In celebration of the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible, Thames Valley Methodist Circuit hosted a day of activity in April 2011. A Saturday of journeying around the circuit to encounter different parts of the Bible together was rounded off with a grand finale in Windsor.

Pete Baker contributed this article on the role dramatic monologues played in this. Tragically, Pete took his own life, aged 18, in July 2012. We continue to share his story with the agreement of his family.

At the finale we shared a meal of "food from the Bible", sang psalms in various forms and then heard and saw stories from the Bible. This was done through seven monologues from characters in the Bible story. As they were told by people of various ages and backgrounds, we observed a unique and genuine interpretation.

The stories ranged from Eve's quizzical look on the creation and Noah's comical opinion on building an ark right through to the end of Jesus' life and Peter's despair. The set finished with an uplifting message of hope from Mary. The monologues were individually written and sensitively put together to create a real sense of being part of the moment. The evening concluded with words from the ever present narrator as a response to us all:

"The story was written down. The story continues ..."

The evening had a great balance to it as we shared in fellowship before experiencing an explosion of creativity and emotion as each character told their story to a packed church and a captivated audience. The Bible festival was most definitely a success and we hope to produce more events of such passion, quality and ingenuity in the future.