4/7InkzHVUEQeEdU9vpc1tikzEhChrKmPfvXI-FSDBrBQ

Children in Worship

Adult Object Lesson: Luke 10:1-11,16-20

ducksJesus Sends His Followers 2×2

Note: For the first time we are including a musical offering to enhance the object lesson. It’s at the end.

It is summer and the seaside will attract many of us for some rest and relaxation.

Waves are our object for today. If you use a projector in worship, use photos of waves. Or stir up your own waves in a large glass bowl.

There is something refreshing about staring at the motion of water and particularly the sea. It doesn’t matter if the waves reach gently for dry land or crash with untamable power onto the rocks and shoreline. We can’t take our eyes off the beauty, the power, and the fact that we have no control over it. The water will have its way!

Today’s gospel, Luke 10:1-11, 16-20, is about a great sending. Jesus sends 7o apostles ahead of him in pairs or 2×2 (for which our ministry is named).

Jesus gives a list of Spartan instructions, which are designed to make sure the mission is not forgotten. Take nothing for yourself. Try to reach everyone, but don’t waste time if ears and minds are closed.

The thought that God is relying on us is humbling.

There is a warning that things might not always go smoothly. The message they will be preaching will at times be harsh. People WILL have a hard time hearing it.

Jesus includes some fire and brimstone. (Some of this is in the excluded verses. Go ahead and read them.)

The 70 have a pretty good first maiden voyage. They return to Jesus impressed with the power that Jesus gave them.

Who knows how many times these first apostles reached out to new people? How many shores did they reach? How many times did they return to the water of their baptism for revival?

That’s what your adult learners can think about as they watch the waves this summer, returning again and again to the sea, reaching ever higher toward land as the tide rises.

The job we, as modern apostles, are asked to do remains challenging. We still face rejection.

Sometimes the path will be pleasant and rewarding, but there is no promise that the sea will always be gentle. Yet, it is with the power of the Word that we reach out. We are to take no pride in this power. We are fortunate to have the relationship with the Lord and the promise of heaven.

This is a complex analogy for adult learners but today’s lesson can include the children of the congregation by having all join together with one or both of the following songs which relate to today’s gospel. One is a 2×2 original. We’ve paired it with an American spiritual.

It is designed to be fun. Having fun together as a congregation is a good educational tool. You can exclude the parts in parentheses and some of the rhythms if you want your worship to be more formal.

To help you learn the songs there’s a homemade audio to give you the basic tune. This is our first venture in offering music. We’ll get better at it. Promise.

2×2 song

2×2

(Each x indicates a clap)

Two by two x
Two by two x
Jesus sent apostles out two by two
And they preached. xx
And they taught. xx
They made the demons take a walk. (Get lost!)
Jesus sent apostles out
Two x by x two. xx

Two by two x
Two by two x
Jesus still is sending us two by two.
We will preach. xx
We will teach. xx
Every nation we must reach. (Each one!)
Jesus sent apostles out (Knock on pew) xx xxx
Jesus sent apostles out (Knock on pew) xx xxx
Jesus sent apostles out
Two x by x two. xx

and / or

You can move directly into a new rhythm and keep it going, rapping on a guitar soundboard or on a pew. Clapping can work, too.

Knock. Knock.
Knock. Knock. Knock. (repeat throughout the next song)

The American Spiritual: Somebody’s knocking at your door

The link above is to a more professional rendition of this spiritual, although it is presented in a very fun style.

Here’s our humble effort: Somebody’sKnocking

Somebody’s knocking at your door.
Somebody’s knocking at your door.
Oh, sinner. Why don’t you answer?
Somebody’s knocking at your door.

Knocks like Jesus.
Somebody’s knocking at your door.
Can’t you hear him?
Somebody’s knocking at your door.
Oh, sinner, why don’t you answer?
Somebody’s knocking at your door.

Somebody’s knocking at your door.
Somebody’s knocking at your door.
Oh, sinner. Why don’t you answer?
Somebody’s knocking at your door.

Close with the traditional knock:

Knock. Knock.   Knock, knock, knock.

Shout: Who’s there?

You can use this same closing knock on 2×2 Song if you use only one of the songs.

photo credit: wili_hybrid via photopin cc
01 Jul 2013

Why Adult Object Lessons? Aren’t They for Kids?

