Saturday, December 19, 2009

Advent--Means of Meditation


Advent is a time of prayer and contemplation as we await the coming of Christ at Christmas. Yet different people pray, contemplate, and meditate in different ways. With this in mind I tried to create a variety of prayer opportunities using both the sanctuary and the newly made memorial garden outside. The worship services occurred Wednesday nights, following a soup supper, but many of the pictures are taken during the day for lighting reasons.






By the inspiration of the youth group, the fire for burning prayers doubles as a s'more making station.


I provided biblical and theological justification...
Inside the sanctuary were more traditional opportunities for prayer--lighting candles, icons for meditation, and healing prayer with a minister.
I tried to create a sense of sacred space by marking the memorial garden with luminarias.
After about half an hour of individual prayer at these stations, the congregation gathered in the sanctuary to sing Holden Evening Prayer.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Micro-Collaborative Monologue

Sometimes the best collaboration takes place between just two people. I wrote and acted out the following monologue, but what really gave it shape was the directing by Elana McKernan. As we worked together to tell to the story of Pontius Pilate we inspired and feed-off one another; both gained an appreciation for the biblical figure that we otherwise would have never had. When I performed the monologue, I brought this experience to it. However, for the vast majority of the congregation, I feel this sermon was simply a passive event created by the professional entertainer pastor. Perhaps if there were a series of such monologues created by different pockets of micro-collaboration, the congregation would see each performance as coming out of the community as a whole, and hence, in some small way, as coming out of each member individually.