Sweet Spots
Ideas and messages from Len Sweet.
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ME and WE
ME and WE
God’s New Social Gospel
by Leonard Sweet
ME and WE: God’s New Social Gospel by Leonard Sweet is a lively and lovely introduction to a re-imagined, metaphorically rich present/future church. This church, Sweet writes, must learn how to face three of the biggest challenges of today’s culture: individualism, racism, and consumerism. These three, says Sweet, “…are interwoven into a complex fabric of other ills that infect society due to our fallen dreams and drives.”
The clear and incisive title of the book does not prepare the reader for the beauty contained within it. ME and WE is an exquisite book, in many ways. read more…
House of Burgesses
One wonders what was the back-story behind this legislation published in 1631 by the Virginia House of Burgesses: “Ministers shall not give themselves to excess in drinking or riot, spending their time idly by day or night, playing at dice, cards or any other unlawful game, but at all times…
Walking With Joy
“Walking now with joy and not with fear, in a clear, steady sight of things eternal, we shall look on pleasure, wealth, praise, all things of earth, as bubbles upon the water, counting nothing important, nothing desirable, nothing worth a deliberate thought, but only what is ‘within the veil’ where…
The Blow of Conscience
“When conscience does hurl its chastening bolt, it strikes through our inmost being and down the length of our days. And after such a blow there is no telling who of us will emerge tempered from the storm.” Alexander Solzhenitsyn, “Lightning,” as quoted in Joseph Pearce, Solzhenitsyn: A Soul…
Moving On
Moving On Story Lectionary 6 September 2015 The Call of Moses (Exodus 4) Psalm 1: The Chaff of Sin Psalm 35: Chaff Before the Wind Psalm 91: God’s Protection Psalm 140: God’s Protection Psalm 121: God’s Protection The Call of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1) Isaiah’s Dream (6) Isaiah’s Warning to the…
Pastor’s Prayer for 9-6-15
Dear Jesus, help me to spread Your fragrance everywhere I go.
Flood my soul with Your spirit and life.
Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly,
That my life may only be a radiance of Yours.
Shine through me, and be so in me
That every soul I come in contact with
May feel Your presence in my soul.
Let them look up and see no longer me, but only Jesus!
Stay with me and then I shall begin to shine as You shine,
So to shine as to be a light to others;
The light, O Jesus will be all from You; none of it will be mine;
It will be you, shining on others through me.
Let me thus praise You the way You love best, by shining on those around me.
Let me preach You without preaching, not by words but by my example,
By the catching force of the sympathetic influence of what I do,
The evident fullness of the love my heart bears to You.
John Henry Cardinal Newman
Amen.
Adam I and Adam II
Adam I and Adam II Lectionary 6 September 2015 15th Sunday After Pentecost Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23 Psalm 125 James 2:1-10 (11-13), 14-17 Mark 7:24-37 Text to Life Our Scripture reading today is from the Book of James. The Book of James is one of the most controversial books in…
The Meaning of Life
In one of his novels, French poet and novelist Anatole France (1844-1924) retold the old story of an eastern king who, on succeeding to his father’s throne, asked the greatest scholars of his country to compile for his guidance a history of humanity as complete as possible. After years of…
Wagging fingers 9-6-15
Do you have a “wagging” finger problem? Or a lagging finger problem? Some preachers spend so much time finger wagging that they forget to add in God’s grace and forgiveness. Others forget that God’s grace comes with repentance. Somewhere between a wagging finger and a lagging finger, there is the…
Getting the subject right
Auberon Alexander Waugh (1939-2001) was an English journalist, and eldest son of the famed Evelyn Waugh. He wrote five excellent novels, but gave up writing fiction because he didn’t like being compared to his famous father. Instead he made his living by writing and speaking. One day he received an…