As shifts began to take place in the church, so did the development of different ceremonies. One thing that evolved was spreading the Christian message in musical and dramatic form (Madigan, 301). Worship was an informative way to teach an audience who could not read, so nonverbal ritual and ceremonies began to spread through out the church. The church wanted to engage the laity more in the liturgy or the sacraments. Illiteracy was common back then and also what made it difficult was that the masses were being said in Latin. Dramas had been popular in Greek and Roman cultural worlds, but had been forbidden in the age of Constantine (Madigan, 301). This is the first time we see them pop up in the church since.

The Directions for the Annunciation Play was useful in the church because it reinforced some of the basic views of Jesus and Mary and how Mary came to be pregnant with Jesus and put it into a form that more people could understand if they did not know Latin. It involved a few characters, Mary, Elizabeth, Joseph, and Joachim, so it was easy for people to follow. Within this play, parts of the Hail Mary prayer is recited, which is one of the most important prayers in the church. Gabriel recites a part of it when he is first interacting with Mary and later we see Mary’s cousin Elizabeth recite part of the prayer (Rosenwein, 436).

Before the 12th century, marriage was seen in more a secular way. In the early Middle Ages, marriage had been regarded in a social sense as an alliance between two families. Normally parents would chose a spouse for their child and it would be arranged from there to better off the two families (Madigan, 316). In the 12th century, there were many theoretical and practical changes that occurred with the institute of marriage. One of the biggest changes was that marriage was more focused on consent than arranged marriages. This opened up a greater appreciation for marriage. Around this time there was a lot of literature being put out about courtly love which influenced romantic love and personal desires. In the Play of Adam, we see a reinforcement of original church teachings that are foundational to the church like original sin and obedience to God and only God. Along with some of the foundational teachings that we see in the play, there is also the first institution of marriage being performed by God. The figure of God tells Adam that he has given him a good companion and that she is his wife and that they are equals. This is the beginning of one of the main sacraments in the church, marriage.