From Sampler to Sower

Weekend Teaching Series: Heroes

Message Title: The Cowardly Warrior

Sermon in a Sentence: Actually, I didn’t have one going in . . . but more on that later.

Text(s): Judges 6-7

Weekend Scale of Difficulty: 12 out of 10,This was one of my toughest nights in youth ministry ever.  The game took a little extra prep, getting audio clips ready for “Name that Tune.”  That  alone would have made it a 7 out of 10.  But what knocked this one out of the park difficulty-wise was an incredible headache, intensified exponentially by our stage lights.  After struggling through the game and music, I had to go to house lights for the teaching time and even then the headache was so bad I couldn’t think straight.  We made it through the night, but I know my teaching was adversely affected.

Message Summary:

We’re in week four of our Heroes series for Junior High. We’re working our way through the Old Testament book of Judges, seeing what we can learn from the people God chose to change their world.  As always we started with a “where we left off” review.  I was impressed at how well my students remembered the heroes from the first three weeks of the series; they even remembered Othaniel, a guy who played only a minor part in week one of the series.

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Weekend Teaching Series: Heroes

Message Title: The Tent-Peg Killer

Sermon in a Sentence: Don’t let fear keep you from being the Hero God is looking for.

Text(s): Judges 4

Weekend Scale of Difficulty: 7 out of 10, I guess the easy weeks had to come to an end.  This was a Murphy’s Law kind of Tuesday night.  Fortunately, with the exception of a slightly late start due to a guitar malfunction, I don’t think any of the chaos effected the service itself.

Message Summary:

We’re in week three of our Heroes series for Junior High. You’ll remember from last week this series is taking a look at the book of Judges. We started with a quick “Where we left off…” review which reminded students of the judges cycle (Rebellion, Retribution, Repentance, Redeemer, Rescue) and of the two judges of whom we spoke so far: Othaniel and Ehud.

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Weekend Teaching Series: Heroes

Message Title: The Left-Handed Assassin

Sermon in a Sentence: God makes a habit of using the unlikely.

Text(s): Judges 3:7-30

Weekend Scale of Difficulty: 1 out of 10, Two weeks in a row?  Yet it was easy.  This series is really falling together nicely, and added volunteer help is really helping carry the load.

Message Summary:

We’re in week two of our Heroes series for Junior High.  You’ll remember from last week this series is taking a look at the book of Judges.  After reminding students of the essential cycle of the book of Judges (Rebellion, Retribution, Repentance, Redeemer, Rescue) we took a look at the first two judges.

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The Vocation of the Child, Patrick McKinley Brennan, ed.

I don’t often use such language, but I believe that God led me to read a book recently.  I don’t usually use that kind of language, because I believe that God typically leaves the titles on my reading list to me – or at the very least I would hate to blame Him for some of the real snoozers or mindless fiction I’ve read recently.  My faith would truly be shaken, for example, if I believed that it was God’s specific will for me to read Twilight, a book I feel could fit well into either of the aforementioned categories.

But this was different.  I was standing in my favorite bookstore on the planet, the Cokesbury Store in Fishers, IN.  A title on the shelf grabbed my attention – The Vocation of the Child, edited by Patrick Brennan.   As I read the description on the jacket, especially the line that said “The Vocation of the Child seeks to understand the child as a person in his or her own right, as a member of family and community, and as a son or daughter of God who came to earth as a child,” something deep inside me stirred and I knew this was a book I needed to read.

And so today I’m starting a new series on the blog which will review the various essays which make up the book.  My plan is to tackle one essay a week, and with 15 essays, I should wrap this up sometime near the end of March.  I invite you to read along.  If you can get your hands on a copy, I urge you to do so.  I know that you can order it from Amazon.  And please, join in the discussion through the comments below.

Now, on to the first essay “The Vocation of the Child: Theological Perspectives on the Particular and Paradoxical Roles and Responsibilities of Children” by Dr. Marcia J Bunge.  Dr. Bunge is a professor of humanities and theology at Christ College, Valparaiso University’s honor college.  In this essay she pursues a well-rounded understanding of the calling of the child. (more…)