Green's Call

Summary

The missionary call is somewhat suspect in this surfer!

Characters

Interviewer
Ernest Green (a surfer)

 

Script

 

(INTERVIEWER is sitting at desk. Knock on door and GREEN enters.)

 

GREEN:Hello, is this the Missions employment office?

INTER: Er, yes.

GREEN: Well, my name is Ernest Green and I have come about a job.

INTER: Job?

GREEN: I'd like to be a missionary please &emdash; and I have my CV.

INTER: I see. What exactly have. you in mind?

GREEN: Well, you know - just the normal. Trekking up the Zambezi with my native bearers. Bringing the light to the Dark Continent and all that. I mean, for some time now I have been feeling that God is calling me to be a missionary.

INTER: When did you first feel the call?

GREEN: Yesterday.

INTER: Yesterday?

GREEN: On the beach I was sitting there thinking. Ernest, you've got to go and do something. Something for the poor and needy. I couldn't be a pastor because I haven't got 8th form certificate. And I can't work with kids because I hate kids. And I haven't got a job, so' I thought, right - a missionary.

INTER: I see.

GREEN: After all, doth it not saith in the Good Book -"Go and disable all nations"?

INTER: Disciple not disable, Mr Green.

GREEN: What?

INTER: Disciple &emdash; make disciples.

GREEN: Oh yes. I thought that didn't seem a very Christian thing to do.

INTER: Yeth. I mean, yes it does.

GREEN: Well, there you are then.

INTER: Er .. . . Mr Green, it doesn't seem a very clear call to me.

GREEN: Oh, I've tested it.

INTER: Ah, have you. Well, that's a bit more like it.

GREEN: I was standing at the bus stop and I said, "Lord, if you want me to be a Tentmaker then let the 889 come along in one minute. And it did.

INTER: Amazing.

GREEN: And then another miracle happened. A car drew up and the driver said to me, 'Do you know the way to Simpson Road?'
(INTERVIEWER looks blankly)
You don't get it, do you?

GREEN: Well, it you change the 'p' in Simpson for an i and then alter all the letters around you get 'mission'. Don't tell me that's just coincidence!

INTER: Well now, Mr Green, have you any skills you can offer us?

GREEN: You name it, I can do it.

INTER: Well, are you a builder?

GREEN: No.

INTER: Accountant? Administrator?.

GREEN: Not exactly, no.

INTER: Teacher, electrician, mechanical engineer?

GREEN: (mumbling) No. (Shakes his head)

INTER: Translator, pilot, doctor?

GREEN: Ah!.

INTER: You're a doctor!

GREEN: No.

INTER: I thought you said, if I name it you can do it?

GREEN: Yes, but you haven't named it yet.

INTER: Well, what can you do, Mr Green?

GREEN: I can ride a boogey board. I was thinking along the lines of Bali or Surfers Paradise. Somewhere warm. So, I can be a missionary then?

INTER: Mr Green, I'm going to be entirely frank with you now. I don't believe you have thought this out fully. You have no clear calling, no professional skills and little idea of what a missionary does.

GREEN: Is that yes or no?

INTER: No.

GREEN: Don't try to spare my feelings, just give it to me straight.

INTER: Mr Green, you need commitment to be a missionary. You need to be sure.

GREEN: I am sure. You're just trying to stifle my call.

INTER: I'm not.

GREEN: You are. I'm being stifled. You're stamping on my convictions.

INTER: Look, it's just that I'm not sure you've given this matter enough thought!

GREEN: I thought you needed people.

INTER: We do. There is a desperate need. But more than that, there is a desperate need for committed Christians, no matter where they are.

GREEN: I could be committed.

INTER: You probably will be, but that's not the point. There are plenty of things you can do to help. You can raise funds. You can pray.

GREEN: No, that's not good enough. I can't be bothered with all that. I want the glamour, the excitement.

INTER: We're not in the business of glamour. We're in the business of hard work. The world needs Christians who are prepared for hard work.

GREEN: Well, not to worry. You can't win them all. I'll put plan B into action.

INTER: What's plan B?

GREEN: I'll go surfing.

 

© Author unknown

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