We’ve explained this before but not for about a year. We’ve gained a lot of experience since then. Last year, search engines brought a lot of people looking for object lessons to 2×2 (about 16,000!)

Other websites present ideas for children’s object lessons. Redeemer contributed regularly to one site, posting our weekly children’s sermon. We didn’t have our own site at the time. We learned something in that process. The object lessons were enjoyed more by the adults present.

Adults have the ability to think abstractly. Children are developing this ability. Most won’t be ready to understand an object lesson until after they stop running to the front of the church and stay behind with the adults.

There are probably no studies on whether or not it works. We doubt it.

2×2 witnessed a children’s sermon last Pentecost. For once there were children in church! 

A lay person was delivering this message. Often that is a good move. Many pastors lack training in teaching children and it shows.

The children were eager listeners.

The teacher had a few balloons. She blew one up and fwwooff. She let the air out and the balloon flew across the chancel and will probably be retrieved from behind a decorative screen 20 years from now.

Did the children understand the Pentecost message about being filled with the Holy Spirit? One child begged for a balloon the whole time the teacher was talking. Concrete thinking! The other children listened pleasantly and eagerly as the teacher filled a second balloon with air.

The concept she was teaching makes sense to adults. The adults present were observing and pondering the Holy Spirit and how we cannot control it.

The children were somewhere else. Interestingly, one girl was still thinking about the previous week’s children sermon. We weren’t present for that but it was clear that the teacher had directed the children’s attention to a stained glass window depicting the Ascension.

This girl had probably been thinking about this all week. She still had questions.

“Last week you said we were going to say good-bye to Jesus and we never did.”

A week has passed and it’s still on her mind! Can you remember last week’s sermon?

This exchange went unanswered—a teaching moment lost. In this case there was no object with a special meaning—just a story and a picture.

Children understand stories and pictures.  Adults understand object lessons.

2×2 provides object lessons geared to an analysis of scripture for adult learners because object lessons work best with adults.

We are preparing to publish our first book of Adult Object Lessons which will follow the Standard Lectionary. We hope you will enjoy it.

14 Jun 2013

Adult Object Lesson: Jesus’ View of Jerusalem (Luke 13:31-35)

Joseph of Arimathea carrying the body of Christ.

Savoldo, Giovanni Girolamo (c. 1480 – 1548)
Christ with Joseph of Arimathea

The people of Jerusalem:

Remembering Their Names

Today’s story is about the actions of a city. Jerusalem as a body of people is center stage.

Today’s “object” is the old children’s ditty that is meant to teach the meaning of “church.”

NOTE: The message can be taught to both children and adults, but they are likely to require different emphases. Adults need to ponder with maturity their actions within a group, while children are still learning the skills to act independently.

Here’s the children’s finger game:

Fold your hands with the fingers interlocking and bending over the back of your hand—the most traditional way.

Here’s the church.

Point your two index fingers skyward to make the church spire.

Here’s the steeple.

Spread your thumbs outward.

Open the doors. Where are the people?

There will be no people!

Now fold your hands with your fingers interlocking and bent inside the fold—toward the palms.

Repeat the poem.

Here’s the church. Here’s the steeple. Open the doors.

Now when you spread your thumbs outward. You can see the fingers.

Here are the people.

Today’s Gospel is leading us to think about the people of God as a group. Our actions, as a group, take on personality and power. We think of this as a good thing. It certainly is rooted in the Bible and God’s view of His creation. He names a Chosen People. They carry a lot of weight as such.

Jesus refers to his longing that the people of Jerusalem be gathered together under his protection, but they are unwilling.

When we think of God’s people today, we think of people who do good things and trust and obey God. We think of correct behavior as being found within the safety of numbers—no matter how often history proves this isn’t true.

Jesus starts out condemning Jerusalem, the City of Peace, from the start. They have a reputation, those Jerusalem folks. It is the city that turns on the prophets.

Jesus will ride into this city to the cheers of the people.

Jesus will walk out of the city to their collective scorn.

The path to this drama is foreshadowed in today’s text. We are privileged in reading it to know what is coming.

The people are given one opportunity after another to make things right—at every level of power—but collectively they just can’t muster the courage.

