Friday, August 10, 2007
A Series of Fortunate (preaching) events?
Hi all. We're working on our worship/preaching plans for the coming year round here. I've always tried to do lectionary preaching interspersed with two or three off-lectionary series. What series have you preached or experienced from the pew that were particularly helpful and meaningful? Any that fell flat?
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A series on the Six Great Ends of the Church went especially well when I was an intern.
(I didn't preach it.)
Again, the friend we have in common would be a person to contact.
We have done the season of creation (both in September when everyone else does it and in April closer to earth day) fairly successfully. a Harry Potter series might be fun.
This is me not really thinking outside the box b/c my brain is tired from this conference (as is my body). but I'll think about it for you and let you know if I have some sort of brilliantly creative idea! Since we're pretty much all lectionary all the time (with occasional exceptions), I can't use the ideas I have....
I've only done one series so far, during Lent on the Last Seven Words (I combined two of the words, but now I can't remember which two). It went over pretty well, and I know that I especially was ready for the celebration of Easter morning after sitting at the foot of the cross for six weeks.
After having a Session retreat this last weekend, the Session has recommended that I do a series on the church's mission statement, which would break out nicely into a 4-6 week series. It's a very well-written statement and alot of thought was put into it, so in September when we're kicking off our church year I'll be going off lectionary and doing that.
I like doing a series in the summer that takes me off lectionary...
The one on reformed theology went better than I thought it would. My favorite was when they got to ask me questions and I preached about science & religion, do Buddhists go to heaven, When is Jesus Coming Back, even a humor Sunday... Others that have been good are Bible Stories we All Should Know, Women of the Bible, and Characters of the Bible (it's fun getting to tell someone's whole story and not just a snippet).
Wow, thanks for posting this question. I think it will help alot of us as we look to the next church year! I love the "Characters of the Bible" idea!
I did my first series recently, using John Westerhoff's 8 points of Christian formation in the 21st century. First time for me going off-lectionary over a period of time, which felt odd, but it was well-received.
My pastor has done a few in the year that I've been at the church.
He did one in the fall called "God and ...." The first was "God and Marriage", which I liked although it seemed to indicate that being in a married couple was the most important thing. After that he did "God and Addiction", "God and Cancer", "God and Death", and he added one after his visit to the Holy Land. I gotta tell you - 5 weeks of sermons on seriously depressing topics was too much.
This summer he did one on the minor prophets (Amos, etc) that was great.
Honestly, I'd like to see him stick to the lectionary for a while. The series thing has been overdone.
In my time here, we've done a series on some psalms (Lenten Evensongs)...rather bitty but quite popular
one on the Creed (huge success)
and one on assorted saints (another Lent special and a bit of a damp squib)
Otherwise we are relentlessly Lectionary come what may...which is both a blessing and a strain, I find.
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