Church, Children & the Living Dead

If you know anything about me (Hi! I'm Sarah Lewis, by the way!) you know that I love the Bible. And if you know any secondary thing about me, you know that I don't care for children. There are other things that you likely know but those are the two pertinent to this conversation.

However, because God thinks He's sooooo funny, He has put me into a ministry that I NEVER expected to be in, nor did I ever expect to love. Since January 2010 I have been serving as the Director of Children's Ministry (the Orchard) for Veritas Church. It is extremely administrative (which I love) and it is kids-y (which I'm learning to be ok with). In spite of having no idea what I'm doing and consistently feeling like I'm going to ruin these children forever, God has continued giving me a spirit of purpose and intentionality for teaching these kids the truth of His word.

As the Director I've had the opportunity to decide how the curriculum will work and what our kids learn about the Bible and Jesus. And I've come to a deep-set conviction that kids should be as engaged with the Scriptures as adults are. Suuuure, they may not grasp it all, but if they can be exposed to the truths of Scripture early enough, it may not be as unfamiliar to them later in life. Therefore, whatever sermon series our adults are learning Sunday to Sunday is the same series that our kids will be learning (with some exceptions). We also hope that this will enable more ability for families to interact with the Bible and what they're learning.

All that to say: I'm having a great time.

However, since we've been writing (for the most part) the children's lessons alongside the sermons, I have had to write (with significant help!) the majority of the lessons. I was so hopeful that the internet would give me all that I needed. Boy, was I wrong! But since we've developed lessons for these kids, I thought it would be wrong not to share them.

Thusly, I am posting all of the lessons from our Fruits of the Spirit series and the Living Dead series on my other blog: Priscilla's Ponderings. Feel free to share them with your church or children's minister or use them for whater'e you need. We teach our kids to share, so I ought to practice it with ya'll! =)

Keep in mind that these lessons are designed for our very small church, with very limited resources. But they could easily be adapted for any size church or setting.

Hope you enjoy! (And if you don't, please don't tell me, cause I'm sensitive.) =)

This Week

I had forgotten how much I love VBS. The songs, the excitement, getting to act as silly as possible because kids LOVE that! On Sunday's we are doing "Outrigger Island" for the kids program at church. It was a blast. Now with Sports Camp well underway, I see this week shaping up for awesomeness. Which is a strange feeling indeed because I don't do well with children - they intimidate me and parents get mad because I threaten them with bodily harm as my means of obtaining obedience. But I love it all the same. 

This week at Veritas is Sports Camp. It's like VBS, only this time we're putting lacrosse sticks in the children's hands and telling them to have at it. I feel an inordinate amount of bruises to come...

So if you don't see very much of me on here this week, it's because I'm plumb exhausted from the go-go-going-ness of it all. But I promise pictures to come. =) 

New Things, New Things...

If you know me, you know that I am not a big fan of “topical sermons.” I have heard enough poorly exegeted messages that it has left me with a foul taste in my mouth for what I consider proof-texting. So I unfortunately tend to shy away from and devalue the practice of topical sermons.

Which is exactly what my pastor is doing for the month of July.

However, I trust Bob and know that he is a hermeneutical guy. So I made an agreement with my brain that I would calm down, let him preach, and me refrain from judgment for the month.

I am glad God got to me.

Two Sundays ago, Bob preached on the book of Revelation. Indeed, yes, the whole book. And yes, I went into PTSD when I heard about apocaplyticism, pre-,a-, and post-millenialism; I got the shakes when I heard 666 and the “rapture” referenced. But it was a beautiful exposition of a book that we simply can’t and don’t understand.

Over on SereYodh, you too can learn about some heavy topics that we’ll be delving into during the month of July. I have posted about Revelation from Bob’s sermon (and added my own notes). I’m still the “research” hand of Bob’s sermon-planning, a task that I have missed and love.

Hope you learn some interesting things in the next few weeks!!

Three Questions You Don't Expect to Answer In Starbucks

1. What do you believe in?

2. How is your relationship with Jesus?

3. What do you believe about satan? (for you SCL fans, you'll recognize the middle finger of grammar there)

Tonight I went to Starbucks to read the previously mentioned book o' boring and while sipping a London Fog Latte, a young man began making conversation with me. He asked me about my book (which I was brutally honest about) and I politely asked about his (he was reading about Chinese calligraphy). The conversation continued in a small-talk fashion until he asked once more about my reading selection. He wanted to know why I was reading about ministry management. Now, normally, I'm a pretty closed off individual - I don't like to share personal things (please sense the completely ridiculosity of that statement), but I began sharing with him that I'm a seminary student at Multnomah, that I live in the Seattle area and that I'm going to school to get more training to do ministry. 