There is no guaranteed safety in numbers — even within the church. Collectively we can still do the wrong thing. In these moments, individuals in the church can shine. It is not easy and often the Church discourages it. They may succeed. Often, they do not.

That’s why saints are called by name.

They act as individuals within groups that are ethically or morally challenged. The problem may be isolated. The group generally may be good. But something about them, at one moment, just isn’t right.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, for example, stood alone against the Nazis. Martin Luther King, Jr. raised his voice to a nation that wasn’t ready to hear him. Both were killed—one by an authorized group, the other by a lone gunmen who felt empowered by the sentiments of others.

Jesus will have just one person who steps from the crowd on the way to Calvary. Joseph of Arimathea will stand alone before Pilate as the people of Jerusalem assemble on the hill. He alone will not follow that crowd. He will be the one person in a large city to speak up—unafraid or afraid.  He wasn’t part of the inner circle as far as we know—the properly vetted spokesman for Christ. He was one man acting without support of any organization. Many others know that what is going on is wrong. One will act.

We remember his name.

18 Feb 2013

Chasing the Elusive Demographic — the Young

A New Ministry for a New Age

Church has long recognized that it has trouble connecting with the young. For several decades it was taken for granted that our youth would disappear in high school and return with their children in their twenties.

The benign neglect of this demographic is now haunting us.

Young people began putting off parenthood until their 30s or 40s. A two-decade absence was insurmountable. Add to that the demands of the modern family, including high divorce rates and intensive community commitments, and you have an entire population missing from church life.

Time has only widened the demographic.

Our Ambassador visits reveal that the problem demographic is now pre-school through 40.

This should alarm congregations.

We won’t pretend to have all the answers, but we had some of them. Redeemer’s membership, though small, had every age group represented with a good representation of families with young children and a small group of active youth. Our cradle roll was showing particular promise when SEPA Synod decided to vote us closed without our knowledge.

Whatever it was we were doing right, we have learned even more in the last few years.

We took our ministry online. 2x2virtualchurch.com is the voice of Redeemer, East Falls. We are about to celebrate the second anniversary of our launch.

We are pioneers in social media ministry and we have attracted attention from church leaders all over the world.

As of this month, we average more than 2000 readers per month. This doesn’t count readers who subscribe by email, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. This adds another 200 daily readers.

These social media channels are valuable in growing our ministry. They help us identify our readers.

Surprise! Most of our readers fit the very demographic missing in bricks and mortar churches. Our subscribers tend to be in their 20s and 30s. They are from any number of ethnic backgrounds. They tend to be adventurous in lifestyle and involved in making spiritual connections online. Many of them blog on spiritual subjects.

They are timid to comment online but tend to write to us by email.

Another demographic is beginning to emerge. From time to time (we wish more often) we publish resources we hope are helpful to other small congregations. Some of them are from our archives of things we used in our own worship.

Our church was unique in that most of our members spoke English as a third language and learned music by ear, not by reading from hymnals. Our early attempt to use published resources flopped. We started writing our own resources that could be performed simply and without expensive professional leadership.

Last year, we posted an Easter/Holy Week play that Redeemer produced and performed for the community in 2008. It sat there all year getting little attention.

At Christmastime 2012, readers started to find it. It has been downloaded 700 times in the last month.

Our Adult Object Lessons, based on the Common Lectionary and published weekly, are also attracting a following and are beginning to engage readers.

Will our ministry ever be seen as worthy to the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod who claimed our assets with the unsupported rationale that we were incapable of fulfilling our “missional” purpose?

They are unlikely to budge.

Meanwhile, Redeemer will keep moving! We think the survival of the church in the next 100 years depends on learning the skills we are pioneering today. We’ll be glad to share our adventure.

15 Jan 2013

Adult Object Lesson: Mark 9:38-50

The lesson today is about creating boundaries.

Today’s object is a goldfish in a bowl.

In Mark 9:38-50, the disciples are upset with some copycat miracle workers who are exorcising demons in Jesus’ name. The disciples bring the matter to Jesus’ attention. Someone is stepping on your (they probably meant “our”) territory.

Hey! They had tried to stop them. But the scoundrels just weren’t listening! Surely, Jesus would put the demon chasers in their place.

The disciples wanted Jesus to draw a line — decide who were the true followers of Christ. Keep the kingdom tidy.

