Living Our Promises

Thanks to Rev. Joel Vander Wal for creating and offering this Great Idea, and for the St Paul Area Synod, ELCA for sharing it in their newsletter.

Rev. Vander Wal remembers feeling anxious and worried at the outset of the pandemic, back over a year ago. Determined to stay connected with families in the uncertain times, his pastoral team sent regular messages through email and social media.

Vander Wal was part of a Scripture-reading project with the St Paul Area Synod and decided to combine the two efforts by recording himself reading Storie from the Spark Story Bible. After a few simple readings of stories, Rev. Vander Wal enlisted his own kids to help him enact the stories. This activity soon blossomed into a beautiful way to live out the promises he had made his children in their baptism, as they began to experience Bible stories within their own bodies, finding props, creating costumes, and acting them out for others.

Read the whole Great Idea here.

Watch Reading Time with Pastor Joel on the Book of Isaiah here.