The Salt of the Earth
This is a short skit performed in a single
act.
Four boys
or four girls are sitting on 2 benches in the locker room before the basketball
game. The benches [or chairs if no benches
are available] are formed in an obtuse V with the point of the V away from the audience.
This enhances dialogue and still leaves the
actors generally front facing. Some towels
and a basketball or two should be enough to provide an adequate set.
This is light-hearted locker-room banter.
The actors not part of the conversation [Sally
goes the longest without saying anything] noticeably move their heads back and forth
to follow the conversation as if they were following a tennis match.
The four actors walk in pantomiming conversation
as they go to the benches. They pantomime
taking shoes off and lacing up shoes and other such actions that can be done easily
while remaining seated.
Once all are in place, Sally looks at all
the others and the dialogue begins.
Sally:
We are going to get out butts kicked tonight.
Sue:
Girl, get positive.
Sally:
We don’t have a chance tonight.
We are going to get creamed.
Sue:
Well, I think we do, and…
Sally:
And what?
Sue:
And when we do, you will be eating crow.
Sally:
Eating Crow? What’s that mean?
Sue:
It means eating your own words and they won’t be tasting good.
Karen:
I ate a crow sandwich once.
Sally & Sue [Together]: What?
Karen:
Yeah, I ate a crow sandwich once and it was pretty good.
Sue:
You’re crazy.
Sally:
Yeah, crazy.
Karen:
No, really, I was at Burger King for breakfast and I got a crow
sandwich. It’s way better than an Egg
McMuffin.
Sue:
Karen, what you got was a QWAA SANDWICH.
Karen:
How do you spell that?
Sue:
C R O…
Karen:
See, I told you it was crow sandwich.
Betty:
Yeah and they have to make those because of the Jim Crow laws.
Sue:
Jim Crow laws kept white people and black people separate.
Karen:
Yeah, separation of church and state, you know.
Sue:
What! No! No!
Separation of church and state is a whole different thing. It is suppose to protect the church from the
state.
Betty:
Which state?
Sue: “The” state, like the government, you know?
Karen:
We have to be protected from the state government of Oklahoma?
Betty:
No, we are protected from having to eat crow sandwiches.
Karen:
But I like crow sandwiches.
Betty:
It’s that Jim Beam law.
Sue:
C’mon guys. Jim Beam is whiskey.
Betty:
Yeah and there were laws against whiskey back before we were born.
Karen:
They called that time perdition.
Sue:
You mean prohibition.
Karen:
My uncle liked his booze and said it was perdition.
Betty:
Man you guys don’t know anything.
A perdition is when you add a room on to your house.
Sue:
Well, per Webster’s dictionary, that’s called an addition.
Betty:
Well, since it’s per Webster’s, I say it’s a per addition or perdition
for short.
Karen:
I think that’s somebody from Paris.
Sue:
No, that’s a Parisian.
Betty:
No that was one of those old guys who coached Notre Dame back in the
day.
Sue:
You mean, Ara Parseghian.
Karen:
My grandfather had that. His
hands got real shaky and he had trouble walking.
Betty:
Yeah, that’s parks and recreations disease.
Sue:
No, that’s Parkinson’s disease.
Betty:
Yeah it’s almost as bad as the plack.
Karen:
You mean the stuff that killed half the people on earth?
Betty:
Yeah that’s it, it almost killed everyone on earth.
Sue:
You mean the black plague.
Betty:
Whatever. It was bad. I don’t know why it didn’t get everyone.
Karen:
Because of the salt of the earth.
Sue:
Really, the salt of the earth?
Betty:
Yeah, that’s it, the salt of the earth.
Sue:
C’mon guys, don’t mess with this one.
Jesus called us the salt of the earth.
Betty:
Really?
Karen:
Really?
Sally [Finally rejoining the
conversation]: Really?
Sue:
Yes.
Betty, Karen, and Sally
[Together]: What’s that mean?
Sue:
It means, well, you are the salt of the earth. It mean, well, well….
Karen:
Girl! We count on you to know
everything. What does it mean that we
are the salt of the earth?
Betty:
Yeah, we know you will have the right answer and that allows us to just
be crazy. What does it mean that we are
the salt of the earth?
Sue:
Well,…..Well, I’m not sur…
Sally:
What if it means that we Christians are like salt to the rest of the
people on the earth. We make them
thirsty for living water. We make them
thirsty for Jesus.
Sue:
Wow. I can see that.
Betty:
Or it could mean that we are the seasoning of the earth. We bring out the God-flavors, the
God-seasoning, the God-taste in the world.
Sue [Nodding agreement]: That’s some real thinking there.
Karen:
What if we are salt like back in the day when salt preserved
things? What if we keep things
fresh? We keep things from going bad? Could that be it?
Sue:
I think you are on to something.
Betty:
What if Jesus had called us the pepper of the planet instead?
Sue:
Wouldn’t be the same. Pepper
can spice things up for sure but it doesn’t have the same qualities as
salt. Put salt in water you have salt
water. It permeates the whole glass or
bucket or ocean.
Karen:
Does salt have an expiration date?
Sue:
Nope. It lasts and lasts and
lasts. Real salt doesn’t go bad. It doesn’t lose it’s taste.
Sally:
If it did, we would have to flush it.
Sue:
Don’t do that. We don’t need salt
in the water system, even in the sewer system.
Sally:
Then what do you do with salt that has lost its saltiness?
Sue:
Throw it out on the street where it will be ground away to nothing.
Sally:
That makes sense. Salt that isn’t
salty isn’t worth anything anyway.
Sue:
Now you’re talking. You still
think we are going to lose the game.
Sally:
Not a chance. I’m feeling
salty. Let’s go mix it up and see how it
comes out.
Betty:
Yeah, let’s go get ‘em!
Karen:
Yeah, let’s go, then afterwards we will go get crow sandwiches.
[All exit stage left]
Narrator:
You are the salt of the earth. But if
the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer
good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
Matthew
5:13 NIV
Copyright
Notice
Use of this work without the express written consent of the
author is authorized, encouraged, and may be done with or without giving credit
to the author. Use this to bring glory to God. Use it to lead
people to Christ. Use it to be a light in this often dark world and the
God-seasoning of the earth. Use it to help people laugh, learn, and
love. Put it to work so that people will respond with the faith God has
given them and proclaim Jesus to be Lord.