But Jesus dismisses the disciples’ concerns. He focuses on them.

He encourages the disciples to loosen up. These new miracle workers aren’t going to diminish His abilities. Why bother drawing lines between people who are working for the same cause?

Here’s a little known fact about goldfish. They were naturally plain old, grey carp.

Japanese and Chinese hobbyists carefully bred their pets to bring out the bright colors.

Today, goldfish are known for their splendor.

And where did it get them? Today most of the beautiful goldfish, chosen for their color and carefully bred to ensure colorful offspring, are kept in a bowl. The chosen fish are destined to live their lives separated from other fish and the world. They will swim all day, every day, in circles peering through their concave barriers at the world they were part of back when they were grey. Their beauty has indeed set them apart — to what end?

Talk with your congregation about the walls they might be putting up between themselves and the rest of God’s glorious creation. Why do the barriers seem like a good idea? When the harshest barriers are at last broken, what result was feared? What result actually came about?

  • The walls between faiths.
  • The walls between denominations.
  • The walls between genders and races.
  • The walls between educated workers and manual labor.
  • The walls between old and young.
  • The walls of culture and language.

Think about the disciples. Did their special status as chosen children of God divide them from the world or prepare them to join the world?

What about us? What walls do we put up? What purpose do we think they serve? What unintentional purposes result?

photo credit: Bob.Fornal via photopin cc
24 Sep 2012

A Pastor’s Secret Transformation Weapon

The Children’s Sermon As Catalyst

A pastor may think that a children’s sermon is a waste of time. The children might be better off somewhere else, engaged in age appropriate activities.

The children’s sermon time is so much more. It is a golden opportunity to introduce change to your congregation.

Many pastors do little more than talk at the children—a watered down “trailer” of the 20-minute version about to come.

It is painfully obvious in many cases that the pastor has little experience talking to children. All those years of seminary study so you can expound to five-year-olds!

The children’s sermon is a time when you can communicate to everyone. Many adult Christians have not been well-schooled in church matters. This is an opportunity to not only reach the children but to review basic church teachings without “talking down” to the adults.

You can experiment in the few minutes you spend with the children. Few will object. It is a chance to create the experience modern worship so desperately needs—something that people will remember and talk about when they go home and off to work.

In the business world, this is called creating a “remarkable” experience. Business people know that their best advertisers (evangelists) are customers (congregants). They aim to provide the best service possible so that the customer/congregant talks about his or her experience.

Most worship services are fairly predictable in format and even in content. They are no doubt meaningful to the congregants, but few are anything anyone will talk about during the week or even remember a few days later. (Quick! What hymns did you sing in church last week?)

More people will be tuned in for a ten-minute children’s lesson than for the full 20-minute version. Use this opportunity to create a “remarkable” experience.

This is a pastor’s opportunity to introduce change without objection. Congregants may not even notice that the praise song you taught the children last week is the sermon hymn this week.

The children’s sermon is an excellent opportunity to introduce media, teach the kids (and adults) to move in liturgical dance, practice a new prayer technique, read a story or poem, or perform a little drama. Don’t put a stopwatch on the activity. Some sermons may be five minutes long. But if people are engaged, milk the moment.

Here is a list of guidelines.

  • Don’t treat the adults as passive bystanders. Engage them in music, question and answers, or other activities. Enlist their help. They will be more likely to step up to help the children then if you asked them to do something for their peers. Ask a choir member to lead or teach a new song, for example. Or have an usher explain what happens to the coins the children put into the offering plate. It will strengthen your congregation’s sense of community.
  • Don’t be afraid of repetition. Kids love it. Adults learn from it, too.
  • Don’t be afraid of interaction. Throw out a question to the adults. Better yet, have the children ask questions. Imagine one of your older members telling the story at work: “In church yesterday, a little girl asked me a question . . . .” 

It’s all about story-telling. We all love to tell the story. The children’s sermon can be the vehicle for congregational story-telling. And this can lead to transformation.

photo credit: Jenn Durfey via photo pin cc
07 Sep 2012

Adult Object Lesson: September 9, 2012

A Gospel Story for the Dogs

Mark 7:24-37

Today’s object is a dog. Use a stuffed dog, a picture of a dog, or even your own pet. You might consider using two stuffed dogs—one of pedigree to represent the Jews and one of less definite breeding to represent the Gentiles.