OUT OF THE BLUE, he asks question #1: What do you believe in? When I looked at him a little blankly, he followed up with What religion are you? Finally, I overcame my shock and told him I was Evangelical Protestant (I didn't really want to get into the whole Southern Baptist thing) and that I believed in Jesus. That conversation led to a few more questions on his part and I turned the questions back on him. He grew up Catholic, but had tried many other religions and has landed on Jehovah's Witness. He believes in everything and nothing (his words). We chatted for a few minutes about his religious upbringing and Jehovah's Witness in particular when again...

OUT OF THE BLUE, he asks question #2: How is your relationship with Jesus? Having really never been asked that question outside religious institutions, I had to be completely honest and say that, like any relationship, it ebbs and flows, but He always leads me back to deep connectedness with Himself eventually. This train of conversation continued again for a few minutes and included some other topics. 

THEN RANDOMLY, during a lull in conversation, he asked me question #3: What do I believe about satan? At this point, I had to be really honest and tell him what I knew from the Bible, but that I hadn't ever really thought through my personal thoughts on satan and evil spirits, etc. 

All in all... it was a little awkward. But it was life. And it was real. We don't believe in the same things; he doesn't believe in the things that his church does. But it was absolutely apparent from our brief conversation that he loves people and wants to know people. Which made me realize that the Bible is right (which, I guess, really shouldn't be a shocker to me) when God says "But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect..." (1 Peter 3.15). Someone asked me to articulate what I believed about Jesus, His church and His enemy. And I have to admit, I was not as prepared as I could have been.

So the question today is: how would you answer those questions? No matter what religious or non-religious background you have, how do you articulate what beliefs you hold? What make you who you are? What do you value? In what or in whom is your hope placed?

Hopefully, the next time I'm at Starbucks presented with questions like that, I'll be prepared to answer. Cause apparently you never know what can happen at Starbucks. =)

Talk Thursday // 'Fess Up

Confession time:

I love hymns.

It's true. I know that hymns don't jive with being relevant in our postmodern world, but I just can't help myself. Bulwarks and Ebenezers and being washed in the blood of the Lamb...it moves me. My world could live in the Southern Baptist Hymnal (from 1994). And I won't even begin to discuss how I feel about Maranatha music! ;)

The second part to my little confession is that I don't really care for much of the new praise and worship music coming out right now (except for Chris Tomlin's new song "Jesus Messiah" - I LOVE that!). The problem is that I compare them lyrically and melodically and theologically. I'm trying to be better, but sometimes I just get "whelmed" in the music.

So here's the question:

Are you old-school or new-school? Do you love the "golden oldies" caught in that musty smell of the hand-held hymnal? Or are you excited to read your words on PowerPoint, slammin' with Chris Tomlin and Crowder and Darlene Zscheck and the Hillsong gang? If you love hymns, what's your favorite?

And check out the new posts on SereYodh - Jonah 1. =)

A coward. And a scalliwag.

Okay...maybe not a scalliwag. But definitely a coward.

This week has been "LifeShare" week. I signed up to be intentional and bold with my faith and my speech. We prayed together for courage and boldness and I was pumped.

Then it got personal.

The challenge was to invite a friend to church. Either the internet church or the one we attend personally.

And I chickened out. Like a little girl.

See, being bold isn't so hard when it's people I can't see face-to-face. It's not so hard when I know those of you who read this. It's not so hard when I don't have to ask you questions and face awkward moments.

It's hard when you have to ask a friend to engage in something very personal and very intimate and very inciting.

All they can say is no. I guess if they wanted to, my friends could punch me in the face for asking. But I doubt it. There is no risk on my life; all there is the potential for a little weirdness.

There is however, risk on their's if I don't speak the Truth, if I don't allow opportunities for the Lord to work.

Yesterday, my pastor said "Bravery isn't the absense of fear; it's doing something in spite of being afraid." I can't be bold or intentional in my life, in my words, in my relationships if I live in fear of what could happen.

