Wednesday, 14 October 2009
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A Gospel Lesson for a Halloween Party: My Idea
The district youth asked me to give the message at the Halloween party, which is in 2 weeks. Not a long time, but normally more than enough time to put together a lesson/sermon (plus, they asked me last month, so I've had time to think and pray about it). But yet, I'm real nervous about how to present it, as well as just what to say. My wife downloaded some Powerpoint slides a little while back, and praise the Lord she did, because I think it's a great idea and great timing! It's called, "How to Survive a Zombie Attack." So here's what I'm thinking, I thought I'd bounce some ijahs off you (pronounced "EYE-jah". Means "idea", it's just a fun way of saying it): There are zombies walking around even today...real zombies. But unlike in the movies, these don't look like walking, decomposing corpses.
- People without Jesus are zombies: The Bible tells us that those who have Jesus, have life, but those don't have Jesus, don't have life. And yet, they walk around and go about their business, which is anything not having to do with Jesus. Thus, lifeless beings walking around are Zombies.
- Another take on that is that zombies' agendas in life are not those of the living. When they encounter a living person, they often pursue them violently (trying to kill or turn them into zombies). Point made is that they obviously notice a difference between us and them, enough to the point of feeling the need to turn us into them.
- Some zombies also just walk around aimlessly. They have no direction or will.
- Then there are the people who are alive (in Christ), who are turned into zombies (it's not about losing salvation or anything, but becoming deadened and turning towards the worldview for answers). In the movies, if somebody's bitten (or killed) by a zombie (or by some other method), they become zombies, also. There are many Christians in the world who are becoming zombies. My "Holiness is not about Happiness" post is a good example of this. They're sort of like the different soils, where they accept the Good News, begin loving and serving God, but as life's worries and issues conflict with the scriptures (and vice-versa), they begin to fall away and look at the world's take on such issues. So then their views towards God's Truth become irrelevant for today, and any Christian who thinks otherwise is now recognized as being "closed-minded".
The Bible mentions people who live according to the flesh (worldly). Maybe this would be a neat wordplay with zombies, who are walking, lifeless bodies of flesh? I was thinking of having some Powerpoint slides and splitting the youth up in small discussion groups (I like using them).
Scripture ideas so far:
Ephesians 2:1-5Any thoughts? I'm up for ijahs.
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About the Author
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- From: Pastor_AndyG@xanga
- Name: Pastor Andy
- About Me: Hi! I'm a Christian Pastor, originally from Chicago, currently living in Southeast VA. I had a Xanga up until 2008, but closed it down. I've regretted this decision ever since, and so am now I've revived it. You may have known me then as Pastor_Andy. I'm happily married, no kids, but we do have a dog (black lab) who currently resides with family in the Philippines. Hobbies and interests include martial arts, weight training, soccer, cooking, laughing, online ministry, and things with my wife. Anything else you want to know, feel free to ask. :)
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Comments (25)
except once a zombie always a zombie
wow...once upon a time there would never have been such a thing as a Halloween sermon. Good luck, I don't really have any idea how I feel about this.
Jesus was the first vampire zombie. Think about it.
So I'm a zombie?
Cool. :P
Considering what I plan to come dressed up as on Halloween I almost like this post. I really wish others would stop trying to find out who is and isn't Christian and work on building up those that are sick of Christian crap. But that's just me.
p
I think you need to be aware that this message may provoke similar forms of irreverant comments such as modernmelody and thegreatbout have made. That is probably far from what you are looking for; however, the idea is very creative and I think it looks good so far.
Do you have a purpose or objective for the message?
@deepestrecesses - I'm sorry you found my comment so offensive. I was made in jest, but I understand that the site is visible enough that it might be misconstrued.
I think its a great idea! You could also talk about defending yourself from "zombies" who try to pull you down with them. Referencing the Armour of God in Ephesians 6:10-18. Also what makes our lives different before and after Christ in 1 Peter 1. :)
@deepestrecesses - I understand; reverance towards Jesus is not often observed... in private or in public.
Great post. Never thought about it this way before... using zombies as analogies.
Er...are you going to make your audience afraid of "zombies," or are you going to remind them that Jesus loves the zombies, too, and that they shouldn't go around hacking zombies' heads off with the sword of truth?
I mean, I'm a Christian, but talking about people who aren't Christians as being zombies is sort of...well...it makes them seem like something less than human, and that's one of the biggest problems that anyone has with Christians is that we get all caught up in metaphors sometimes and forget that there are real, living, breathing people that we're talking about.
