Sweet Spots
Ideas and messages from Len Sweet.
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Mapping Our World and Our Lives
The Adorable Maps Today’s Cartographers Made as Kids
Summary: Have you ever wondered how someone got their start? Does a love for one’s work begin at an early age? Isn’t our work supposed to be a vocation rather than simply a job? Take a look at how these eight cartographers got their start.
Read more a https://goo.gl/xO0C9G
Digitally mined from news.nationalgeographic.com read more…
Smell it, Touch it, Feel it –Preaching Tip for 12 March 2017
If you want people to remember your sermon, let them smell it, touch it, feel it, see it, hear it. Think of ways to make your sermons experiential, so that people not only hear what you say, but experience the dynamics of your story or metaphor.
A Book of Signs
The Book of Signs:
A Crowdsourced Field Guide for Followers of Jesus
by Thomas E. Ingram
–Review by Teri Hyrkas
If you need a midwinter pick-me-up book to read, The Book of Signs: A Crowdsourced Field Guide for Followers of Jesus (2016, Linen Press) by Thomas E. Ingram is a terrific choice. An uplifting, generous, Christ-centered volume, The Book of Signs will refresh your love for Jesus while reanimating your thinking about the Christian walk in the twenty-first century.
In The Book of Signs, Ingram has taken the ancient skill of tracking the journey of an individual — in this case Jesus — and has spliced it with a modern skill called crowdsourcing. The helpful and healthful information brought together by these two skill sets is presented for the reader in what is called a “field guide,” Ingram’s Book of Signs. read more…
Peter the Petulant
Peter the Petulant Story Lectionary 12 March 2017 Second Sunday in Jesus’ Lenten Journey Jacob’s Strange Prophecies for the Stubborn 12 Tribes of Israel (Genesis 49) Celebrate the Passover, Clean or Unclean (Numbers 9) Hezekiah Celebrates Passover and Prays for All of the People, Clean and Unclean (2 Chronicles 30)…
Pastor’s Prayer for 12 March 2017
The Prayer of Manasseh
O Lord Almighty, God of our ancestors,of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and of their righteous offspring; you who made heaven and earthwith all their order; who shackled the sea by your word of command, who confined the deep and sealed it with your terrible and glorious name; at whom all things shudder, and tremble before your power, for your glorious splendor cannot be borne, and the wrath of your threat to sinners is unendurable; yet immeasurable and unsearchable is your promised mercy, for you are the Lord Most High, of great compassion, long-suffering, and very merciful, and you relent at human suffering. O Lord, according to your great goodness you have promised repentance and forgiveness to those who have sinned against you, and in the multitude of your mercies you have appointed repentance for sinners, so that they may be saved. Therefore you, O Lord, God of the righteous, have not appointed repentance for the righteous, for Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, who did not sin against you, but you have appointed repentance for me, who am a sinner. For the sins I have committed are more in number than the sand of the sea; my transgressions are multiplied, O Lord, they are multiplied!I am not worthy to look up and see the height of heaven because of the multitude of my iniquities. I am weighted down with many an iron fetter, so that I am rejected because of my sins, and I have no relief; for I have provoked your wrath and have done what is evil in your sight, setting up abominations and multiplying offenses. And now I bend the knee of my heart, imploring you for your kindness. I have sinned, O Lord, I have sinned, and I acknowledge my transgressions. I earnestly implore you, forgive me, O Lord, forgive me! Do not destroy me with my transgressions! Do not be angry with me forever or store up evil for me; do not condemn me to the depths of the earth. For you, O Lord, are the God of those who repent, and in me you will manifest your goodness; for, unworthy as I am, you will save me according to your great mercy, and I will praise you continually all the days of my life. For all the host of heaven sings your praise, and yours is the glory forever. Amen.
Elusive but Essential
There is an intangible quality that develops when those involved in a group have built connections and rapport through working together in all conditions, over an extended period of time. These connections are often created through times of difficulty or diversity, as musicians (or people in general) learn to listen with intention and defer to one another for the good of the whole. Diminished when one person in the group tries to be more prominent that the others, but enhanced when each one understands how they fit in a unified whole, this quality – elusive but essential – is called ensemble. Ensemble is more than getting along with each other and playing well together. It is a mysterious element that, in the best ensembles, creates something that is more than the sum of its parts.
