Living Open Source

I wrote a post a while back highlighting some of the resources I find helpful for preparing worship and preaching for Sundays. Here is some more help for the preacher of the not so desperate variety.

I enjoy dipping in and out of the lectionary, so many of these reflect that. I think one of the great blessings about following the lectionary online is the ability to join a conversation about the texts – to hear the texts explored in a thousand and one different ways and then to add your own strange thoughts, words or even pictures!

1. Working Preacher is a wonderful site with textual and audio commentary on the lectionary texts. This week for example you can join Professors Karoline Lewis, David Lose and Rolf Jacobson for their weekly podcast on preaching the lectionary texts in the brainwave feature.
2. On the GBOD Worship Site (General Board of Discipleship, The United Methodist Church) you should check out the lectionary based worship planning helps and the preaching helps.
3. The Work of the people produce lots of creative moving pictures (video). Worth a look each week, even if you can’t afford the download or the technology to use it on Sunday.
4. Sermons4Kids is for when I am desperate for some way of relating the texts to children. Though I don’t always find their slant on things all that helpful. The colouring pages come in handy quite often though.
5. Cartoon Church and We Blog Cartoons keep me sane by exploring the funny side of church.

So no need to be desperate. These sites get you thinking about the text rather than offering downloads of extremely dull sermons like other sites I could mention.

Of course I sometimes publish the odd visual or movie on this blog too when I’m feeling creative.