Interactive Pentecost

Our church's 9:45 Worship Together service tries to do several things, and one of them is to have us all interact with the Biblical texts:  we sing, we do our best to sign, we look for ways we see the Bible intersecting with our lives, we act out the stories, we do a variety of art projects.  It's a small group, so there's no sitting there watching others interact.

On Sunday, I confess that I wanted to just sit.  But I'm a good sport, so I pushed through my lethargic mind set.

We divided into two groups.  One group would tell the story of Pentecost using the language of puppets, and the other group would use the language of pantomime.  I was in the pantomime group.  We could use props, but no words.

We cut flames out of paper.  We made fans to simulate the wind.  I was Peter, and I found it strangely easy to mime the speech found in Acts 2.

The hope is that we will all remember the Pentecost story long after Sunday morning.  We've been part of it, after all.

Yes, I know that the hope of every worship planner is that we remember the stories and lessons of each Sunday long after we go home. 

But I left church energized--all my lethargy expelled.  If I had gone to our larger service, I doubt that would have happened.

I love having the option to have an interactive service.  I often tell people that we're creating this service for our children who need something different.

Sunday was a potent reminder that many days, adults need something different too.