Sweet Spots
Ideas and messages from Len Sweet.
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New Ideas! –Preaching Tip for 9 October 2016
Sometimes the best sermon ideas come from other disciplines. Read widely –mostly in disciplines other than your own. Read about current trends in science, in photography, in architecture, in the arts. You’ll find that something will “click” as you pair your new information with the stories and metaphors of scripture, and…
Pastor’s Prayer for 9 October 2016
For a friend’s unexpected call,
for a letter unforeseen,
for the sunlight bursting through thick clouds,
for a porpoise frolicking in the water,
for seals basking in the sun,
for an invitation to dinner on a lonely eve,
for a request to “come along”;
for all the wonderful surprises of life
we give you thanks, O God of joy. Amen.
–Vienna Cobb Anderson
(Beliefnet.com)
Center-Ice Samaritans
Center-Ice Samaritans A Guest Sermon by Rev Dr. David McDonald Lectionary 9 October 2016 21st Sunday After Pentecost Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7 Psalm 66:1-12 2 Timothy 2:8-15 Luke 17:11-19 Text to Life Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going…
The Young and the Perilous
Thirty is not the new 20. Many studies are showing the 20’s to be the most important decade of life for relationship formation, job and career placement, and launching into adulthood.
The US is experiencing an opioid epidemic. Presented here in an effective way: The story of Heroin Town. read more…
Immersion
iˈmərZHən, noun: the act of being so completely involved in something that you forget what it’s like to be outside of it.
You have heard the quip that a fish doesn’t know that it’s immersed in water, because it has never known anything else. This is often applied to culture: the social or business environment that we cannot clearly identify or extricate ourselves from because we are so intricately intertwined with it. read more…
Unstoppable Joy!
Unstoppable Joy! Story Lectionary 2 October 2016 The Story of Noah When the Floodgates of Heaven were Opened Up (Genesis 7) The Enabling of the Tongue of Moses (Exodus 4) Korah and Those Who Defied Moses are Swallowed Up When the Earth’s Mouth is Opened Up by God (Numbers 16)…
Make Communion Part of Your Sermon –Preaching Tip for 2 October 2016
Communion or the Eucharist doesn’t have to be separate from your sermon. Be creative in keeping the Eucharist fresh and new for people by altering the liturgy to suit the needs and times of your culture and community, by incorporating the Eucharist into your sermon, and by moving the Eucharist…
Pastor’s Prayer for 2 October 2016 (World Communion Sunday)
Wondrous God of infinite love and boundless compassion
Mark our hearts with the seal of your handiwork
Create within us the joy of being in your presence.
Stitch into our souls the desire to serve,
the power to heal,
and the capacity to love deeply and genuinely.
Mold us into reservoirs of hope,
that we might pour out your bountiful blessings
upon all of your people.
May this time we partake of the body and blood of Jesus
unite us in the community of saints who know your love and proclaim your Son with fervor and grace
to a broken and hurting world.
May your healing hands be the salve for ending hurt and violence in this world, even as we prepare for the next.
In the holy Name of Jesus.
Amen.
Truth or Dare
Truth or Dare Lectionary 2 October 2016 World Communion Sunday Lamentations 1:1-6 Psalm 137 2 Timothy 1:1-14 Luke 17:5-10 Text to Life “Truth or Dare,” the horror/slasher movie that came out this summer of 2016 won’t be on my watch-list but the title brings back distant memories of a significantly…
Wicked
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
by Gregory Maguire
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire (Harper Collins, 1995), is a fairytale spun from a fairytale. As the title suggests, this book is derived from the well-known and loved fable, The Wizard of Oz, but Maguire has selected a new heroine, or perhaps it is better to say anti-heroine, for his story. How very clever Maguire is to give us the back story of the figure in the fairytale whom we all feared, and who was the epitome of evil – the Wicked Witch of the West. It never occurred to me to question how this malevolent personality became a witch at all, much less one who is so crabby, so intense and so — green. Maguire has brilliantly made the most of these questions, and many others.
At its core, Wicked is a discussion of the nature of good and evil; that the discussion takes place in the alternate and outlandish universe of Oz allows for some emotional distance from the action and characters, giving the reader freedom to withhold judgment about the shenanigans that occur there, and to laugh out loud at a number of them. But the story could serve as a catalyst for serious philosophical inquiry of good and evil, as well. read more…