Last year for Holy Trinity Sunday, I brought an extension cord, an electric tea kettle, and water for a demonstration for the children's sermon. This year, we had something even better: dry ice!
It wasn't my idea. I've been afraid of dry ice since learning of its damaging qualities; my uncle was bullied by bigger kids holding him down and burning his stomach with a chunk of dry ice. A Sunday School leader was much more bold than I, and she was up for a quest. She arrived with dry ice in the cooler.
We had fun before church pouring water on the ice and moving our hands through the resulting steam. The adults did discuss whether or not the youth would remember the larger lessons of the Triune God. Who can say?
In some ways, the rest of the day was downhill. It's hard to compete with dry ice. I came prepared with a different metaphor: braids of bread, the same dough with different add-ins (red hots, chocolate chips, and butterscotch chips), same essence/substance but different experiences.
At one point, I thought about having bread braids as part of the adult sermon too. I thought about having the congregation pull the strands apart while we talked about the different ways we perceive the Divine. In the end, I decided it would be too messy, for both youth and adults. I decided that those who wanted to could take a loaf home with them.
I ended up with a lot of bread, and based on what was left, everyone who really wanted a loaf was able to take one home.
Will congregation members remember the bread or will it inspire deeper thoughts about the Trinity? I think about the words of Jesus in the Gospel for the day, John 3: 8: “8The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
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