Fall Sermon Series Relevant for Today's Families

I began the sermon on September 13 by holding up my smart phone and listing all the things that I can do with it. I went on to talk about the central role that "screens" play in our lives and to ask, "How do we find balance between relationships and screen time? How do we work on our connections with others and with God?"

Over the next five weeks, we will look at essential social skills and how enhancing those skills will deepen our relationships with each other and with God. We will also consider how we might practice those social skills with our children.

The sermon series is based on the book Growing Up Social: Raising Relational Kids in a Screen-Driven World by Gary Chapman. We will use the story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32) as a bible text throughout the series to discover what God has to teach about the social skills of appreciation, affection, anger management, apology and attention.

The goal of the sermon series is to connect the concerns of life with our spiritual practices. My hope is that through this project relationships with God and others are deepened.