I kind of agree with ReeserTheShadow@xanga. If you audience includes a good number of non-Christians, I wouldn't do this. If you audience includes all Christian youth, then it could be done.
Your last bullet point is shaky. You use the same metaphor (zombie) for both non-Christians and Christians who are essentially the 2nd (rocks) and 3rd (thorns) soils in the Parable of the Sower.
You can always talk about the martyrs of the church. All Hollow's Eve is a Christian holiday. It is basically the Christian Memorial Day. Hearing about the boldness and radical devotion of the church martyrs may intrigue non-believers and encourage the young believers.Blessings.
I take back my second paragraph from above. I disagree with myself!
@deepestrecesses -
Hey Deepestrecesses, thanks for the heads up, but honestly, it wouldn't be a public blog if I didn't get some mean criticism here and there.As for the point of the sermon, see, the youth & I were thinking about having a "haunted" maze in the church as a fundraiser and fun thing for Halloween. We'd thought about having people walk in one end, and walk through the hallway to the other. And through their walk, people would jump out at them and all, but the most freakish part would be the sounds of torture and all. We'd have people come out with whips and chainsaws w/o the chain, threatening the people that they're next and all. At the end, after getting all the sounds and sites in their brains, just before walking out they'd see Jesus (or somebody portraying Him) on a cross, in agony. So basically, the sites & sounds were such from Jesus' passion...journey to the cross.
Well, we had a planning meeting for the district youth Halloween party. When we'd told them about it, I was nominated to give the message.
See, I believe that as Christians, any holiday we celebrate should be about Jesus. If it's not, or if it promotes the enemy (as Halloween has come to do) then we either shouldn't celebrate it, or use it as a way of sharing the Gospel. So the zombie attack thing came about as I was wracking my brain trying to figure out how to present something to the kids.I've got some more ideas now, but I'm always interested in hearing more. Isn't it interesting how many choose to give their opinion about the event versus answering the question?---Pastor Andy
@soy_esteban@xanga -
Hey Soy, Yeah, my original post was basically just a call-out for suggestions. The ideas were such off the top of my head to help give an idea of what I'm looking to do.Thanks for your insight & suggestions.@RoadLessTraveled -
YES RLT, that's exactly where I want to go with it.I'm thinking of 3 parts: 1 = defining "zombies" (in general & in the topic's context), 2 = how do they attack 3 = how to defend against (thus surviving) them, which would lead us to the armor. And I've got some fun games for during the talk. (The Lord's giving me more ideas each morning). Great ideas! Thanks!have fun with that I find it rather offensive but my opinion doesn't really matter. makes more sense to use Halloween to talk about death and the afterlife imo.
why does it seem like more and more, Christians are incapable of spreading the Gospel without demonizing non-Christians? just because someone doesn't believe the same things you do, that doesn't make them any less human and deserving of respect and love.
@too_pretty_to_die@xanga - @ReeserTheShadow@xanga - @soy_esteban@xanga - I'm with you guys. If the label of Zombie is going to be applied, then it should be explained as not an unloved or unwanted or even impossible to redeem state of existence. There is a real danger of having young minds associate bad things to persons outside of their church circles if this analogy is too loosely applied.
justsayin...
cm
FINALLY! Someone who understands how I feel at the moment.
XD
No, really, I do feel like a zombie right now...darned flu.
But anyway, I really don't think it's fair to call people like the Dalai Lama (and such) zombies because they are certainly far from being such.
@Pastor_AndyG@xanga - yeah, you're right about the public forum and off-topic comments.
But I'd love to praise ya for making all events about Jesus.
Sounds like your goal is perhaps to show how apart from Christ, there is no life and all are dead?
Originally, before I saw the idea that RoadlessTraveled had (which I think is a great idea, btw), I was thinking about maybe using the idea about how zombies become zombies (there're several different legends you could just pick one) but they all start as alive. And then you have Romans 6:23 talking about how the wages of sin are death (etc). But I really like the idea above.
Anyway, sounds like it's a really good idea.
Blessings,
@soy_esteban@xanga - Er...what exactly did you disagree with? o.O
@ReeserTheShadow@xanga - I'm not sure I want to say that the 2nd and 3rd soils are Christian, at least not the 2nd.
@soy_esteban@xanga - ah, gotcha