Proper 6 A: Take the Plunge

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Bible Readings: Genesis 18:1-15, 21:1-7, Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19, Romans 5:1-8, Matthew 9:35 - 10:8, 9-23.
Theme: Take the Plunge

About the image:
A combination of two microsoft free clip art and my text.

Listening Song: You Move Me
By Susan Ashton on A Distant Call and Nothing But Pop (pictured at right)

Kid's Story: Abraham
Found in The Picture Strip Bible by Felicity Henderson and Chris Saunderson, Scripture Union, 2001, ISBN 1859994970, page 12 (pictured in an earlier blog)

Drama: Sarah
By Judy Gattis Smith and found in Imaging the Word Volume 2 by Susan A. Blain, Sharon Iverson Glouwens, Catherine O'Callaghan, Grant Spradling (Eds.), United Church Press, 1995, ISBN 0829810331, page 224, (pictured in an earlier blog).

Film Clip: The Princess Diaries
Show the clip where Mia is quite obviously nearly invisible to everyone. Finish the clip when she says "someone sat on me again".

Discussion: On The Princess Diaries
1. Who are the invisible people in our community who feel like Mia or are like the people Jesus saw in Matthew 9:36?
2. How can we help?

Story:Save the Starfish
Found in More Hot Illustrations for Youth by Wayne Rice, Zondervan 1995, ISBN 0310207681, page 151 (pictured in an earlier blog).

Story: Shipwreck
Found , I think, in Robert E Coleman's The Heartbeat of Evangelism, NavPress, 1985, ISBN-10: 0891094008.

An artist, seeking to depict on canvas the meaning of evangelism,painted a storm at sea.
Black clouds filled the sky. Illuminated by a flash of lightning, a little boat could be seen
disintegrating under the pounding of the ocean.  People were struggling in the swirling
waters, their anguished faces crying out for help.  The only glimmer of hope appeared in the
foreground of the painting, where a large rock protruded out of the water.  There, clutching
desperately with both hands, was one lone seaman. It was a moving scene.  Looking at the
painting, one could see in the tempest a symbol of humankind's hopeless condition.  And,
true to the Gospel, the only hope of salvation was "the Rock ofAges", a shelter in the time of
storm. But as the artist reflected upon his work, he realized that the painting did not
accurately portray his subject.  So he discarded the canvas, and painted another.  It was
very similar to the first:  the black clouds, the flashing lightning, the angry waters, the little
boat crushed by the pounding waves, and the crew vainly struggling in the water.  In the
foreground the seaman was clutching the large rock for salvation.  But the artist made one
change:  the survivor was holding on with only one hand, and with the other hand he was
reaching down to pull up a drowning friend.