Take Up Your Cross and Follow Me: Kayla Mueller
This story and quote from Kayla Mueller, a young woman of faith who ended up dying while in captivity with ISIS, can serve as a unique yet impactful illustration of Jesus’ call to take up our cross and follow him.
The Most Creative Worship Experience of All Time
“Science Mike” from the Liturgists Podcast defines creativity as the ability to make connections. Using this perspective, he names what he feels is the most creative of all worship experiences–communion. How might our ‘creative expressions’ in worship change if we use this perspective?
The Great Ash Wednesday Debates of 2015
A couple debates broke out online on Ash Wednesday. While the themes and issues were important, the way in which many of the discussions progressed seemed to lack humility and generosity.
Familiar Rhythms
Familiarity is a double-edged sword, especially in churches. Yet, familiarity can serve as a foundation. Here are two simple ways to use it in worship to help guide and shape a congregation.
2015 Lent Prayer Calendar
This prayer calendar for Lent 2015 includes a daily prayer prompt organized by weekly themes.
“Switch: How to Change When Change is Hard” by Chip and Dan Heath
Chip and Dan Heath deliver a great framework on how to understand and enact change. While it is a quick read full of interesting examples, you will soon see that there is depth here as well. I was able to present the material in a sermon series, and it was well received.
What Downton Abbey and Your Sermon May Have in Common
Let’s face it–some TV shows run twice as long as they should. This happens even with ones we love, like Downton Abbey. Three shows (Downton, The West Wing, and House) all ran long for different reasons, and there is a chance we face the same temptations with our sermons.
The Transfiguration – A Dramatic Presentation of Scripture
Dramatic arrangement of the story of the Transfiguration using the text from The Message’s paraphrase of Mark 9:1a-10.
A Call and Response for Transfiguration Sunday
A responsive reading about the Transfiguration. Focuses on the theme of change and how death and resurrection had to occur before what we glimpse in the Transfiguration became permanent.
The Problem is in the Shopping Cart
If you buy healthy food, you have healthy options. It is a simple idea, and yet we blame what we put in our mouths without taking responsibility for what we put in our own shopping carts. There is a lesson to be learned here when we look for solutions in the church.