Both the Revised Common Lectionary and the Narrative Lectionary meet up on June 9 at Pentecost – it’s the debut of summer! I always find Summer the perfect time to shake things up and try something else. So to jump start your creative minds, here is an optional summer sermon series on The Gospel According to Dr. Seuss?:
Week #1 Book: One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss
Theme: Creatures come in all shapes and sizes and forms. Some have two feet, four feet, and eight feet. These creatures crawl, walk and swim. However they come, Jesus loves them all and their flaws.
Gospel Reading: John 17:20-25 (Jesus prays for all)
Hymn of the Day: All Things Bright and Beautiful, All Creatures Great and Small
Week #2 Book: Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
Theme: How quick we are to turn up our noses to something new! We grumble and complain. Over what? Green eggs and ham? Jesus wants us to try and taste new things – things that might take us out of our comfort zones. Because what’s at stake is more important than your taste buds. It’s about doing a new thing for the sake of the neighbor.
Gospel Reading: [Isaiah 43:18-21 (doing a new thing)]; Matthew 9:14-17 (New wine skins)
Hymn of the Day: Canticle of the Turning
Week #3 Book: There’s a Wocket in my Pocket by Dr. Seuss
Theme: Everyone needs a good friend or three. Dr. Seuss teaches us that we can find friends in the most unlikely places, and with Jesus, friends care for one another. His story teaches us that friends will do the most unlikely thing to help a fellow friend.
Gospel Reading: Luke 5:17-39 (Friends and a Roof Top)
Hymn of the Day: What a Friend We Have in Jesus
Week #4 Book:Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss
Theme: “A fish in the tree? How can that be?” Dr. Seuss loved to create impossible situations. But that’s Jesus’ lived out specialty, and he pays the price for God’s people this time with a coin found in the mouth of a fish.
Gospel Reading: Matthew 17:24–27 (A Coin in the Mouth of a Fish)
Hymn of the Day: Amazing Grace
Week #5 Book: Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss
Theme: Mr. Knox and Fox play tricks and games with rhyming words and alliteration. Nothing they do makes sense. Jesus performs miracles that don’t make much sense either, and he doesn’t even use magic or games! He just speaks miracles into reality.
Gospel Reading: John 2:1-11 (water into wine)
Hymn of the Day: Jesus Come, for We Invite You
The Gospel According to…? Johnny Cash? Bono? Who else? Leave your comments below to make a suggestion. Thank you!
StoryBoard 
I like it. Dr. Seuss is my favorite doctor! 😊
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Thanks Susan!
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We love it! Great research, and excellent ideas!
My 17 year old autistic son is a huge fan of Seuss, and he loved the storyboard! He has been competing is High School Speech, utilizing Dr. Seuss political parables of The Sneetches (Racism), and Yertle the Turtle (rise and fall of Hitler). He would love to hear this series, so if you have video links in the future, let us know!
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Yes! Thanks!
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i love this idea. Since you are by far the most creative person I know to get kids involved and engaged in worship – I want to hear more how you are doing this. Are you reading the actually book in worship? How are we getting the kids involved? Love to hear more.
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We are going to do a pop Sunday School on these days for 30 minutes in between the services. (We don’t have Summer SS). During that time, we will watercolor paint some aspect of the theme. The paintings will be part of the Rally Day art Show. In worship, we will read the story, maybe by a kid. Congregation will be called on to repeat lines front the book, and then the preacher will integrate both story and text together. I’ll design some interactive something for the storytime.
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yes, I want to hear more as well!
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Yeah Diane!
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I think I just found next years midweek lenten theme.
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Great!
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I decided to do this for an of summer sermon series – with intentions of going 5 weeks and whittled down to 3 due to other schedule considerations.
Last Sunday we explored the ways in which God meets us where we are and invites us to participate in “the new thing” through Green Eggs and Ham.
This upcoming Sunday is One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. In addition to the Gospel from John, I added part of the creation story from Genesis and as I prepare my sermon, I’m finding myself focusing on the Imago Dei in a way I haven’t been able to before in other sermons. It’s exciting and is going to be difficult to keep this to my usual sermon length.
The following Sunday will be “There’s a Wocket in my Pocket” and I’m curious to see where that goes!
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That’s great Amy! I did the wocket in my pocket just the other day and people loved it! It’s about finding friends in the strangest of places – in your pocket, on your stairs, or with Jesus on top of the roof. I should a youtube video to the kids for the children’s sermon. I asked them to pay attention to two things – the creatures the boy likes and the one he was scared of – the nug under the rug. I then asked for the their answer, and specifically why was the boy scared of the nug – They responded, “He has never seen him before!” Bingo! I used that as the starting point for my sermon. Jesus said in the story with the 4 friends, “When he saw their faith…” and challenged the congregation to see the faith in one another and not the fear of each other. It worked!
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