Sweet Spots
Ideas and messages from Len Sweet.
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Overtone Living
Overtone Living Lectionary 19 February 2017 7th Sunday After Epiphany Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18 Psalm 119:33-40 1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23 Matthew 5:38-48 Text to Life So many of the life’s best inventions, life’s best moments come from “mixing things up.” Being “on the road” and yet being “at home” equals “RVs.”…
Oh That Cookie Jar Goodness!
Oh That Cookie Jar Goodness! Story Lectionary 19 February 2017 The Building of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11) Sarai is Astounded at God’s Power and Goodness (Genesis 18) Moses and Pharaoh (Exodus 5-6) The Budding of Aaron’s Rod (Numbers 17) The Story of David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17)…
Podcasts for Preachers
It’s often difficult to find the time for a study group with other ministers. Life gets busy and we just can’t seem to get our schedules to sync up so what do we do? This week’s digital feast will link you to podcasts which feel like a conversation and point to a few of my favorite FREE online resources for pastors.
The Lectionary Lab
Summary: How can you not listen to a podcast that has as its tagline “Two Bubbas and a Bible”?” There is a down home feel to this podcast and you’re able to listen to two friendly ministers talk about the texts in a conversational way. Tuning in to this podcast will give you wonderful insight into the text each week.
Read more at https://goo.gl/gW1B0E
Digitally mined from www.lectionarylab.com
Pulpit Fiction
Summary: I believe this podcast to be a bit of a rarity. The hosts, Rob McCoy and Eric Fistler, both appear to be in their thirties and bring fresh and contemporary insight to the Scripture. Again, this is a podcast which feels like a conversation and their website always has wonderful resources for each week’s lectionary texts. They also invite a wide variety of people to read the texts and often have a wonderful variety of music.
Read more at: https://goo.gl/cz4WpD
Digitally mined from www.pulpitfiction.us
The Liturgists
Summary: This podcast isn’t a resource for a weekly discussion of biblical texts but is, instead, a journey into a world of art, science, and faith. It is filled with a collaboration of digital liturgies and speaks to people who are interested in Christ, but often feel marginalized by traditional Christianity.
Read more at: https://goo.gl/AVQaXt
Digitally mined from: www.theliturgists.com
Newsworthy with Norsworthy
Summary: I discovered this podcast a few years ago when just bumping around the internet. Luke Norsworthy has turned out to be an intelligent young pastor who has the amazing ability to have guests on his show from a variety of religious traditions. You may tune in one week and hear someone like NT Wright and then next week it may be Richard Rohr or Rob Bell. Go through his podcast archives and listen to some rich and amazing guests.
Read and watch at: https://goo.gl/PDmjyM
Digitally mined from: lukenorsworthy.com
The Blue Letter Bible
Summary: This is one of my favorite resources. Am I looking for a text? Do I need a link to a Strong’s Concordance for Hebrew or Greek? I can use this online or download a free app for my phone. (Available for iOS or Android.) This is nice and handy and, best of all, FREE.
Read more at https://goo.gl/pQDeSH read more…
Preach Faith Not Fear –Preaching Tip for 19 February 2017
Today, we stand in one of the worst political divides of our century, perhaps our last two centuries. But as pastors, we must pastor ALL of our people, or rather all of GOD’s people. When you preach, make sure you are not preaching your own party, your own agenda, or…
Sex Difference in Christian Theology
Sex Difference in Christian Theology: Male, Female, and Intersex in the Image of God
By Megan K. DeFranza
–Book Review by Paula Jones
Until 1990, hermaphrodites (an outdated and misleading term) were to me a thing of myth, curious aberrations that were only mentioned in bad jokes, but definitely not a form of human that actually existed––and yes, I was naïve.
Then, after months of excited anticipation, a friend of mine gave birth to her first child, a child of ambiguous sex who possessed both male and female sex organs. The doctors advised the parents to decide as soon as possible whether they wanted to raise the baby as a boy or girl so they could then surgically correct the ‘mistake’ that nature had made.
With their world shaken, they sought the solace of their faith family. For the most part, that faith family was not very comforting. Some were horrified, looking upon their child as less than human. Others urged them to have the doctors ‘make’ the child a boy because God preferred boys––after all, he did demand that men rule over women. (We won’t debate that opinion here.) Another group avoided the family altogether, completely at a loss of what to say (or not to say). read more…
Pastor’s Prayer for 19 February 2017
Father , for this Jesus-life I pray: to be born of the Spirit – free to spin, twist, dive, and climb, whirled along by the breath of God. Just as a bird relies on the wind and trusts it to carry her by its power, and becomes familiar with the ways to rest in its strength, I pray to move, and live, and have my being in you, O God, you who will be worshiped in spirit and in truth.
–Teri Hyrkas
Off the Beaten Path
I have to admit, I have become enamored with banjos. There is such a variety of expression that includes the instrument, and such a varied approach to playing them that each time I find a new group, I hear something different and amazing.
They are as at home with guitars as they are with cellos, and their multiple voicings means that they can blend in, or stand out, depending on the situation. In this week’s playlist you will find a trio of brothers who are taking the traditional bluegrass/roots music into the 21sts century with all of the influences that a group of teenagers naturally bring to the music. There is a setting of “I’ll Fly Away” featuring the legends Earl Scruggs and Charlie Daniels. Bela Fleck is again in the list, in a duet with Chick Corea, the genius jazz pianist. The Rascal Flatts bring their song “Banjo” to the list. read more…
The Ten Commandments of Fighting Fair
The Ten Commandments of Fighting Fair Lectionary 12 February 2017 6th Sunday After Epiphany Deuteronomy 30:15-20 Psalm 119:1-8 1 Corinthians 3:1-9 Matthew 5:21-37 Text to Life Taking care of newborns is tough stuff. They cry for no reason. They have no predictable sleep cycle. They constantly need to be changed,…
What is a Metaphor? –Preaching Tip for 12 February 2017
A metaphor is an abstract word that “points” to something greater, more complex, more often indescribable. A metaphor is always a noun. For example, a metaphor of a mountain may be used to describe something about God –God’s loftiness, distance, height above our understanding, cloudy or misty knowledge, a higher…
The Undoing Project
The Undoing Project:
A Friendship That Changed Our Minds
by Michael Lewis
–Review by Teri Hyrkas
The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds (W.W. Norton & Co., 2017) by Michael Lewis is, at its heart, the story of an intense rapport between two men, Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky. I say, “at its heart” because even though the word friendship is in the title, it is not immediately clear that the topic of the book is friendship, especially when the first chapter is about baseball statistics. But yes, The Undoing Project is a story of a very deep friendship between two non-religious Jews who as young men lived in the newly formed State of Israel. Kahneman and Tversky studied psychology and graduated from Hebrew University of Jerusalem within a few years of each other. After college the fledgling scientists, who only knew each other slightly at this time, each sought to develop fresh ideas in their respective fields of cognitive and mathematical psychology. read more…