So, please pray for me. That I'll let the Lord's braverism (yes, it's a word) work through me to be obedient to Him. And I'll be praying for you that you'll be bold and intentional in your life as well.

WebChurch...Round 2 tonight

Well, I joined up with the LifeShare crew tonight and it was amazing. People were praying for each other, people they'd never met. Someone even prayed for me and I don't know them from Adam!
So if you want to watch or join, here's the proper link, as given to me by the paster over there.
11am tomorrow morning and other times this weekend! Check it out!

Love you guys!

***So I missed last night's LifeChurch. But I'll be there tonight!

8pm, CST (that's 6pm for you West Coasters) over at LifeChurch.tv. Since I wasn't there, I don't know if my links are broken or not. Hopefully they're ok.

But check it out.


Also, today's "word of the day" - tintinnabulation. Any guess?

See ya tonight!! =)

Church on the Web? What?!

The Internet is a funny thing. It's only been around for barely a generation, yet it's become a HUGE part of life. I know that if I don't check my Facebook/blog/Gmail/Xanga on a regular basis, I get a little panicky.

So here we are. Doing an aspect of life in the binary world. Yes, there are real people on the other sides of these screens, but for all practical purposes, the web is an outlet, an extension of a culture - not who we are, but maybe what we want to be.

Which makes it difficult sometimes to live life. I'll be honest, it's MUCH easier for me to tell the internet how I feel about some situation or internal conflict than it is to tell another person. I can edit my thoughts until they come out sounding pretty decent (I think). There's little stammering and I can make whatever point I want without interruption.

But my hope for this blog (and for a community of bloggers) is to live life intentionally. There are blogs I read everyday that shout community, reality, honesty, authenticity and love from every post.

So how to do we, as a web-community, do that here? Not forsaking the community of the people we actually live with, but also having purpose and passion here. How does that work? Can it?

Well, some of the people over at LifeChurch.tv are trying something new. They want to develop authenticity and community in this space that so many of us give so much time to. For the next week, they are hosting church via the Web. Weird? A little. But it's reaching people that may not normally go to "real-life" church.

The message is Jesus Christ and Him resurrected. This is just a new way to do it.

Starting tonight @ 8pm, CST, check out LifeChurch.tv. Engage in the worship, listen to the sermons, chat with people worshipping the same God all over the world.



Is this too much? Cool? What do you think?

Hellfire & Brimstone

I think I'm bothered by something. And I don't know if I should be bothered or if it's the way things are and I need to just move on.

The other day I was discussing with someone some ideas about preaching out of Joel and Jonah. He asked me to look over some verses and get back to him with my thoughts. Two questions were raised and, really each deserves a post of it's own, but I'll try to condense it. He wondered how he would preach out of the prophets based on all the judgment going on in the prophecy; it's hard for congregations to listen to judgment sermons and not get lost is what I imagine he meant by that. He also asked why people would want to hear a sermon based on Jonah or Joel - other than people who want to just because it's in the Bible.

That's why.

And this is what bothers me.

I believe that as Christians grow in their maturity, in their faith, in their relationship with the Lord and with fellow believers, they should want to read the Bible because it's the Bible. Do we always? No. I was a Bible major for 4 years and there were days I had to read something and I simply wouldn't. Cause I just didn't want to. Some parts of the Bible are as entertaining as getting your teeth cleaned, listening to smooth jazz, driving through Kansas. I know this.

But we should want to. Not because of some legalistic reasoning or because we have to get "right" with God, to improve "our walk." It's the Word of God. It's awesome. I can't even begin to describe how utterly cool I think the Bible is, both from a spiritual and literary perspective.

I think the biggest reason people DON'T want to read their Bibles or study the Word is because they don't know how to. They haven't been given the opportunity to realize how cool it is.

When was the last time you heard a sermon preached on one of the minor prophets? Joel, Amos, Hosea, Malachi, Habbakuk, etc? I know people who don't even know that those are books in the Bible! Because they haven't been introduced. And I can think of very few people who are going to try and do it on their own. Because we are removed from their time and their language and their culture. However, that barrier doesn't make it any less applicable for us today. God's word is living and breathing, and it cuts across time and distance and language to reach us today.

If we choose not to preach and teach parts of Scripture that are difficult or hard to understand, we are going to miss out on telling people about the awesome God we serve.

