Sweet Spots
Ideas and messages from Len Sweet.
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Making Belief
Shakespeare scholar and author William F. Zak, who has taught for many years at Salisbury State University (Maryland), reflects in a convocation address to students given many years ago on the what goes on in the four years of college. I just ran across this, but the words are as…
Break the Ice –Preaching Tip for 20 September 2015
If your congregation is stiff and grim, DO break the ice with something funny. But… beware that your funnybone doesn’t offend someone. Jokes that are in bad taste leave a bad taste in the mouth, whereas a well-played crack can make everyone crack up, relax, and tune in better!
Pastor’s Prayer for 20 September 2015
A MIGRANT’S MEDITATION and PRAYER
Lord, someone left the cake out in the rain,
And we don’t think that we can take it,
‘Cos it took so long to bake it,
And we might never find the recipe again.
Searching, Lord, in a strange land;
Lead us forward by your hand.
We don’t always like this new place you’ve brought us to,
With its cyberspace and virtual brutality;
We sometimes long for the way things were-
Simple days of vinyl and virginity.
Searching, Lord, in a strange land;
Lead us forward by your hand.
But we’ve made it this far
And we’re not going back!
With the goad of grace and the sharp stick of the Spirit,
You, Lord, have pushed us across the border.
Searching, Lord, in a strange land;
Lead us forward by your hand.
We are pioneers and prospectors,
Dowsers and diviners of your elusive presence;
Convinced by history that our God has not abandoned us,
But is dancing in the wings of the future, waiting for us to catch up.
Searching, Lord, in a strange land;
Lead us forward by your hand.
You have always been a Mover and a Shaker,
Surfing the fringes of time;
We declare ourselves willing to join you-
To be the people of Christ wherever and whenever.
Searching, Lord, in a strange land;
Lead us forward by your hand.
Between remembrance and relevance, Lord,
Help us not to lose our way;
Make us midwives of the coming age,
That the Kingdom might come whole and howling into our world.
Searching, Lord, in a strange land;
Lead us forward by your hand.
God of grace and God of glory,
On your people pour your power;
Grand us wisdom, grant us courage,
For the facing of this hour.
Searching, Lord, in a strange land;
Lead us forward by your hand.
Amen.
—Anonymous
Duets
Last week I wrote about unaccompanied solos and how even one person can make harmony when the music is right. Today the music focuses on duets.
There are many ways to make music with more than one performer: two of the same instrument (the work for two violas), two different but complimentary instruments (piano and vibraphone), or two people playing the same instrument (one guitar four hands). read more…
Go Set A Watchman
Go Set A Watchman
by Harper Lee
How would you react to the news that an unpublished book by a favorite author had been found and was going to be released to the public soon? Would you be jubilant, perform a happy dance around the living room, then message family and friends with the joyful information? That’s what I did when the first announcements of the publication of the novel Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee were reported.
As many other readers have experienced, the book To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee stole my heart. I loved Scout and Atticus, and the setting of the story in the poor, Depression-ridden, rural South. I mourned over Tom Robinson’s fate and was profoundly relieved when Bob Ewell got his come-uppance at the hands of a most unlikely person. Mockingbird left a deep imprint and a desire for more of Harper Lee’s writing. Time and again, the question was raised among friends in book clubs: why were there no other offerings from such a wonderful writer? Therefore, when word came out that Go Set A Watchman was about to be published, it was time to throw a party! How marvelous that there was another book by Harper Lee! read more…
Liturgical Bookends
Call to Worship: God is . . . So high, can’t get over HimGod is . . . So low, can’t get under HimGod is . . . So wide, can’t get ‘round HimGotta go in through the door. —African-American spiritual Benediction: Dance, dance, wherever you may beFor ‘I am…
Heart Worship
Maybe we aren’t hearing Jesus speak because we’re not serious about hearing Jesus speak, just going through the motions. “A man went to church with an angel as his guide. Every seat in the church was filled, but there was something strange about the service. The organist moved her fingers…
Goethe and Disney
All ideas come from someplace else. Take “Fantasia.” “Wolfgang Goethe (1749-1832) wrote about an apprentice who copied a sorcerer’s spell, but didn’t quite get it right. Using the spell, he charged his broom to replace him in the drudgeries of apprenticeship, including the task of carrying water. Things got out…
Take In The Stranger
While Henry Ford was on vacation in Dublin, Ireland, three priests asked him to make contributions to their new orphanage. Ford was receptive and wrote a check for 2000 pounds. The next day the headline in the small town newspaper announced that Ford had given 20,000 pounds. The priests hurried…
“Does Life Make Any Sense?”
“Does My Life Make Any Sense” I am haunted by a newspaper story. It told of a young secretary who, one day during her lunch hour, climbed out on the edge of the building in which she was working and announced her intentions to jump. Life, at least hers, had…