Summer Sermon Series 2023

Narrative Lectionary Wilderness

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

Greetings. If you have done the Narrative Lectionary before, you know that it runs from September to Pentecost, chronologically(ish) through Scripture. That leaves the Summer months for something else entirely (If you are new to the Narrative Lectionary, this may be more of a shock to you).

There are lots of options available to you for these Sundays in Summer, and many opt to do short-term or long-term sermon series. The Working Preacher Narrative Lectionary site, along with others have suggestions for series that could be run through these Sundays.

It is usually around this time in the year when I mildly freak-out trying to figure out what to do during the Summer (I know some of you already your theme ready for next Advent, but I’m not as cool as you, ok). 

In years past, I have opted for a single theme through the Summer months. In my previous call, this went along with a Sunday School series, so themes could be explored in two different formats (they took adult Sunday School much more seriously than my current congregation). Here are a few themes that you can use, or that at least might spark your imagination. I usually have a couple of flex Sundays for vacation, rather than expecting a guest preacher to follow my theme (though I usually see if they are interested).

I will have a comment section open, so if you are interested in more details about any of them, I will do a post to share more details about a specific theme. 

Be the Church: The Ministry of the Members

The theme that I am using this summer is a 12 week theme using the section on the Ministry of Members from the Presbyterian Church (USA) Book of Order (G-1.0304). I am including the scriptures that I used last time (4 years ago), but feel free to pick whatever your folks need to hear. 

“Membership in the Church of Jesus Christ is a joy and a privilege. It is also a commitment to participate in Christ’s Mission. A faithful member bears witness to God’s love and grace and promises to be involved responsibly in the ministry of Christ’s Church. Such involvement includes:”

• Be the Church 1: Proclaiming the good news in word and deed

  • Matthew 28:16-20, Acts 2:1-12, 38-42 (Romans 8:14-39)

• Be the Church 2: taking part in the common life and worship of a congregation

  • Isaiah 6:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-25; Revelation 5:6-14

• Be the Church 3: lifting one another up in prayer, mutual concern, and active support

  • Psalm 15; 2 Kings 4:8-37; 1 Corinthians 12:12-13:7

• Be the Church 4: studying Scripture and the issues of Christian faith and life

  • Psalm 119; James 1:19-25; 2 Timothy 3:14-17

• Be the Church 5: supporting the church through the giving of money, time, and talents 

  • Malachi 3:6-12; 2 Corinthians 9:6-15

• Be the Church 6: demonstrating a new quality of life within and through the church

  • Psalm 133; Acts 4:32-37; Ephesians 2:1-10

• Be the Church 7: Responding to God's activity in the world through service to others,

  • Isaiah 58:6-11; Matthew 25:31-46

• Be the Church 8: living responsibly in the personal, family, vocational, political, cultural, and social relationships of life,

  • Psalm 24; Jeremiah 29:1-14; Romans 12:9-21

• Be the Church 9: working in the world for peace, justice, freedom, and human fulfillment

  • Psalm 11; 82; Micah 6:6-15; Luke 1:46-55

• Be The Church 10: caring for God's creation 

  • Psalm 104:24-35; Genesis 2:4b-17; Romans 8:18-25

• Be the Church 11: participating in the governing responsibilities of the church

  • Ephesians 4:1-16; Galatians 5:13-26

• Be the Church 12: reviewing and evaluating regularly the integrity of one's membership, and considering ways in which one's participation in the worship and service of the church may be increased and made more meaningful.

  • Romans 15:22-33

Foundations: Genesis 1-11

Last year I focused on telling the story of Genesis 1-11, as the foundation of the book of Genesis, Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, and our lives of faith. I leaned more into the metaphorical use of these stories to tell us ‘who we are and whose we are.’

It is a 9 week series, though could be shortened or extended somewhat (I realized that we ended up with a lot of Noah) 

• Order out of Chaos Genesis 1:1-25

• Image of God Genesis 1:26-2:4a

• Another Account Genesis 2:4b-25

• Fall from Grace Genesis 3:1-24

• Proof of the Fall Genesis 4

• Generations Genesis 5

• Flood Genesis 6:9-24; 8:15-22

• Noah and His Sons Genesis 9:18-10:32

• Tower of Babel Genesis 11:1-9

Acts: The Story of the Church

The year before that, I did a 16 week series (I started the week before Pentecost), and it was a long Summer) on the Book of Acts, as a follow up to that year’s focus on the gospel of Luke. However, it could be modified to fit this year (especially since we just did several of these), again, feel free to use what you want and church what you don’t.

• Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, Ends of the Earth Acts 1:1-11

• Pentecost; repentance Acts 2:1-4, 37-47 (All who hear and receive are God's Children) 

• No one needy Acts 4:32-37 (Poor and Rich are God's Children) 

• Gamaliel Acts 5:27-42  

• Ethiopian Eunuch Acts 8:26-40

• Saul's conversion Acts 9:10-22  

• Holy Sheet Acts 10:1-23

• Cornelius' conversion Acts 10:24-48

• Peter released from Jail, Rhoda not believed Acts 12:6-16

• Paul and Barnabus sent out, mission to the Gentiles Acts 13:1-3, 42-52

• Lystra and Darbe (Zeus and Hermes) Acts 14:8-20

• Council at Jerusalem/Letter to the Gentiles Acts 15:1-29

• Paul in Athens Acts 17:16-34

• Paul Arrested in Jerusalem Acts 21:17-36

• Except for these chains Acts 25:23-26:29

• Paul in Rome Acts 28:11-31

Other Themes

The other themes that I have done have been:

• The Psalms (Preaching) and Life of David (Sunday School)

• Romans

• Ten Commandments

Conclusion

I hope that these ideas have given you something to focus on in the summer (or at least inspired you). If you want more information (Curriculum, Hymn suggestions, bulletins, etc), just let me know, and I will post them. 

Thank you as always to my paid subscribers, who financially help out my ongoing ministry, those who subscribe to receive the email, and those who just have this Substack Bookmarked to check back in. It is truly a blessing to have such wonderful colleagues.