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                           ERNIE'S PLACE

MAIN POINT
In a culture that presents us with a wide range of choices in just about any activity, we sometimes discover just how hard decision making can be. Often, we'd rather defer decisions to others than risk choosing something that might offend them. Ironically, they may be doing the same with us, locking us both into immobility. In minor matters, such as deciding what to have for dinner, this mutual indecision may be no more than inconvenient. But in the larger arena of the Christian life, we often have to make hard choices, even when what we decide will not please everyone.

CHARACTERIZATION
Ed is a typical middle-class husband, arriving home after a normal day at the office. He can be any age 50 or over. He is rather bland, and not a very decisive person.

Martha is Ed's wife, of a similar age as he. She also is bland, and no more decisive than her husband.

Server: Could be male or female of any age.

DIRECTOR'S NOTES
1) Since this short sketch has three scenes, you may want to run them as separate mini-segments, separated by other items in the order of worship, but all before the sermon. If you decide to run them together, at least have the house lights dimmed momentarily as Ed and Martha move from their "living room" to "Ernie's Place" and back again.

2) Don't allow the audience to see the "Ernie's Place" sign until the beginning of the second scene. A convenient way to display the sign is to place it on an easel upstage of the table.

3) Neither Ed nor Martha should ever show too much emotion. Both are somewhat bland characters. Even in the third scene, when they are expressing their dissatisfaction with their meals, they should not be very annoyed. Neither has a forceful enough personality to express displeasure very strongly.

RELATED SCRIPTURES
Galatians 2:11-14, where Paul confronts Peter about the latter's withdrawal from eating with Gentiles, shows Paul making a decision to confront a fellow worker. The parable in Matthew 20:1-15 portrays a landowner who decides to pay all his laborers the same, regardless of how many hours they had worked, even though this decision displeases some of the workers.

RELATED THEMES
This sketch could also be used to introduce the idea that God went first. Jesus is a go-ahead Savior who moved boldly for our salvation while we were still in sin. You might also use the sketch for the topics of communication in marriage, speaking one's mind, or living with the results of our decisions.