The Feedback Loop! Year A in Review

The Feedback Loop! Year A in Review

November 23, 2017 / D2 / Feedback Loop

Welcome back to the MTH Feedback Loop, a bonus episode where Molly and David talk about some of the multiple intelligence illustrations and special effects from previous More Than Hearing episodes that we have actually used in worship and how they turned out. For the most part, pretty well! We have discovered that if you are going to use these tools, especially the special effects, it helps if you are fully committed to them. This not only engages you and thereby your congregation, but if it should happen that the effect doesn’t fully connect with your people, they will allow its presence in the worship service because YOU are connected to it. It’s kinda like going along with the adorable toddler who hands you a “cookie” made of clay and you pretend to “eat” it because the child is so convinced the gift is what they say it is. Your congregation will go down the path with you for the sake of your relationship. Who knows; getting them to take a step with you into this strange thing you are doing may just introduce them to something God wants to show them that remaining safely seated would have prevented.

Here is a by-no-means exhaustive list of illustrations and special effects we’ve used. We hope you have tried one or two of these or are inspired to give one or two a try. Let us know how it goes!

The List of Stuff

SMART	WEEK	TEXT	TYPE	Description
WORD (04:36)
MWD	AOrd5x2017	1 Corinthians 2: 1-12, (13-16)	Illustration	Patty Roberts’ gift of tongues, acting as a translator for the church and the community.
Wish	AEaster3x2017	Luke24:13-35	SFX	A Haiku: Bread broken slowly. What is shattered knits wholeness. Recognize him now? ~ Bob Eldan, PreachingTip
D2	AOrd12x2017	Romans 6:1b-11	Illustration	Game of Thrones Iron Islands’ baptism; “What’s dead can never die.” fearless
MWD	AOrd16x2017	Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43	Illustration	Aleksander Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago
EYE (08:50)
MWD	AOrd3x2017	Matthew 4:12-23	Illustration	LOTS of maps re: Naphtali and Zebulun
D2	ABaptx2017	Isaiah 42	SFX	use trick birthday candle ==> a dimly burning wick he will not quench
D2	AOrd26x2017	Philippians 2:1-13	SFX	tornado tube!! (worked really well, imo)
MWD	AOrd29x2017	Matthew 22	SFX	Demonstrate how Caesar’s domain resides inside God’s by starting with an embroidery hoop with cloth or paper stretched over it labeled “Caesar” and talk about what things “belong” to Caesar/the state. Then, pick up a hoola hoop with fabric or paper stretched over it labelled “God’s” and talk about what belongs there. Funny, “Caesar” fits inside it!
non-show	29 October 2017		SFX	lighting talcum powder on fire
MATH (16:15)
D2	AOrd4x2017	1 Corinthians 1:10-18	Illustration / SFX	The cross considered a negative but Paul argues it is positive and resides fully in God’s intentions. It stands alone with no other “thing” to contrast it. [This thought is developed more in later chapters, it is introduced here.] • Perhaps in the act of redemption, God takes the absolute value of things, so that what was negative becomes positive, and what was positive is positive, too. SFX: graph \| -x \| = x
D2	AOrd17x2017	Romans 8	SFX	boxes labelled with things that separate covered with the love of God in Christ
MWD	AOrd17x2017	Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52	Illustration	the math of how much “three measures” of flour actually makes. Hint: a lot.
D2	AOrd24x2017	Romans 14:1-12	SFX	Venn diagrams of people who eat and those who abstain and all surrounded by “Christ died for these”.
BODY (21:02)
D2	AOrd2x2017	Isaiah 49	Illustration	The servant is like a trick play that a coach prepares all season but only uses in the Super Bowl; or like a wrestler’s secret move that is finally introduced in the championship round; or a chef who buys a Henckels Pro S knife and always keeps it in the block until preparing a banquet for her daughter’s wedding (or something great)
