…on the second fiddle
Where does the preacher sit before preaching? Out the front, like wares on display? In the relative obscurity of the pew, ready to appear when the moment comes? I tend to favour the latter. Last night I was sandwiched between a 13-year old ho had provided some of the artwork for the service, and another of the same age whose job was to present it in story form. He wrapped and unwrapped his fingers nervously around the powerpoint controller for the 25 minutes until his moment came – and then did it brilliantly. Along with his illustrated version of the Prodigal Son story, there was the video you see below, an interview of two youth leaders about their teenage years, by teenagers. There were readings, prayers, music and some of the most creative prayer ‘stations’ you have ever seen – all devised by the young people of the church. Of course, these things don’t just happen. It takes co-ordination, encouragement, coaxing and above all , love, to bring out the best. In all of these, their leader has excelled.
On such an occasion, the preacher sits very much within a bigger event and process. My sermon, when it came, began with George Lucas and the monomyth behind Star Wars, proceeded via the tension of the spinning top in Inception and the clash between the two ‘sons’ in Skyfall and ended with a visit to the hospital bed of a dying man and the kitchen of a UVF terrorist. The message, seen through all these ‘lenses’, was that ‘its not over til its over’. For these young people, with their enthusiasm, creativity and nascent faith, a truer word has never been said. Watch this space…