My day is quickly filling up as the various ends of semesters all come into sight. But let me record a moment from yesterday's worship service at Faith Lutheran that went really well.
Yesterday's Gospel was John 10: 11-18, which talks about the sheep hearing the shepherd's voice. For the youth sermon, I wanted to demonstrate how hard it can be to hear individual voices when there's so much noise, and how hard it can be to hear God's voice in the midst of all the noise.
Before the service started, I wrote statements on paper slips, like "Hey, sheep, come here and I'll make you a star." "Hey, sheep, I can make you rich." At a moment in the sermon, I orchestrated the adults in the background to say all their lines at once, and if they didn't have a line, they could say, "Hey, sheep, over here." The youth would listen and try to decide which voice to follow.
I was surprised by what a cacophony happened when everyone spoke/shouted at once. When I had the congregation stop, I asked the youth which voice they would follow, and then I asked if they could hear any individual voice. They could not.
It worked beautifully to demonstrate my message. And then, we were able to talk about how we hear God's voice: in silence, in church, in songs, in reading, in being in community with people who want the best for you, in prayer.
I felt like my adult sermon went well too, and what makes me happier is that I was feeling very stymied on Saturday morning. By evening, after much prayer and thought and writing and discussing with my spouse, I had two sermons that worked.
It won't always be that way, I know. But I'm always grateful when inspiration comes, even if it's at the eleventh hour.
No comments:
Post a Comment