Mark tells two stories in this Sunday’s Gospel.

The first story tells Jesus’ hesitance to extend his message  beyond the people of Israel. Jesus uses the metaphor of children and dogs.

Is is right to take the food meant for your children and throw it to the dogs? he asks.

The Gentile women is quick-witted. Her answer impresses the great teacher. Even the dogs eat the children’s crumbs and that’s all I’m asking for — a crumb.

Jesus hears the woman and is moved. Her daughter is healed.

Point out the woman could have stormed off in a huff at being likened to a dog. Even today, as lovable as our pets are, we don’t refer to someone as a dog without expecting a fight! But this woman stood up to the miracle worker — who might have struck her down on the spot for impertinence.

You can talk a bit about the most endearing quality of dogs — their loyalty and trust — qualities that played out in today’s lesson.

The second story is about the man with a speech impediment. It, too, is a strange story. Jesus takes the man aside and heals him in private of his speech impediment. For the first time in his life this man can speak and be understood. Jesus orders the crowd, who reappear at the end of the story, to keep the report of this miracle under wraps.

You can tie the dog analogy to this second lesson. A favorite trick to teach a dog is to speak or bark upon command. It’s a lot harder to teach a dog to be quiet! Yet that is what Jesus asks of the healed man and the crowd of people.  “Do not tell anyone.”

Order your dog or dog object to not bark. If you have a group of children or youth, you might enlist them in your story-telling by asking them ahead of time to bark whenever you give the order “do not bark” or “be quiet.”

These passages remain a bit puzzling. Why was Jesus reluctant to heal a child of a non-Jew? Later, why did he charge people to do something that goes entirely against human nature?

Why do we hesitate to embrace people different from us? Why do we admire dogs of pedigree?

What stands in our way of telling the Good News?

photo credit: 27147 via photo pin cc
04 Sep 2012

Adult Object Lesson: September 2, 2012

Be Doers of the Word

Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9, Psalm 15, James 1:17-27, Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Today’s object is a hand mirror.

Begin the talk with something about you in obvious disarray. Your hair might be disheveled or your shirt buttoned wrong or you might have a mismatched or missing earring or if you are robed, wear your stole backward. Having created a visual flaw, look into your hand mirror and discover the flaw.

Today’s combined lectionary readings examine God’s reaction to human flaws.

Retell briefly the story of Moses and God’s refusal to grant him the reward of entering the Promised Land after Moses had grown old leading the Israelites through the desert. For all the hard work of keeping a disgruntled people together on an arduous, perilous journey, Moses had to face his failings—his tendency to doubt.

The passage from James reminds us that God gives us the power to do more than hear God’s Word. We must act.

James asks us to look in the mirror. If we look in the mirror and do not like what we see we are compelled to do something about it.

The Gospel from Mark focuses on the interpretation of Jewish dietary laws. Jesus listens to the questions and criticism of the scribes and responds by pointing out that defilement comes from within. It isn’t bad or wrong food that gives the Devil its power. It is what is lacking within our hearts and minds.

Coupled with James insistence that Christians act upon what they learn from scripture the concluding message for today’s object lesson is to look into our mirrors every day. If we don’t like what we see, do something about it.

End your object lesson by fixing your obvious flaw.

Keep your lesson upbeat. Self-examination is difficult even when we have balloon-sized egos. Many people feel bad about themselves as it is. Offer encouragement, help, forgiveness and love as tools to overcome human failings.

Thoughts to keep in mind:

  • There is a related message in the signs posted in public concourses, “If you see something, say something.” (If you hear the Word, do something)
  • The lessons for today coincide appropriately with Labor Day, America’s celebration of the worker.
  • The book of James was such a challenge to early Christians (and even the great reformer, Luther) that it almost wasn’t included in the Bible.
photo credit: MistoAcrilico via photo pin cc
28 Aug 2012

Practicing Happiness Techniques in Worship: Part 1 of 5

Shawn Achor, author of The Happiness Advantage recommends five practices to help foster happiness.

  1. Start each day with “praise and thanksgiving.” Recognize three unique things for which you are grateful.
  2. Write a journal entry daily about something that brought you happiness.
  3. Exercise. 10 minutes per day.
  4. Meditate. 2 minutes per day.
  5. Practice random acts of kindness.

