Sweet Spots
Ideas and messages from Len Sweet.
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Pastor’s Prayer for January 3, 2016
“Dear God, make calm the waves in this heart, make still that storm. Be calm, my soul, that God may rest in you. God’s peace wash over you. Dear God, grant us peace, peace that the whole world cannot wash away.”
Soren Kierkegaard, A Book of Uncommon Prayer (2007).
Give Christmas Away
“Let me not wrap, stack, box, bag, tie, gag, bundle, seal, keep Christmas. Christmas kept is liable to mold. Let me give Christmas away, unwrapped by exuberant armfuls. Let me share, dance, live Christmas unpretentiously, merrily, responsibly with overflowing hands, tireless steps and sparkling eyes. Christmas given away will stay…
Incarnation
Incarnation
The Surprising Overlap of Heaven & Earth
by William H. Willimon
Christmas is a crazy, cluttered and cramped season for most of us. Looking back at Advent, we may need to admit that the time we had hoped to spend in quiet meditation on the meaning of Christ’s birth somehow morphed into endless errands and extra family duties. As a result, our well planned spiritual disciplines seemed to dissolve before our very eyes. If this describes your recent Advent season, take heart and take up this book: Incarnation — The Surprising Overlap of Heaven & Earth (2013 Abingdon Press).
A wonderfully reassuring book about God’s relentless love for us, Incarnation is a powerful exploration of the subject of Jesus’ entry into the disheveled world of humankind, and of the mystery of Immanuel, “God with us,” which is at the heart of Christmas. Written by William H. Willimon, Professor of the Practice of Christian Ministry at the Divinity School of Duke University, Willimon has packed an amazing amount of solid, insightful information about the Doctrine of the Incarnation into his short book. read more…
Christmas in a Prison Cell
“From the Christian point of view there is no special problem about Christmas in a prison cell. For many people in this building it will probably be a more sincere and genuine occasion than in places where nothing but the name is kept. That misery, suffering, poverty, loneliness, helplessness, and…
Mysterious and Terrible
Fyodor” Dostoevsky wrote in The Brothers Karamazov that beauty is “mysterious as well as terrible. God and the Devil are fighting there and the battlefield is the heart of man [humanity].” The preacher doesn’t just visit that “battlefield” and report periodically from the front lines. The preacher walks the via…
Do You Know Your Seasons?
I’ve been called a Grinch. It’s true. I have an unusual pet peeve . . . Christmas carols in church before Christmas.
The reason I have been called a Grinch is that when worship leaders make me sing Christmas carols in November and early December, I get grumpy. Downright growly. And, I’m not usually quiet about it. (You know, like that baby Jesus, who never cried . . . no, that’s not me.)
The reason I get grumpy and growly is because when we ignore Advent and bring out the carols too soon, we shout, loud and clear, that we don’t know our own stories. That we (the church and her worship leaders), don’t have any clue how to be true to the narrative of scripture. We advertise that we really don’t recognize how to be counter cultural. When we ignore the liturgical calendar, which helps us to sing the seasons, and sound the story, we train our community that culture trumps story. read more…
Stargazers
Stargazers Story Lectionary 27 December 2015 The Birth of the Christ Child God Creates the Stars to be Signs (Genesis 1) A Pillar of Cloud Leads the Israelites and Stands Over the Tent of Meeting (Exodus 13 and 33) The Prophecies of Balaam (Numbers 23 and 24): God’s will for…
Pastor’s Prayer –27 December 2015
Gracious, loving and merciful God, on this Christmas Eve, as the light of your Word penetrates our hearts, as we are reminded of the gift of life and faith, as the glories of the heavenly hosts are echoed in our church, we open ourselves up to your Spirit and give you thanks. We are grateful, Lord Jesus, that your story has become our story, and we celebrate your birth.
Continue, we pray, to instill in us a profound sense of your abiding presence, and help us to take to heart the wonder of your love, that we may walk in your ways and delight in your will.
Help us, Lord God, to be the faithful, gracious, loving, giving and forgiving people you would have us be.
Rev Sean B. Murray
The Ponder Box
The Ponder Box Lectionary 27 December 2015 First Sunday After Christmas 1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26 Psalm 148 Colossians 3:12-17 Luke 2:41-52 Text to Life Comparison shopping. It is something we are all encouraged to do. Clip an ad, bring it into a competitor, show them you could get a lower…
The Great Christ Comet
The Great Christ Comet
Revealing the True Star of Bethlehem
by Colin R. Nicholl
In the splendid book, The Great Christ Comet – Revealing the True Star of Bethlehem (Crossway, 2015) we are provided with a comprehensive look at one of the most beautiful and iconic images to appear in the Christmas story — the Star of Bethlehem. The Star has an important part to play in the Nativity, and yet, what do we actually know about the Star itself?
The, majesty, message and mystery of the Star have captured the imagination of thoughtful people for centuries. Besides being eternally linked to the birth of Jesus the Messiah, the story of the Star is intimately connected with the Magi — the Babylonian wise men who followed the Star from their distant homeland to Judea. On their Star-inspired journey the learned Magi paused to visit King Herod in Jerusalem. The reason for their call on Herod was to ask him this question:“Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” Matthew 2:2 NIV. read more…