So often people color God as distant and mean and destructive and cold. This is based on the little they know of the God of the OT. He's not a Gandalf-type God with a flowing beard and a robe who listens to angels play their harps. Nor is He is mean and judgmental God who waits to throw lightening bolts on people when they sin.

The God of the OT and of today is love and joy and restoration and comfort and longing and desire and mercy. He will do anything it takes for people to understand who He and what He longs to be for them. Locusts didn't work, exile didn't work. He even sent Himself in the form of a man to die on a cross for the people He loved. Does that sound like an vindictive or mean god? I don't think it does. His judgment is part and parcel of His great mercy (which is a post for another day). We can't skip over these difficult parts of scripture just because they aren't as "applicable" as Paul.

I think we don't give the people in our congregations enough credit when we think that they can't handle learning new things or things that are hard. Whether they are new Christians or "grew up in the church", people have brains. They are able to hear a word from the Lord, especially if it's HIS word.

This isn't a slam against pastors or teachers or preachers or churches or even my friend. This is just my heart saying that it's vital that we present the whole truth, every aspect of God's character to our churches. I long for people to read the Bible and get drawn into the love story. Because that's what it is.

Chomping at the Bit

I love figures of speech (FIG's, if you will). And this one is my new favorite expression. Mostly because I feel like I am doing just that. Although, in doing so, I'm metaphorically a horse. Which may or may not be a great thing...

At any rate....

Have you ever been in a place where you feel...purposeless? I don't even know if that's a real word, but that's how I feel.

I file.

I play online.

I go to bed.

I file.

I play online.

I go to bed.

Over and over and over and over and over......

I complain about not having time that's "my own", but honestly, I don't know what I'd do if I had that time. I have nothing to work on. No papers to write, nothing to prepare for, no agenda to keep.

So, I live "chomping at the bit", pining for a project or a purpose. (That was lot of 'p's...) I read tons of books with nowhere to file that information. And if I write papers without a class behind it, I just look like a dork.

And it wouldn't be so bad if I hadn't already been feeling this for over a year now.

God, don't You have a plan? Isn't there something I could be doing? If there is, can You please show me? Cause I'm tired of resting. I'm ready to rock the casbah. Let's kick this pig!

Flavor of the Week. Err...Month

One of the blogs I subscribe to has a "flava" of the month to highlight some of the awesome blogs he reads. So, because it's Monday and filing has turned off my brain, I'm going to do that. Granted, I think only 4 of you read this, but I'll still bring out the "flava" and give a shout-out to the people that make my work day go by faster.

LINK LOVE FOR AUGUST:

Whittaker Woman - This is the blog of Heather Whittaker, a mom who lives in the ATL. I don't know her from Adam or Eve, so yes, I feel creepy reading her blog, about her kids and whatnot. However, there is so much love and authenticity there that it I just know, creepy or not, I'm not going to stop reading. I've told her and I think we're cool. But anyway, it's fun and creative. Check it out.

Ragamuffin Soul - Carlos Whittaker is on staff at Buckhead Church in ATL. His blog is a crazy mess of creativity & chaotic awesomeness. Again, it's the authenticity coupled to the random that's kept me hooked to reading it. He's married to Whittaker Woman and it's neat to see the love that is there, even on the webpages.

DBW3 - Dr. Ben Witherington is a professor of New Testament as Asbury Seminary. I first heard of him when he came to SBU in 2006 as a guest lecturer and it was not love at first hearing. But, over time, reading his work has matured my reading lens on Scripture. It's crazy how prolific he is. If you like the NT (and you can't say you don't b/c it's Jesus!), you should check out this blog.

The Prodigal Jon - Jon Acuff has a plethora of blogs and sadly, yes, I subscribe to all of them. Stuff Christians Like is a sarcastic and brilliant look at the Christian sub-culture we live in. If you work in a cubicle, don't read this; you'll look dumb trying to not laugh out loud. Very funny. I thank my roomie often for turning me onto it. 97secondswithgod is a daily devotional-esque walk through the Bible. He's just finished Genesis and is starting into Exodus. It's not expository in nature, but it's good. Really, really good. He has other ones, so you just need to go read them. But I will say that The Prodigal Jon is my favorite. Easily.

These are just the "big kids" of the blogging world (at least the minute part of it that I read). Next month there will be more.


Who do you read consistently? Do you read to pass the time or is the highlight of your day? =)






And yes, I just learned how to link. I feel cool. =)