Some good friends of ours, Eddie and Linda Doiron, invited us to their church on Christmas Eve for an hour of music, passion plays and a brief sermon. Pastor Edwin Rideout compared the gifting of presents to the gift of God’s presence…by holding a wrapped box in his hand. Nice prop, Pastor!
He then extended the analogy by asking Ryan, one of the young people in the audience, to join him on stage. As soon as Ryan came up to the front, EVERYONE in the church was engaged. You see, when you ask a member of the audience to join you, you have just asked EVERYONE to join you….the presentation shifts from being a sermon to being a conversation. It’s not scripted. It’s live reality TV. And we all want to see what happens.
The ensuing five minutes was a charming banter back and forth between the Pastor and Ryan. The Pastor’s points were made while asking Ryan specific questions – and Ryan played along – even to the point of dropping on the floor! The whole interaction was funny, yes, but memorable too. And isn’t that the point?
Analogies and Action on Christmas Eve!
