The Phone Call

He openly shares his feelings and struggles with trying to forgive, when another call comes, and it is clearly the offender calling to ask forgiveness. He quickly learns how to forgive and how it is an act of obedience as well as something that needs to happen in the heart. There is also a two-man version of this skit available called, “The Confrontation.”One actor. Only about 7-8 minutes.

Excerpt:

A man walks on stage and the phone rings. He answers it. (put in
appropriate pauses where the other person is talking)Hello? Oh, Hi…
how’s it going? What? …. Oh, you saw that? Did
anybody else see it? … Oh, yeah… it was really weird; I still can’t
figure it out. It really upset me…. Yeah, well I’m glad you called,
because I feel like I need to talk about it. ….It just was such a
shock! He came right up to me and got right in my face! Right there
in the church parking lot! At first, I could not even figure out
what he was talking about. I was racking my brain to try to remember
what it was I could have done to get him so upset. Then I was
wondering if he was going to hit me or something. It was pretty
scary. I’ve never seen a brother act like that. …huh?… So, you
couldn’t hear what he was saying? … Oh yeah, it was bad. I don’t
even want to repeat it. Why would he say stuff like that to me? ….
Yeah… you’re right. That is exactly what it was about. Can you see
why I was shocked? I had nothing to do with that decision! He was
mad at the wrong person! …. When he walked away… I thought, I should
have asked questions and tried to find out what he was so mad about.
But I was just so out of it by that time. I got in my car and I
just sat there and shook like a leaf. Then all the things he said
just played over and over in my head. I could not make sense of it
…..what’s that? …. No… I wouldn’t say I was mad. But I will tell
you this. I would really like it if I never saw his face again. It
is going to be really hard, because he will probably be in church
next Sunday. Am I supposed to just act like nothing happened? I
mean, I’ll see him every Sunday! I’m afraid that when he walks in
the door, those same feelings are going to well up inside of me.
I’ll be thinking about how he acted last night. How will I ever get
that picture out of my mind? You know? It is going to affect my
worship, and taking communion, everything! I wish he would just
leave the church, that’s what I wish! ….. Well, yeah, talking to
him will be out of the question! I want to avoid ever talking to
him again! And what really gets me, is …. I don’t think I could do
anything to change what he was so angry about! He was lashing out
at me, but it wasn’t my fault! It was nobody’s fault really. I
mean, I guess you could say it was the deacons and elders. I mean,
they were the ones who set down the rules, not me; I just abide by
the leadership of the church.…. Yeah, I guess he picked the wrong
person to yell at, not that he should be yelling at anybody, you know
what I mean? Do you suppose he has some other kind of emotional
problems?…. well, I don’t know if I feel sorry for him or not. I
think I’m still feeling sorry for myself. I’ll tell you though; I
have really been having a lot of guilt feelings about how I now feel
about him. When I got home last night, I really prayed a lot about
it. I thought about calling him, but I really didn’t want to do
that, you know? Right off the bat, as I was praying, the Lord spoke
to me. I was feeling angry and I could sense bitterness setting in,
and I prayed that the Lord would forgive me for having those kinds
of feelings toward him. That was when the verse from the Lord’s
Prayer came to me: Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who
trespass against us. Yeah… it was like God was telling me that I
needed to forgive him.