Lessons on Lessons

It's been a long day.

I spent a big chunk of the afternoon trying to figure out what I was going to teach for my final lesson in Sunday School. I had planned to do a lesson on Advent since I was scheduled for the final Sunday of the quarter right before Advent. I learned at service on Sunday that there is a churchwide emphasis on Advent and a special workshop planned for Nov. 25 in the evening.

I thought about the story of the woman at the well (John 4), but really didn't feel any clear "go ahead" on that.

I did some research on the topic of forgiveness. This something I've been thinking a lot about lately and have some good material. It's just that I only have about 45 minutes and that barely seems like enough time to scratch the surface.

The other lessons came so easily. I don't know when I'll get to teach again so I'm feeling some internal pressure to make my final words really count.

I was just sitting here pondering. I thought about asking what lessons you might want to hear. Then I remembered how I had done "sermon in a bag" at the last church I pastored. Over the summer I had people sign up to bring an item in a bag and I would reveal the item right before the offering was collected. During the collection I had a moment to come up with an extemporaneous illustration geared simply enough for a kid's sermon. I loved the challenge. Maybe I should have the class bring in some items and pick a few to talk about in class. It's goofey group, maybe I shouldn't be so trusting....

Oh wait, I forgot an interesting twist to this plot. While I was at Curves working tonight one of the other guys I'm team teaching with called to ask if we could switch our Sundays. He has the 18th and I'm scheduled for the 25th. He's the basketball coach at our hometown university and I'm sure the need to change is schedule driven...and that's okay, it just means I have less time to decide and prepare.

Thankfully, there's still time to pray.