Pentecost happened this past weekend. It’s a big deal for the church, so I wanted to do something special in the sermon. The Narrative Lectionary took us to 1 Corinthians 12:1-13. The apostle Paul talks about the varieties of gifts, services, and activities that God distributes to us and then uses the analogy of the human body to discuss many parts and one body.
I decided to use a different analogy to get the same point across. So, I created a large painting of Pentecost on foamcore and then cut it up into twelve pieces, like a jigsaw puzzle. I distributed the pieces out during the opening song, then asked the people to bring them up during the sermon and we put the pieces together. Then, during the response song, we stuck them to the wall behind the altar.
Sounds simple enough, right? Well, it almost didn’t happen. I painted the image with Tempera paint on Friday. Look what tempera paint does to foamcore.
When the warping happened at 5pm on Friday, I thought I was sunk. I had to preach at 5pm on Saturday and I didn’t really have a backup plan. Some of my FaceBook friends saw my desperate cry for help and ideas.
My beautiful wife had a winning solution. She suggested that I paint the back side of the boards to see if they shrink and pull everything back into alignment. I did that late Friday night.
Check it out on Saturday morning!
Whew! Thanks Lona, for saving the day again.
I’ll post about the sermon itself later this week.