To start, choose just one and practice it religiously for 21 days, he says. It will make a difference.

Applying these ideas to church life may be a key to the “transformation” process which church leaders find so elusive! 

The daily part is hard to manage since Church people rarely gather daily. Find a way to make it a congregational habit. Use your web site to encourage members to take daily initiative personally.

Let’s start with Number 1:
Praise and thanksgiving.

Achor’s advice is start each day identifying three things worthy of praise and thanksgiving.

This should be a cinch for church people.

Redeemer, totally unaware of Achor’s research, began worship with a Praise section, which typically included a nonbiblical but religious reading, some art and the singing of a couple of praise hymns (old and new) before launching the liturgy.

Try this. Start your worship service by asking the congregation to name things for which they are thankful. You might even write them on a flip chart. Follow their list with a prayer and praise hymn (or two). (Beats a lengthy list of announcements!) Try singing hymns a capella or use minimal accompaniment. It is more intimate and develops a congregation’s “ear.” Lay people can lead this section of worship, developing congregational leadership skills.

Liturgies often begin with the confession and absolution, but there shouldn’t be anything innately wrong with a praise prelude performed by the entire congregation. If it won’t work in your tradition, insert the praise section after the absolution.

Use repetition.

Short hymns of praise can be repeated. Most modern praise hymns lend themselves to repetition as they typically have few verses.

Repetition goes against the short attention span of Americans, but it can be meaningful if practiced with enthusiasm. Repetition in worship has a long tradition (chanting, mantras).

Little children love repetition. Songs bring them joy! They haven’t yet learned stoic restraint! Redeemer practiced repetition during our children’s section of worship. If the children enjoyed a song. We sang it two or three times and the children returned to their seats pumped! Soon the adults were repeating hymns in Bible study!

Take requests!

Involve people in their own praise experience. Leaders will learn something about their congregations!

Give it time!

Try this for three months before evaluating.

According to Achor, implementing this one habit will be transformational, improving optimism and increasing success rates.

Please share any ideas you have for how to regularly offer praise and thanksgiving as a congregational transformational tool.

Here’s a quick recap.

  1. Begin every worship service with a praise section.
  2. Ask for praise “offerings” from the congregation. List them.
  3. Use hymns, poetry, prose, and art to enhance praise.
  4. Make the worship as organic as possible, coming from the people.
  5. Use minimal accompaniment.
  6. Don’t be afraid to repeat parts of worship that seem to be especially meaningful at the moment.
  7. Involve people in worship. Take requests.
19 Aug 2012

Object Lesson for May 13, 2012 — A New Commandment

Sunday’s texts are all about love. The gospel is John 15:9-17 and is the focus of much of John’s life teachings—The New Commandment.

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.  (v.15)

It is Jesus’ last but abiding message to the world before returning to heaven.

Such a simple commandment, but so easy for us to forget as we tend to live our lives in a world measured by justice, not love.

Try acting out this scenario.

Tell a few members in advance that they will be taking part in a play. But don’t tell them too much. Make sure they are members with a sense of humor and make them realize that they will be role-playing.

Create a mock court. You might want to put on a black robe or hold a gavel in you hand to indicate that you are changing roles. Use the pulpit as a judge’s bench or stand on the chancel steps, indicating that you are “in charge.”

Have someone declare “Order in the court” and “All rise” as you make your entrance in your new persona.

Introduce yourself as “judge” or add to the unreality with a more gloried made-up title.

Call your pre-selected members forward one by one. Charge them with an infraction. Make something up: nodding off during the sermon, singing off key, arriving late or skipping out before the offering. Nothing serious. Keep it light.

As each one is charged ask him or her to stand aside to await sentencing.

After all your “perpetrators” are properly charged, pose a question to the congregation. Ask them for sentencing ideas. You can do this for each one or generally, depending on how much time you want to devote.

In the end, call all the offenders back and give each one the same sentence: To love one another. You can do this one by one with an elaborate build up ending with “Love one another.” Use your imagination.

Hit the pulpit with your gavel. Send everyone back to his or her seat.

End the mock court signaling your court crier to call “All rise” and declaring the session to be over.

Get rid of the gavel and black robe, return to your role as preacher and elaborate a bit on the message of the day.

10 May 2012