Sometime during the four hours it runs I will give my sermon on the Abraham and Isaac story, with the caveat that I have to do it emotionally (not my nature).
I've always been able to deal with this text cognitively, or even in my own faith journey. Largely, because I ignore many of the emotions that arise from it and questions that it causes for many.
It took me a long time to figure out how to teach it in a way that didn't skip those things. I can give the right answers to most of those questions, but can I do so in a way that validates both the questions and the emotions others feel?
After weeks of thinking, I am hoping that I finally figured out how to do that. I'll be interested to hear my classmatess and teachers' responses and thoughts on the avenue I decided, specifically, on if I hit the goal the way I assume I can. If not, i'll look forward to hearing how to tweak this sermon to make it better.
Either way, it will all be over soon.
How did it go? What feedback did you get?
ReplyDeleteIt went well. It was challenging for me, and the first thing I said when I was done was: "This isn't the type of message I can preach three times in a row on a Sunday."
ReplyDeleteIt was very draining for me emotionally but I got some pretty positive responses from my classmates and teachers.
Seeing as how they heard it just after they had listened to 4 other messages over the last 3 hours, I was just happy they stayed awake.