Sweet Spots
Ideas and messages from Len Sweet.
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Henry Heimlich
On 29 May 2016 Dr. Henry Heimlich didn’t hesitate. When a fellow diner started choking, the 96-year-old was ready to perform the maneuver that he invented. This all happened Monday at an assisted-living facility in Cincinnati, The Cincinnati Enquirer reports. Resident Patty Ris, 87, had swallowed a piece of meat…
Vetted
Vetted Story Lectionary 5 June 2016 The Story of Hagar and Ishmael in the Wilderness (Genesis 16) The Tribes of Those Who Reached the Promised Land (Numbers 26) God’s Promise from the Wilderness (Deuteronomy 8) Those Who Settled in Jerusalem (Nehemiah 11) A Genealogy from Adam to Abram (1 Chronicles…
Wired
Hardwired for Tranquility
This is a subject I often address: The biblical story begins and end in a garden. Asphalt doesn’t inspire. Nor do windowless buildings. Food for thought: Incorporating or building into and around nature in our environments begins a connection with our Creator before the words even begin. read more…
Hidden Metaphors –Preaching Tip for 5 June 2016
What is a hidden metaphor? Many stories in scripture have not only visible metaphors, but hidden metaphors. For example, in the story of Rahab, Joshua’s men hang a red string in Rahab’s window, so that her family might be spared during their invasion of the city. Meanwhile, just before they…
Pastor’s Prayer –for 5 June 2016
Gracious God, may your messages and preaching come to us through your Holy Spirit’s power, so that our faith might not rest on the articulation of words by our pastor or the acumen of the human mind, but upon Your power and presence. Help us never to depend upon our own might or power, but always upon Your Spirit. May You, the God of all hope, fill us with all joy and peace as we trust in you, and in your holy Son, the Lord Jesus, Messiah of all people. Amen.
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
Stiff:
The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
by Mary Roach
“Treat the living as though they were dying, and the dead as though they were alive.” Russian philosopher Nicholas Berdyaev (1874-1948)
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach (W. W. Norton & Co., 2003), is an unusual book. It is a non-fiction, science-related publication about dead bodies written by someone who does not have a formal background in science but who does meticulous journalistic research for her stories. And although the subject of death and what happens to the body after death is a morose topic, Mary Roach has managed to mix in plenty of quirky, laugh-out-loud humor. The resulting product of her fact-finding mission about cadavers and her humorous style of writing is a surprisingly enjoyable book about an uncomfortable, unavoidable subject. read more…
The Joy of the Ordinary
Last week I gave an overview of the weeks of the Christian Year called “Ordinary Time.” The themes and scripture passages of these next 25+ weeks give the church time and space in which to notice and name the ‘ordinariness’ of life … and yet, the ordinariness is so full of mystery and meaning. Each repetition of the hours, days, weeks, months and years reminds us that our existence both craves order and creates disorder. Our ability to hold order and disorder together – to integrate both so that we trust the movement and the music that they create – is explored during Ordinary Time. The lectionary cycle opens for us the opportunity to set our own disciplines, to develop our own practices, and to determine our own rhythms. One of the opportunities it holds for me is to explore new musical genres and groupings. read more…
Strange Instruments
Strange Instruments Lectionary 29 May 2016 2nd Sunday After Pentecost 1 Kings 18:20-21, (22-29), 30-39 Psalm 96 Galatians 1:1-12 Luke 7:1-10 Text to Life Every culture has some form of rite of passage from childhood to adulthood. We are more familiar with the Jewish Bar/ Bat Mitzvah, or the Amish…
What is a metaphor?
What is a metaphor? A metaphor is a noun that serves to describe something hard to describe, or adds depth and additional attributes to something or someone, or highlights a wider meaning of something or someone. The scriptures are filled with metaphors. From Genesis onward, metaphors form threads that help…
Elohim
Elohim Story Lectionary 29 May 2016 God Creates (Genesis 1) The Word of God Appears to Abram (Genesis 15:1; Genesis 12:7; Genesis 18) The Word of the Lord Appears to Elijah (1 Kings 19) The Word of the Lord Calls Samuel (1 Samuel 3) Psalm 33: Creator God Psalm 119:…