I do a lot of work with the Sunday School program at my church, including telling stories every week in the children's chapel. Usually, it's the appointed Gospel for the week; sometimes I'll branch out and do stories from church history, or from other faith traditions.

On occasion, I'll write out scripts for storytime; that's some of what is on this page. I also write readings that the kids will do in the main church service on special days, such as Palm Sunday or Christmas Eve. I've also done adult liturgical readings.

The Quest for the Holy Grail

We did this over a ten-week span in the children's chapel in the summer of 2002. Writing the Holy Grail was what really got me started on liturgical story-telling; and I'm still pleased with the way it turned out.

A note on format: it wasn't realistic to expect people to memorize, or even rehearse, their lines; especially the kids. I decided to write it so that the lines would be read by adults, from the script, but acted out by kids — that is, there would be an adult "Perceval" who would read the dialog, and a kid "Perceval" who would get to wear the costume and would act out whatever he or she heard the adult reader or the narrator say. That's why each chapter lists "Adult Parts" and "Kid Parts." That's also why the early chapters are written with a lot of "...said Percevals" in the adult parts; a convention I gradually dropped.

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10

Other Scripts

(Well, "Script," singular; technically.)

The Book of Tobit
One of the deutero-canonical Old Testament books... and yes, it really is that wacky.

Christmas Eve Readings

We used to do traditional full-on Christmas pageants; but we've found that it's much less stress on everyone, and just as effective, if the kids do some simple readings interspersed with a few songs.

Christmas Eve 2008
Christmas Eve 2007
Christmas Eve 2005
Christmas Eve 2004
Christmas Eve 2003

Palm Sunday Readings

My church traditionally does the Stations of the Cross on Palm Sunday.

Stations of the Cross 2005
Stations of the Cross 2004

Easter Vigil Readings

Part of the Saturday evening Easter Vigil service is a series of Old Testament lessons, beginning with Creation and moving forward. I've written dramatic presentations of some of these lessons.

The Story of Creation
The Secret Diaries of Noah's Sons
The Sacrifice of Isaac
Ezekiel and the Valley of Dry Bones

Sermons

Sermon on John 20:19-31 (MP3)
This sermon was given at St. Andrew's, in April of 2012.

Sermon on Matthew 25:14-30 (MP3)
This sermon was given at St. Andrew's, in November of 2011.

Sermon on Matthew 15:10-28 (MP3)
This sermon was given at St. Andrew's, in August of 2011.

Sermon on Luke 24:13-35
This sermon was given at St. Andrew's, in May of 2011.

Sermon on John 1:29-42
This sermon was given at St. Andrew's, in January of 2011.

Sermon on Luke 17:5-10
This sermon was given at St. Andrew's, in October of 2010.

Sermon on Luke 10:38-42
This sermon was given at the other St. Andrew's, in Oregon, in July of 2010.

Sermon on John 10:11-18
This sermon was given at the ecumenical chapel at Seattle University, in May of 2009.

Sermon on John 12:20-33
This sermon was given at St. Andrew's, in March of 2009.

Sermon on Matthew 21:33-43
This sermon was an assignment for Advanced Homiletics at Seattle University.

Sermon on Mark 9:30-37
This sermon was given at St. Andrew's, in September of 2006.

Sermon on Mark 1:9-13
This sermon was given at St. Andrew's, on the first Sunday in Lent.

Sermon on Mark 2:1-12
This sermon was given at the ecumenical chapel at Seattle University.

Sermon on John 11:38-44
This sermon was an assignment for the Homiletics class I took at Seattle University; it was given in the classroom.

Sermon on Matthew 14:13-21
Our priest invited me to preach one Sunday; the Gospel was the story of the loaves and fishes. This was my sermon.

Other Liturgical Readings

Some of my poetry was also originally written to be read liturgically.

An Advent Meditation
An eight-person reading for Advent.

My Creed
As an exercise for a class, we were supposed to write our own personal creeds. This is mine.

St. Andrew's Junior Youth Group Creed
At the end of the 2006/2007 school year, our Sunday School class (5th-7th graders) wrote a creed together. I was greatly impressed with the result.

A Grace for Mealtime
I wrote this originally for our Sunday School class, but I've found it's a lovely mealtime grace.

Variations on a Theme
This is excerpted from a paper I wrote on story theology. I love ringing changes on stories to see what falls out of them.

Parables
Another class exercise; we were supposed to write about a theological position. I chose to do mine as a series of parables.