Essay One Topics

Essay One (Narration) Topics

Each essay must have an introductory paragraph that comes before the narrative (story). The introductory paragraph contains a lead-in that captures the reader?s attention. Then there must be a thesis that gives the point of the narrative.

The story must be one event that is well developed, with a beginning, a middle, and an end. The story must make a point.

After the narrative, there must be a concluding paragraph.

Choose one of the following topics:

Many students have had a confrontation with a teachers or professor?you may tell the story of a confrontation from your own life.
Have you ever had someone who warned you about some activity you were doing? You may tell a story about the activity that you were engaged in.
Have you ever won or lost in some activity that was important to you? You can write that story.
All of us are tempted in various ways. You may tell the story about how you overcame the temptation.
Tell a story about something you love to do.
Make your own topic from your experience or someone else’s. If you choose this topic, you must write it below the title of your essay.
Sample Essay:

Called but Not Saved

When I was fourteen, I was sad and lonely. My parents were separated and going through a divorce. I was not only going through all the troubles of early adolescence, but having to contend with being caught in the middle of the family break-up. I needed my friends and something solid to hang on to. Therefore I did everything possible to please the people around me, including making a false profession of faith. Baptism is supposed to come from a decision to be part of God?s people in a special way. However, my baptism taught me that I need to listen to God and not my peers.

Central Baptist Church was quite large, about 2,000 members. They had large Sunday school classes for every age group. I had been reared in a nominal Episcopal home but had not attended church for years. When some of my friends invited me to come to Central Baptist with them, I was suspicious. Were they trying to push their religion on me? Just who were these Baptists anyway? Nevertheless, because of what I now recognize as my spiritual need, I started going to Sunday school and worship with Mike Evans and Pat Lee, two close friends who lived in my neighborhood. I do not remember much about Sunday school other than the huge number of pretty girls, who, by the way, paid no attention to me. However, I remember a lot about the worship.

Worship services at Holy Comforter Episcopal Church are very different from those at Central Baptist. Episcopal worship is directed by the Book of Common Prayer in accordance to a church calendar. Therefore, every Episcopal church in America is doing pretty much the same thing on every Sunday. There is a kind of miniature parade in which acolytes dressed in black robes with white lacy overcoverings bring special brass lighters to light the candles at the front of the church. The flags of the Christian church and the nation are brought forward, and the priest with his special robe and colorful vestments marches at the rear. There are prayers that are read by the priest, prayers that are read by the congregation, and prayers that are read by both. Sometimes the worshipers stand, sometimes they sit, and sometimes they kneel on special padded boards that swing out from the pew in front of each row. The entire service is very ritualized?everyone knows, or at least supposed to know, what comes next. There are formal hymns, formal readings, a formal sermon, and a formal communion, where everyone comes forward and kneels as the priest gives out the bread and wine.

I was at first shocked by what I took to be the Baptist informality. The preacher was not called a priest, and he wore a regular suit instead of a robe. There was no parade. Prayers were not read out of a book, the hymns had a beat, and the choir members actually smiled. Communion was not served very often, and when it was, the plate and a bunch of little glass cups were passed around to the people as they remained seated in the pews. Instead of a special wafer, there was cut-up white bread?just like we ate at home. Instead of wine, there was grape juice. However, those differences were nothing compared to the sermons. The Episcopal sermons centered around passing on some knowledge from the Bible. The Baptist sermons were from the Bible, but at the end, every one of the sermons climaxed with an altar call.

I had been attending Central Baptist?s Sunday school and worship for several months. I was still ignored by all those pretty girls, but I was getting used to the church service. On one particular Sunday, my friends were seated toward the front of the auditorium, with Pat Lee on my left and Mike Evans on my right. The worship went as usual except for the sermon, which seemed particularly full of fire. There were illustrations about the lost sheep and the eternal torment of hell. There were threats of condemnation and promises of everlasting peace and happiness. The climax was, as usual, the alter call, which was accompanied by a huge number of verses of ?Just as I Am.?

Several people went forward, but I felt no particular pull of the Spirit in spite of the earnest pleas of both Pat and Mike. Then, Pat dug a thumb into my ribs. Surprised, I jumped up and was ready to complain. However, I realized that everyone was looking at me. What was I to do? To sit back down would be to embarrass myself in front of the congregation. I went forward, and was baptized the next week, even though I did not feel called by God. After my baptism, I started missing more and more Sundays until I no longer went at all. I could not stand to be such a hypocrite as to seem to be saved but still be the same as I always had been.

Since that time I have been saved?in another church. Because my decision was guided by the Spirit rather than by my friends, I now know the joy of being in Christ?s church rather than the misery of being a lost hypocrite. I learned that listening and responding to my peers can lead me down the wrong path.