When I got to Faith Lutheran Church yesterday, I had one idea for the youth sermon. I had a braided bread, and I was going to talk about how we're braided together with the people who came before us and the people will come after us. And that was part of the youth sermon.
But when I got to the sacristy, I saw a basket of autumnal gourds, and I decided to enlarge the sermon. I moved the basket to the piano that's in front of the pew where the youth come sit for the sermon:
We talked about saints and how we only hear about their good aspects. But saints come in all varieties, like the gourds. I talked about Saint Paul, how if there had been no Paul, we probably wouldn't be here as Christians, that's how important he was to spreading the faith. And yet, what did he do before God knocked him off his horse?
I was a little surprised that the kids didn't know. But that's fine, I'm happy to be the one to break the news: Paul was killing Christians. I could see the surprise in their faces.
I talked a bit about the variety in gourds and how it's like the variety in humans--how glorious! And then the braided bread, and then we were done. I think it went well.
In fact, as with many days, I thought the youth sermon was better than the adult sermon. Some weeks, that depresses me. But most weeks, I'm grateful to have ideas for both, and I'm hopeful that one or the other speaks to the congregation.
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