Ideas Needed

Friday after Pentecost 19

October 12, 2012

The Lord be with you

Recently we took a “Spiritual Life” survey. Fifty-one items were listed and our members rated them as to how important they are in their spiritual life. Everyone was asked to use a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 meaning “not at all,” 2 meaning “a little,” 3 meaning “moderately,” 4 meaning “quite important,” and 5 meaning “vital.” One item rated was: “Special” worship services (Lenten; Advent; Christmas Eve; etc.).

These special services received an average rating of 4.2, putting it in the “top 10” of things we do at church. In discussing this in our Elders’ meeting, we have decided to expand our offerings of special services.

Our schedule has, in the past, clustered these special services during winter (Advent-Christmas cycle) and spring (Lent-Easter cycle). This coming year we will expand by offering evening services, every other Wednesday, during summer. The dates selected are: June 5, 19, July 3, 17, 31, August 14, and 28.

Why summer? Because people often like to take weekend trips to the mountains or beach. These services will allow us to worship together, even if someone is out of town on the weekend. Who knows, maybe they will also allow someone who would not join us on a Sunday morning to worship with us as well.

There is a problem, however. The general themes used in the Advent-Christmas and Lent-Easter cycles are set by the seasons themselves. Summer offers no such help to the preacher. What to do? What to preach about?

Ah! I have an idea. I’ll let the members of Lamb of God decide. Yes, that will work well.

We will have seven Wednesday services this coming summer so I will need seven topics (unless some of the topics require more than one sermon). So, I’m asking members of Lamb of God to think about what they would like to hear a sermon on. In a few weeks, an insert will be available in church for you to turn in your ideas. Then we will rank them, so I can be sure to cover those topics of greatest interest. (See how optimistic I am? I’m expecting more than seven choices.)

So, what do you want to hear?: A message about baptism in our daily lives?; A message about reconciliation in the family?; A message about the last days?; A message about the incarnation? Maybe you have an unchurched friend who has a question and who would come to the service if they knew their question was being addressed. Give it some thought.

By the way, if you can’t wait to give me your idea in church, or you think you might not be in the worship service when ideas are solicited, you can always leave your idea in a comment on this blog post.

Blessings in Christ,

Pastor