BOTH	AOrd14x2017	Matthew 11	SFX	Have a wheelbarrow’s worth of big, heavy rocks (or equivalent) in a box or on a tarp in the sanctuary. Invite a volunteer to try to move them across the floor. Next, attach a harness (rope? leather? webbed straps? etc.) to the load and the volunteer. Theory suggests this should make it easier to move the load. Point being, if you have to drag the load any way, having a yoke might make it easier and lighter.
MWD	AOrd19x2017	Matthew 14:22-33	Illustration	Coach challenging Brock to do the death crawl in ”Facing the Giants”.
BOTH	AOrd22x2017	Matthew 16:21-28	Illustration / SFX	Sunday’s Coming blog entry for this week: “The body arcs away” by Amy Ziettlow. renverse SFX: attempt renversé
MWD	AOrd27x2017	Matthew 21:33-46	Illustration	Toddler Brain!!
MUSIC (30:13)
Wish	AEaster4x2017	Acts 2:42-47	Illustration / SFX	The events at Pentecost in Acts is a remix of God’s promise to Israel that they will be witnesses to God’s glory to the nations. It’s the same promise – but it’s got a new sound! Google remix and spend a few hours listening to how an old song can be altered by a remix.
MWD	AOrd30x2017	Matthew 22:34-46	Illustration	Sermon title “The Greatest” referenced a State Farm commercial that uses the song “Believe it or Not” from The Greatest American Hero
NATURE (34:07)
D2	ALent1x2017	Romans 5:12-19	Illustration	After Beverly Gaventa: We think of sin as a raccoon getting into the garbage, but for Paul it is Godzilla crashing through Tokyo. So your .22 rifle won’t be adequate, and neither will “trying to be good.” You’re going to need Ultraman™ or a Jaeger™.
MWD	ALent5x2017	John 11:1-45	Illustration	Vss. 9-10 John again uses light and dark as metaphors for the decision people have made about Jesus – their orientation toward him. To illustrate this, show how plants turn toward the light – heliotropism.
MWD	AOrd22x2017	Exodus 3:1-15	Illustration	God lures Moses in like a Venus fly trap or an angler fish ( or some other baiting critter) although with more generous intent.
BOTH	AOrd28x2017	Philippians 4	Illustration	Vss. 4-5 — Rejoice… the Lord is near! During the recent total solar eclipse, in the last few moments before totality, the visible sliver of sun was disappearing fast. Just before the diamond ring effect, everyone started cheering – everywhere – in every video you see from across the country. There is immense joy just before the appearance of totality, the long-awaited effect.
PEOPLE (39:10)
Wish	AAdv2x2016	Isaiah 11	SFX	Vss. 6-8 Make masks / masks of the different animals and have members/children play-act the second paragraph; as the passage is read, the pairs come from different sides of the chancel, acting “animally,” then meeting as friends in the middle; group hug! (You could include the stump of Jesse and the shoot, too)
D2	ALent1x2017	Matthew 4	Illustration / SFX	Do an interview with Jesus, asking what it was like in the wilderness for this trial. Perhaps make it like a sideline interview from a football game, only with somewhat more in-depth and sophisticated answers.
MWD	AOrd3x2017	Matthew 4:12-23	Illustration	This passage gave Molly the sermon title “Kingdom, Come On!”
D2	AOrd25x2017	Exodus 16:2-15	Illustration	Bill 3 and Mitch eating things while golfing “What is it?”
SELF (45:46)
MWD	AOrd18x2017	Genesis 32	Illustration	what names do you go by? sfx- write them down and imagine Jesus writing his hame over the top
BOTH	AOrd25x2017	Philippians 1:21-30	Illustration	“The Vietnam War”; desire for soldiers under command “Lord, let it be me” WHAT?!?!
MWD	AOrd28x2017	Exodus 32:1-14	Illustration	Moses responds to God’s anger at the Hebrews and reminds God to stick with the promise made.
MWD	AOrd29x2017	Matthew 22:15-22	Illustration	Debi Thomas: “…if I really belong to God, if I really am fashioned in God’s image, then I need to practice my faith and my politics in ways that reflect that image….”

Join the Loop!

Let us know how these multiple intelligence ideas are working for you! Leave us a comment below or send us an email at connect@morethanhearing.org telling us what went well, what missed, and what you came up with on your own. Maybe we’ll even include it in a future episode!

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