Psalm 104

The following are pictures of banners used in worship on Pentecost at my internship congregation.  The banners are a result of a confirmation lesson, the gifts of an artistic congregation member, and the efforts of the quilting group.

Sermon - Epiphany 6

This sermon is based on Matthew 5.21-37 and was preached during my internship.  I used visual aids, showing slides from Power Point throughout the sermon.  Reading it through isn't quite the same, and a few of the visual elements are missing because the pictures below are not in presentation form - but you'll get the general idea!

Here it is…the crime scene.  

Micah 6.8 - A Sermon on Stewardship

One of my favorite tv shows is The Big Bang Theory.  It is a comedy with the basic premise of four incredibly intelligent, scientist guys (nerds if you will), and their interactions with Penny, a beautiful young lady who moves in across the hall.  Sheldon is one of the characters in the show, and although he is a genius when it comes to theoretical physics, when it comes to basic social interactions he is basically lost.  He approaches everything very scientifically, so with the help of the people around him, he has formed a basic set of understandings for social expectations and social norms, which he follows to the letter – all very scientific.

One day, a bit before Christmas,

Sermon on Psalm 113

The following is a sermon I wrote during my internship. We walked together through the psalm, with each verse chanted in Hebrew throughout. The entire psalm was chanted at the end of the sermon. I had someone else do the chanting, and I think the variety of voices throughout the sermon was helpful.

The Psalms. 150 poems. And these are not just any poems. They are the prayer book of the Israelites – meant to be sung, not spoken. These are deep words, expressive and incredibly true to the human experience. There are desperate pleas for help, joyous hymns of praise, songs of thanksgiving, expressions of profound trust, cries of pain from deep grief

The Liturgical Cross

The liturgy is a dynamic and living conversation. Profound words are spoken, the gospel is proclaimed, we are changed! Part of my year as a youth minister was working with the confirmation classes to lead a worship service together. Before we began planning the specifics, we spent a few weeks learning about the different parts of the liturgy.

One day, we went through each piece of the liturgy. We opened up our ELWs to page 94, I had each of the parts written on a piece of paper and had the students place them on four different posters according to the proper category:
1. God speaking to us
2. Conversation with each other
3. The assembly speaks to God
4. The assembly speaks God's Word, Grace, & Gospel (by the power of the Holy Spirit)

Once we had all the parts of the liturgy in their proper places, I assembled the pieces to reveal a cross - a liturgical cross!