Sweet Spots
Ideas and messages from Len Sweet.
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It’s Not About the Food
It’s Not About the Food Lectionary 17 July 2016 9th Sunday After Pentecost Amos 8:1-12 Psalm 52 Colossians 1:15-28 Luke 10:38-42 Text to Life There are two kinds of people who love to throw dinner parties. There are those who delight in planning the exquisite menu, shopping for the ingredients,…
Slow Burn
Slow Burn Story Lectionary 17 July 2016 The Light Comes into Being (Genesis 1) The Lord Makes a Covenant with Abram as a Smoking Firepot (Genesis 15) The Lord Meets Moses as a Fiery Furnace on Mt. Sinai (Exodus 19) The Lord Burns Up Elijah’s Sacrifice Like an Oven (1…
Don’t Forget the Story! –Preaching Tip for 17 July 2016
When you’re writing your sermon, don’t forget to make it story-like or to include a story if the sermon itself is not the story. Stories help people understand better what you are trying to tell them. Stories help them apply Jesus’ lessons to their own lives. And above all, don’t…
Pastor’s Prayer for 17 July 2016
God and Father,
to those who go astray
you reveal the light of your truth
and enable them to return to the right path.
Grant that all who have received the grace of baptism
may strive to be worthy of their Christian calling
and reject everything opposed to it.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.–Ending Prayer of the Morning Laud from the Jerusalem Bible
Reading for The Common Good
Reading for The Common Good
by C. Christopher Smith
The Christian church has been pictured in many forms: as a kingdom, a wedding feast, a sheepfold. But it is not a common occurrence to have the church represented as a community of readers. Tapping into the ancient ideas of lectio divina, C. Christopher Smith invites us to imagine a fellowship of Christians where reading inspires the ways for the church to emulate the compassionate life of Jesus. In Reading for The Common Good (InterVarsity Press, 2016), Smith makes clear that this does not imply that the congregation reads books and meets for discussions only. Rather, it means that the books which a local church reads together, starting with the Bible, are enveloped into the identity of the group and become the catalysts for both learning and action. Drawing on his experience at his own fellowship, Englewood Christian Church of Indianapolis, IN, Smith says, for a gathering of Christians to become an active “learning organization” (a term Smith has borrowed from business expert Peter Senge’s book The Fifth Discipline, published in 2004 by CurrencyDoubleday) there is a need to make “Slow Reading” an integral part of the church. read more…
The Meaning of Life and Community
This week’s police-related events highlight not only our ongoing racial and social divides, but our culture of violence. Whatever our response, fatalism (“What difference does one person make?” or “Que sera sera, whatever will be, will be”) is not on the table. I’m not sure who said it since this quote is widely attributed to many people, but it rings true: “No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.” A few of today’s thoughts are limited to our flawed thinking, tendency to reach for the sword, and need to walk humbly with a broad range of different people to transcend our limited understanding. And, as always, some trends shaping our world. read more…
10 Commandments
A Hebrew scholar once noted that the first word of the Ten Commandments is “I” and the last word is “neighbor”
A Tire Iron Parable
If you need a Good Samaritan story, here is R. Bruce McPherson’s “A Tire Iron Parable” One morning in early November I was driving north on the Dan Ryan Expressway toward the Loop in our relatively new car, alone with my thoughts and National Public Radio. Suddenly my right rear…
Vulture or Hummingbird?
This is an old parable but it always touches me and reminds me that we find in life what we are looking for. Two birds that fly over the California desert are the vulture and the hummingbird. All the vulture can see is rotting meat because that is all it…
Second Coming
“Walker Percy captures this evasiveness in a chilling scene from his novel The Second Coming: ‘She spoke with the quietness of people after a storm which had drowned out their voices. What struck him was not sadness or remorse or pity but the wonder of it. How can it…