Empty Spaces, Empty Places
Three Lenten Dramas
Constance Sorenson and Ron Lavin

While we often try to fill the empty spaces in our lives with family, work, and material things, a lingering sense of emptiness and dissatisfaction seems to remain. The connections between biblical characters and these empty spaces in our lives are the focus of three dramatic sketches. By revisiting the stories of Jesus' birth, death, and resurrection through interviews with the innkeeper's wife, the centurion, and Mary Magdalene, Empty Spaces, Empty Places shows us the lives Jesus touched then (and continues to touch today). The centurion who witnessed the crucifixion tells how he became convinced that Jesus was the Son of God in the monologue Filling In The Empty Spaces: The Soldier. And the Apostle Paul's life and Christian witness is depicted in Filling In The Empty Spaces: Saint Paul. Each presentation confronts audiences with the same question: "What do you fill your empty spaces with?"

Constance Sorenson, the Director of Christian Education at King of Glory Lutheran Church in Fountain Valley, California, holds a B.A. degree in psychology from California State University (Fullerton) and an M.A. degree in Reformation Theology from Concordia University in Irvine, California.

Ron Lavin has pastored congregations in Indiana, Iowa, Arizona and California -- and the churches where he has served have experienced remarkable growth. Membership in his Davenport, Iowa parish increased by over 2,000, while more than 1,000 new members were baptized during his pastorate in Tucson, Arizona. A popular speaker at major conferences and a prolific writer, he is especially well-known for his understanding of the dynamics of small groups and evangelism. He is currently the senior pastor at King of Glory Lutheran Church in Fountain Valley, California.