Sweet Spots
Ideas and messages from Len Sweet.
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Lenten Meditations –Preaching Tip for 27 February 2016
Lent is a great time to hold weeknight short meditative services with brief meditations on Lenten scriptures or thoughts. Instead of your usual sermon, perhaps try telling one of Jesus’ final parables, updating it within a 21st century context. Or try writing your own parable. You can choose a metaphor…
Pastor’s Prayer for 27 February 2016
The Aramaic Lord’s Prayer
as translated by Kevin Thew Forrester
O Breath of Life, your name shines everywhere!
Holy is your “I Am” now.
Embody your desire in every light and form.
Bring to us this moment’s bread and wisdom.
Untie the knots of failure binding us,
as we release our judgments against others.
Help us to remember our source,
yet free us to be reborn every moment.
From you comes forth every Vision, Power, and Son from gathering to gathering.
Amen.
Out of the House of Bread
Out of the House of Bread
Satisfying Your Hunger for God with the Spiritual Disciplines
by Preston Yancey
Is there a fragrance that immediately brings thoughts of worshipping God to your mind? Frankincense in the air has triggered that thought in me for many years, but after reading Preston Yancey’s Out of The House of Bread: Satisfying Your Hunger for God with the Spiritual Disciplines (Zondervan 2015), it just might be the smell of fresh-baked bread that ushers the Bread of Life to mind from now on. Yancey’s book combines the craft of making bread, one’s hunger for God, and the practice of spiritual disciplines and links them so that they take become a single, inviting entity. If you are looking for an EPIC (Experiential, Participatory, Image/sensory rich, and Connective) way to observe Lent this year, Out of the House of Bread may be the perfect book for you. read more…
Lenten Listening II
The church I attend has a wonderful practice during Lent – a Wednesday evening service of songs and stories. It is a structured service, using the Holden Evening Prayer as the foundation, interspersed with extended scripture readings and a question (or two) for discussion. The congregation has been using this musical resource for many, many years, and although, liturgically, it was not designed for Lent, it has deep meaning for this congregation. They can’t imagine travelling through Lent together without this music as their soundtrack.
Deep spiritual seasons – like Lent – can, and I would argue, should, be paired with music. In fact, finding ways to use more, or all, of our senses should be a priority during every liturgical season. And Lent offers an invitation to begin. During Lent, practices which incorporate our bodies, such as moving around the worship space and kneeling, are more frequent. Some churches share communion weekly during Lent to heighten our experience of taste in worship. Others use visual clues such as liturgical colors and symbols to engage us visually. A common thread through these practices is that they have become familiar: they create and express shared rituals that we perform together, as a community of faith. read more…
Lazarus
Lazarus Story Lectionary 28 February 2016 The Lenten Parables Week Three The Story of Cain and Abel (Genesis 4) The Order of Priestly Dress –Blue, and Purple, and Fine Linen (Exodus 28 and 39) The Colors of the Tabernacle Linen Veil (Exodus 36) Regulations Regarding Skin Diseases and Pronouncements of…
Chardin
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin invites us to Venite Adoremus, to open our eyes to the omnipresence of good, not just the omnipresence of evil: All around us, to right and left, in front and behind, above and below, we have only to go a little beyond the frontier of…
Lost
Lost Story Lectionary 21 February 2016 Second Sunday of the Lenten Journey The Israelites’ Time “Lost” in the Wilderness Grumbling Against God (Exodus 15 and 16) Psalm 23 (The Good Shepherd) Psalm 119 (Do Not Let Me Stray) Through Jeremiah, God Mourns That His Sheep Are Scattered and Lost, and…
Sheba
Sheba Lectionary 21 February 2016 Second Sunday in Lent Genesis15:1-12, 17-18 Psalm 27 Philippians 3:17-4:1 Luke 13:31-35 Text to Life [Prop: basin of water] If you were alive and watching movies in 1975 you were rudely awakened to a fear of the water. In 1975 Hollywood released a thriller…
Pastor’s Prayer for 21 February 2016
The Lenten Prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian
O Lord and Master of my life! Take from me the spirit of sloth,
faint-heartedness, lust of power, and idle talk.
But give rather the spirit of
chastity, humility, patience, and love to Thy servant. Yea, O
Lord and King! Grant me to see my own errors and not to judge my
brother; For Thou art blessed unto ages of ages. Amen
Lenten Listening I
Over the next few weeks, Sound Theology will provide listening resources for your Lenten journey.
Knowing this Lenten story, and how it all turns out, is both a benefit and a hindrance to our travels. On one hand, we know that there is a great rejoicing to be revealed; on the other hand we know that there is also great pain. Our willingness to walk into the pain, again, knowing all that we know, is tempered by re-entering the story with open hearts to learn more, to be broken, and ultimately transformed … again. read more…