Preaching Today's Films

I'm preparing for a workshop in Berkeley in January, helping Mike Rhodes of filmclipsonline.com teach "Preaching With Film Clips" during the E.T. Earl Lectures at Pacific School of Religion.

To do this I thought I should watch whatever I can see in the theaters in the next couple of weeks.

Yesterday I saw "Sherlock Holmes." I thought I'd go just to enjoy the 21st century rendering of the great 19th century figure, but was unexpectedly treated to lessons in New Testament theology!

In a day or so I'll post what I gleaned...as Holmes says...it's in "the little details." I think this film is a good one for preaching in Lent 2010 and I'll tell you why shortly!

Christmas Idea

Here is a simple PowerPoint suggestion for use on Christmas Eve or with any coming Christmas events.

Last week we held our Christmas pageant in the sanctuary. The woman in charge set up a PowerPoint presentation using this concept:

1)slide with a drawing of the sun, high in the sky

2)in the next slide, the position of the sun is in the middle of the slide (sky)

3)next position in the lower right corner

4)next slide is a night sky with about a dozen stars

5)the next slide inserts the Christmas Star into that night sky

This simple presentation was shown on the sanctuary wall in the chancel, above and behind the actors in the pageant. No screen was used, only the wall...and with the light color of the wall it was clear for all to see.

The slides were advanced as the story advanced, so that the story began in the "daytime" with the sun above, and as the story went on, the sun began to set until the stars appeared. When the angels appeared so did the Bethlehem Star.