School's out day after tomorrow. We are straying from the lectionary during the summer months. That's one thing I like about being PResbyterian--the lectionary is there for you as a helpful guide and resource, but you are also free to toss it for a while when the Spirit moves. Our summer preaching theme is "Sunday School Stories for Grown-ups" in which we pull out some of the old stories,(particularly from the Old Testament), many folks have not heard since children's church school and which either don't show up in the lectionary or do so only on widely separate occassions and/or when they are upstaged by being paired with NT lections that are more important to the point in the liturgical year in which they appear.
So--what was your favorite bible story as a kid? Why do you think it was your favorite? Have you ever preached on it as an adult? (Or heard a sermon on it for layfolks out there.) Which of the old Sunday School classics would you most like to hear a sermon on now, in your ahem mature years?
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11 comments:
As a child, I loved the story of Jesus and the loaves and fishes and of Jonah.
But I also remember being taught the stories with a flannel board. Do you have one of those?
Oh, I love this idea! Let's see, favorite Bible stories--Joseph and his coat of many colors; Jacob wrestling with the angel; Ezekiel in the desert with the dry bones; Moses trying to persuade Pharoah to let his people go; the nativity stories; the resurrection stories; and Jesus with Mary and Martha.
Ester is my number one all-time bestest favorite. The girl gets to be the hero!
I always LOVED the calling of Samuel.
Proves to those ahem, older church members that children are more than something to be seen and not heard!
:-)
Elijah on Mt. Carmel mocking the prophets of Baal by asking if their god is off, um, 'covering his feet'.
A great one for this grown-up small boy!
I have to vote for Jonah and Esther.
I did Jonah with our adult Bible Study this past spring and used clips from the Veggie Tales movie/musical.
Peace,
Milton
I loved Jonah, the way Sarah laughed when she found out she could have a baby, Jacob and his angel, Lazarus rising from the dead, the woman who just touched Jesus's garment and was healed -- and my favorite was little Zacchaeus up in the tree getting called down by Jesus who then invites Himself over to dinner.
Solomon and the two mothers
The friends who let their friend down through the roof to get him to Jesus
Moses in the bulrushes, with his sister Miriam standing by
David and Goliath (but of course the lectionary gives us that one next week)
I didn't get a lot of bible education as a child but I knew the story of Noah. Flash knows the story too, and who doesn't love those animals coming two-by-two. But I think its somewhat creepy for kids to hear a story about God "starting over". People decorate their nursery's with arks. Am I alone in this?
I loved them all. But my favorites were the Joseph story (the mean brothers get their comeuppance and the youngest becomes a hero). Guess who was the youhgest kid in my family?
I also loved the Samuel story. I first heard it at about five years of age and for weeks when I went to bed I'd lie awake a little while, telling God that if my name was called, I'd reply as Samuel did.
I've preached on both of these.
I may be too late here, but I've just found your blog. We did this last year at my church thinking it would be light and easy. It turned out to be one of the heaviest series we ever did!! Although fun and we did learn a lot. But those OT stories can be HEAVY!!! And, really, when you read them again as an adult, what makes us think they're for children??? We did (and I'm pulling this off the top of my head and don't remember them all) the Tower of Babel, Samson & Delilah, Ruth, Esther (we did a Feast of Purim), Noah ... and that's all I can remember. Enjoy it tho, it's a wonderful series idea. We had great fun, it just turned out to be heavier than we anticipated.
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