During the season of Lent, the playlists will explore different varieties of chamber music: each week a different musical combination and an opportunity to identify the nuances of superior ensemble. Instead of turning inward to focus on our own, individual Lenten discipline(s), these musical examples will help remind us of how much we need each other, as we travel toward Holy Week. One practice we can explore is to be purposeful about creating and enhancing the ensemble of those with whom we will share the Lenten journey.
The sound of one person singing sola voce (a single voice) or a cappella (without accompaniment) may be lovely, but a single voice can never create harmony. Ensemble develops when a small group of people commit to the process of experimenting, submitting, wrestling, discovering, and remaining, together. They continually demonstrate the willingness to invest in each other and the group. Aside from the foundational elements of tempo, tone quality, and dynamics, each group member must learn to anticipate the exact moment of release of air into the instrument, synchronize vibrato, match articulation, trust their section, and play their own part with confidence. These are some of the subtle, but essential, qualities of ensemble that you will hear in the music over the next two months. read more…
Knock on Wood
Knock on Wood Lectionary 5 March 2017 First Sunday in Lent Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7 Psalm 32 Romans 5:12-19 Matthew 4:1-11 Text to Life What kid doesn’t need to declare and define a special place that is his or her own. Every child craves a hideaway, a fort, a blanket over…
Lazarus Rising
Lazarus Rising Story Lectionary 5 March 2017 The First Sunday in Jesus’ “Lenten” Journey to Jerusalem God Restores the Women After all Wombs Have Been Closed Due to Sarah (Genesis 20:1-18) Abraham Purchases a Cave at Machpelah for Sarah (Genesis 23) Deborah, Rachel, and Isaac are Buried (Genesis 35) I…
Community and Culture
Beyonce, Chance the Rapper, A Tribe Called Quest bring religion to Grammys
Summary: ““They (black artists0 don’t see the secular and the sacred as being two different things. This is an animated universe with spirits and life and diversity and lots of modes of giftedness that are happening all at once, and it’s not either-or; it’s both-and,” Greer said.”
Read more a https://goo.gl/QsqZdf
Digitally mined from www.religionnews.com
Girl Scout Cookies and Community
Summary: “Selling for the first time during the hundredth year of cookie sales is pretty cool, a kind of standing on the shoulders of giants. It’s humbling to think of all the girls who’ve come before her, before me and my mom. And it’s that essence of community that we’ve tried to cultivate throughout the sale window. ”
Read more at: https://goo.gl/Rt9a49
Digitally mined from www.christandpopculture.com
Mark Zuckerberg’s Answer to a World Divided by Facebook Is More Facebook
Summary: “In our conversation, [Zuckerberg] says his model for an online community might look something like Saddleback, the evangelical Southern California megachurch led by pastor Rick Warren. It’s a surprising example from a man who seems steeped in the liberal pluralism of Silicon Valley.”
Read more at: https://goo.gl/amza73
Digitally mined from: www.wired.com
THE IMPORTANCE OF LIBRARIES IN COMMUNITIES
Summary: “Many people believe libraries to be a thing of the past due to the digital revolution and the rise of a gadget enamored society. The role of libraries as community centers is often undervalued leading to shrinking budgets and sometimes even closure. However, the increase of technologically mediated life is perhaps the reason why public libraries are important institutions for bringing together communities and providing a safe place in which individuals can gather to interact, learn and explore.”
Read and watch at: https://goo.gl/RpRZVv
Digitally mined from: www.altmuslimah.com
WHAT IS INTERNATIONAL TABLETOP DAY?
Summary: I have been a part of the Tabletop Gaming Community for most of my life and over the past decade I have continued to watch this community grow. At a time when the church is unsure of its place within the culture, tabletop gaming events can be a wonderful place for traditional churches to open their doors and become a welcoming space for people trying to build a community based around face-to-face interaction.—Derek W. White
Read more at https://goo.gl/4URuuO read more…
Make Room for Repentance –Preaching Tip for 1 and 5 of March 2017 (Ash Wed and the First Sunday in Lent)
Make room in your worship for repentance. It sounds strange. But as Christians, we have, many of us, gotten away from the idea of repentance. We don’t want to make people feel bad for fear they’ll never return. We want to concentrate on hope. We want to concentrate on the…