeding of the 5000. It was adapted for a Northern Irish context and idiom from the original "Nice Rolls" by Jonathan Mortimer, now Vicar of All Saints Parish in Peckham, in his CPAS booklet, "See What I Mean?"
Young man and an older woman
are standing eating baps/rolls
Man: Nice baps
Mrs!
Woman: I beg your
pardon young man!? (folding arms) How dare you !?
Man: No,
sorry… (holding out bap) I meant
these…
Woman: Sorry… I
thought you were being rude…
Man : No… Not at all… Have you any idea what’s in them, Mrs?
Woman: I’m not sure.
Fish I think...
Man: Do you
know what time it is by any chance?
Woman: (Looks at watch, then holds it to ear
shocked) I don’t believe it.
Man: What’s
wrong?
Woman: It’s nearly
half eight. I should have been home ages ago… My husband will be raging that I
didn’t have his dinner ready…
Man: Nearly
half eight! Never! That means we’ve been here over eight hours... No wonder I
was ravenous before we got these baps.
Woman: I thought it
was only 4.
Man: Me
too! Mind you! Shows what a good speaker
he is!
Woman: What?
Man: Well I
mean, there’s not many people I could listen to for 8 hours.
Woman: Certainly
not the man I listen to every sabbath.
Man: I
really like his stories. What about the one about the shepherd leaving 99 of
his flock to find one lost sheep?
Woman: Or the woman
who turned the house upside down to find one of her dowry coins ?
Man: Or the
farmer sowing seed! Never thought of myself as a bit of soil before. Have you
Mrs?
Woman: Can’t say I
have...
Man: Mind
you I wouldn’t believe everything you hear about him...
Woman: Like what?
Man: You
know, all that stuff about him touching people and making them well, turning
gallons of water into wine... That sort of thing!
Woman: Oh yes! I
had heard that!
Man: There’s
even talk he brought a wee girl back to life. Dead as a doornail she was and
everyone weeping and wailing outside, then he talks to her and up she gets.
Ridiculous! A load of rubbish...
Woman: Yeah, ridiculous.
Mind you, these are good baps...
Man: Yeah,
I wonder where he got them?
Shalom
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