On Our Way to the Celestial City—Introduction Six Service Plans with Dramas Based on The Pilgrim's Progress

This is part of the worship series,
"On Our Way to the Celestial City"

Series Introduction 
Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3  
Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 

Introduction

One of the great Christian classics is John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress. Written in 1678 during Bunyan's second imprisonment for "holding unlawful assemblies and not conforming to the national worship of the Church of England," the book depicts in allegorical language Bunyan's dream about the journey of Christian from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City. Along the way, Christian and other traveling companions experience both the hardships and joys that are part of the Christian life: forgiveness, temptation, doubt, persecution, and spiritual battles.

In the fall of 1997, our worship committee decided to plan a series of evening services revolving around some of the key events in Christian's life as he traveled to the Celestial City. Each worship service contained a 5–10 minute drama that I wrote with another member of the congregation. The sermon and songs were coordinated with the themes of the drama.

Church members were urged to order and then read the book during the weeks of this series. They were informed in advance which section of the book would be covered in the following Sunday's worship service. The versions of the book that the committee selected and recommended were

• Pictorial Pilgrim's Progress (Moody Press). This book is filled with illustrations, making it especially suitable for little children.
• The Pilgrim's Progress, retold by Gary Schmidt (Eerdmans). A vivid retelling of the story accompanied by wonderful illustrations. Especially suitable for families with children.
• The Pilgrim's Progress in Today's English, James H. Thomas (Moody Press). The original story told in contemporary language. Suitable for adults.  [For a more recent edition see the adaptation by Alan Vermilye from Brown Chair Books (2020)].
• Pilgrim's Progress is also available in a forty-minute video animated in 1989 by the Bridgestone Group, available to rent or buy through Vimeo. [Other film versions can also be found online including live-action adaptations.]

Ordinarily Sunday night attendance is not high, but for these six weeks the sanctuary was packed. The most striking thing was how all ages were drawn in. Both older and younger members of the congregation appreciated the services. Many adult members said that they had never read the book or that they hadn't read it for years. Children, not surprisingly, enjoyed the short dramatic presentations. And for all members and visitors, the services provided a basic overview of the Christian life—a sort of Christianity 101.

The short dramas can be performed in separate worship services (as we did). They are also appropriate for other settings, such as church school. Or it's possible to combine them into one presentation that would last approximately an hour and fifteen minutes, though that would involve rather frequent changes of sets [see note about costumes, sets, and props below].

Altogether about thirty-five people were involved (not counting those who worked on sets); we used a variety of people in some roles, but "Christian" was played by the same person in all six dramas; his was the most challenging role. The dramas were placed early in the service, right after the call to worship, greeting, and opening hymn. The dramas were followed by 5cripture and sermon. The response to the Word included affirmations of faith based on Our World Belongs to God, a contemporary testimony of the Christian Reformed Church found in the 1987 worship edition of the Psalter Hymnal.

Series Outline

Costumes, sets, and props

We kept things very simple. Everyone wore street clothing; the only costume was Christian's armor and a dragon. We rented a breastplate, helmet, sword, shield, and spear from a local costume shop. 1 made leg guards out of cardboard and Velcro colored to match the helmet and breastplate. We also rented a dragon and claws from a costume shop. Total cost was just under $60.00.

Most of the props are self-explanatory; we did manage to find a very large backpack for Christian to wear. For the carnival atmosphere in Week 4, we placed three tables in front, piled with lots of international items for selling as at a bazaar. A kind of jack-in-the-box served as a distraction for the pickpocket scene.

For a prison, we constructed three wooden frames on casters to form a three-sided cell. Ropes dyed black were strung across the openings from nails in the frames.

For Week 6, we used the same frames to construct two doors to the Celestial City. We filled in all three frames with insulation material covered with contact paper that looked like wood (The ropes stayed on for support.). When the two doors opened, the third frame, depicting the skyline of Celestial City was revealed. We used gold material to outline the Celestial City and shone bright lights on it. For the river in Week 6, children stood opposite each other holding long light blue and white ribbons, which they waved to give the appearance of moving water.
—Grace Cremer, drama director at Westend Christian Reformed Church

Images for the series

All the artwork accompanying this series has been selected from works in the public domain that are available online. Links to the source of the images are available in the captions and each can be used in bulletin covers or slides. The title image that appears at the top of each service is a photograph by Nate Bergin of Emmanuel's Land Window at Emmanuel Church, Boston which depicts a scene from Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress.