Well, summer is upon us and you know what that means?  Of course you do.  It means that our Summer Worship Experience is right around the corner.

          If you are new to Santa Teresa Hills Presbyterian Church this year, you may be wondering what all this is about.  Each summer for twelve weeks we change our worship and sermon format.  Worship is more casual (is that possible?).  There is less liturgy and more singing of your favorite hymns.  Each summer I also choose a theme around which all my sermons are based.  In the past we have looked at the stories from Genesis, the Ten Commandments, Great Figures from the Old Testament, and last year we discovered our Spiritual Gifts.

          So what about this year?  Last month I asked Session for suggestions on what my Summer Sermon Series should be based on and I got lots of great suggestions.  But when Robin DeJarnett suggested Movies and Religion – it just hit home.  So … this summer we are going to look at twelve specific movies and the spiritual and/or religious connections they may have for our lives today. 

          My summer sermon series is done “Phil Donahue” style where I will introduce the topic/movie and talk about it for a while and then invite comments and questions from the congregation.  It is a great opportunity to learn and grow together.

          Some of the movies we will probably tackle include The DaVinci Code, The Chronicles of Narnia, Crash, Sylviana, Spiderman, The Passion of the Christ, Hotel Rwanda, Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.  We will discuss things like prejudice, narcissism, genocide, positive values, addiction, the nature of evil, passion, faith …

          Please don’t worry whether or not you have first seen the movie.  Every sermon will begin by first presenting an overview of that week’s movie and I will be sure to give a synopsis of each scene we will be discussing.

          BUT … if you’d like to see the movie prior to that particular worship service, never fear – BECAUSE … we are also planning:

“FRIDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES!”

Those who are interested will gather at 7:30 p.m. on Friday nights either at the church or at someone’s home to watch the DVD or video of the movie (if there is one) we will be discussing that coming Sunday.  We might even provide popcorn.

HOWEVER, I have to make it perfectly clear:  You do not have to see the movie to get anything out of the Sunday Sermon.

I will try and have a schedule of movies, scripture texts, and themes soon so you know what is coming up.  It will also be included in each Sunday’s bulletin during the summer. 

This is going to be a great summer.  We are going to learn a lot AND have fun doing it.  Feel free to invite your friends, your neighbors, your family.

Be blessed, my friends. And as always, I’ll see you on Sunday!

Pastor Tom