Today's "Sermon"

Beginning with the past two Sundays, and continuing through Lent, Lois is using the sermon time to teach the congregation different ways in which we can engage Scripture. On the Sixth Sunday after Epiphany she gave us a lesson on one way to read the Bible. Last Sunday she led us through a guided meditation on the Transfiguration. When Lois asked me to preach for the two Sundays she is in Sierra Leone, she told me that I didn't have to follow what she was doing. She did not tell me what that was, and I experienced it with the congregation.

Having participated in and observed what Lois did, I decided that I would do theological reflection with the congregation, at least for the first Sunday. Those of you familiar with Education for Ministry (EfM) will recognize a modified TR Beginning with A Text and ending with the writing of a collect. As an EfM Mentor, I lead Theological Reflection a couple of times a month, so I really did not have that much preparation to do. It felt very strange not writing a sermon during the week and not having a last minute visit from the Holy Spirit late Saturday night or in the wee hours of Sunday morning. Yesterday I worked hard to ease my anxiety of not having a prepared text for today. I walked into church this morning figuring it would be either an unmitigated disaster or a quiet success. Finally, I just had to let it go and have faith that the Spirit would do her thing when the time came.

With Lois away, having lay-led (by me) Morning Prayer, and the on-again-off-again predictions of snow, I wondered how many folks would actually show up for the service. While attendance was low (35), it wasn't the lowest we've experienced in the two years since I returned to the parish. As I began the reflection with the congregation, only a couple of people responded to the questions. However, as it went on, more people participated, including some who don't usually speak up during interactive sermons, and one of our youth. The youth who did respond to a couple of the questions also served on my Discernment Committee, and his speaking out models for the congregation that everyone can participate AND that our youth have a voice in our church that is heard and acknowledged. I was very proud of him.

Here is how I led the reflection on Mark 1:9-15:

This morning, in keeping with our theme of engaging the Gospel ourselves, we're going to do some Theological Reflection using the Gospel reading.

What is the world like in this reading?

What causes pain in the world of this reading?

What surprises you in the world of this reading?

What is there to celebrate in this reading?

After having spent some time talking about the reading, what might our newspaper say if it happened today?

What are some of the things we might do in response to this reading and our discussion?

Now I'm going to ask you three more questions, and your responses will become the prayer at the end of the Prayers of the People.

Based on what we've talked about, what do we believe about God?

What do we pray for?

And what do we hope results from our prayers?

What we've done here is studied the Gospel together. The Gospel isn't some book up there that we only pull out and read on Sundays--although we are doing it on Sunday now. We don't need some theology professor to explain it to us. After all, the Scriptures are OUR story, and we can engage them every day.

And here's the prayer the congregation created:

O God, You will always provide, set an example for us, and give us hope. We pray for strength, persistence, healing for those that are sick, and for people who are really hurt by the bad things happening to them in the economy; in order that we have comfort, more people participate in the Good News, and we become more connected with You. Amen.

Now all I have to do is figure out what I'm going to follow that up with next Sunday!

Peace,
Jeff