Scripture
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Palm Sunday – Tale of Three Trees
For this Palm Sunday, I brought back a pageant that we did several years ago, an adapted version of The Tale of Three Trees. Having just finished a Lent series focused on trees, it seemed appropriate to do so. Afterwards, I had three stations for people to visit to reflect on the story. Depending on…
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Into the Woods: A Journey into Lent
This is a 5-part series intersecting care for the environment with the season of Lent. While there aren’t in-depth worship ideas in this particular post, I did want to show how worship can also weave in a fundraiser with opportunities to fellowship. This is how we took advantage of what our city has to offer.…
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Let’s Eat: The Food of Our Faith
This is a 8-part series on food stories in the bible and how that informs our faith. On the chancel, we stacked food boxes collected from our weekly food pantry and set the large communion table covered with a white table cloth in the middle of the sanctuary. Each Sunday, the table dressing changed according…
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Interactive Reading of Luke 2
This interactive reading was adapted from another source. Introduce the characters and practice each part. Give instructions that they will perform their parts after their words are read in the Christmas story. Below are just suggestions, but you can simplify it by having everyone do all the parts. I made signs to prompt them. Characters City …
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Mary Advent “Wreath”
For the Advent season, we did a worship series focusing on Mary. Using the Song of Mary (Luke 1:46-55), we looked at the different roles Mary had in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ: Mother, Witness, Revolutionary, and Disciple. Each Sunday, the choir sang a different version of Ave Maria. The youth had an…
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“In the Beginning” Installation
For our worship series focusing on the Creation story, I draped verses from Genesis 1 on the ceiling. I used colors for the letters inspired by Van Gogh’s Starry Night. I wanted people to feel like they were under the starry night sky. Supplies: Cardstock Paper, Black Ribbon, Hanging Hooks, Hole Punch, Scissors Tip: tape…
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Matthew 25 Installation
As a summer online worship series, my congregation focused on Matthew 25:34-40. We recorded zoom conversations with different organizations that St. John’s are in partnership with, such as the SF Marin Food Bank, Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity, Habitat for Humanity, and San Francisco Night Ministry. We hung banners inspired by Matthew 25 as well…
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A Beautiful Faith in the Neighborhood: Worship Online
During Shelter-in-place, we have been pre-recording worship services. Worship planning has felt more like producing a TV show once a week. When my friend, Rev. Corey Nelson, pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Fort Collins, CO, asked me if I wanted to plan worship together, I jumped at the chance. At first, we thought it…
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Psalms: Worship Online
Like many faith communities who had to move from worshipping face to face to worshipping online, I struggled with how to transfer what we do liturgically into on online format. I struggled to find authentic ways to keep people connected while we were physically apart. I especially struggled with how to provide spiritual care in…
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Paper-Making: The Kingdom of Heaven Is Like . . .
This is an 8-Sunday series, I did on the Kingdom of Heaven parables in Matthew. What strung these Sundays together was a making paper activity. Below are highlights of what was done each Sunday. Why Parables? Scripture: Parable of the Soils “Jesus’ disciples came and said to him, ‘Why do you use parables when you…
Still Waters 