Sweet Spots
Ideas and messages from Len Sweet.
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It’s YOU!
One of the stories from the “Omaha Beach” invasion of World War II is of a Navy radio crew that was desperately trying to function under extremely hazardous conditions. The officer in charge tells it like this; “We were under attack by enemy planes. At one point, I heard one…
silence
Many of us spend a great deal of time in inane conversation because we are so frightened and feel socially awkward of silent spaces . .. . We fear silence when we are alone as well and so we often live with a constant background of radio chat or muzak.…
Adopted
It was the first day of Sunday school. After the teacher sent out the registration pad and asked the students to write down their birth dates, he noticed that there were two new kinds with the same last name but with birthdays a month apart. He welcomed the kids, and…
A Taxing Encounter / The Impertinence of Your Importance
A Taxing Encounter Story Lectionary 9 August 2015 Exodus: The First Covenant Given to Moses (34) Numbers: The Story of the Bronze Serpent (21) Hosea: The Scripture Jesus references as a warning to the Pharisees and Scribes about the Priestly Function and Sacrificial Tradition in Jerusalem (6) Isaiah 56: God’s…
Love Life
Love Life Lectionary 9 August 2015 11th Sunday After Pentecost 2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33 Psalm 130 Ephesians 4:25-5:2 John 6:35, 41-51 Text to Life The big news this last week? Russell Wilson, the quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks, signed a new contract and recommitted himself to the…
Don’t read it! –8/9/15
Don’t read it! If you want people’s attention, you need to look at them, speak to them, engage them. You can’t do that if your nose is stuck in your manuscript. Practice stepping away from it. Trust the Holy Spirit, and preach without notes!
Truth and Beauty: A Friendship
Truth and Beauty : A Friendship
by Ann Patchett
Today’s column is a Memory Maker book review. Memory Maker books are those that are not recent publications, but which come to mind frequently, as good books will.
What would you do for a good friend? We all want to support our friends when they face trouble in life, but how much help is enough? How much is too much? Or, can we ever help too much? This is the perplexing question in the book Truth and Beauty: A Friendship by Ann Patchett. read more…
Feelin’ Good
In 1961, the little-known British song-writing duo Newley and Bricusse penned a song that has become a jazz standard: “Feelin’ Good.” As is often the case, the song was part of a now forgotten musical, Stop the World – I Want to Get Off, which debuted in London and ran in New York for only 555 performances. The hit song, however, has become a much-loved anthem to resilience and the promise of better days ahead. read more…
A Prayer for Our Earth for the Sunday of 8/9/15
All powerful God,
you are present in the universe
and in the smallest of your creatures.
You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.
Pour out upon us the power of your love,
that we may protect life and beauty.
Fill us with your peace, that we may live
as brothers and sisters, harming no one.
O God of the poor,
help us to rescue the abandoned
and forgotten of this earth,
so precious in your eyes.
Bring healing to our lives,
that we may protect the world and not prey on it,
that we may sow beauty,
not pollution and destruction.
Touch the hearts
of those who look only for gain
at the expense of the poor and the earth.
Teach us to discover the worth of each thing,
to be filled with awe and contemplation,
to recognize that we are profoundly united
with every creature
as we journey towards your infinite light.
We thank you for being with us each day.
Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle,
for justice, love and peace.
‘A prayer for our earth’ was published in Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato Si.
Henry Ford
Toward the end of Henry Ford’s life, Will Rogers said to him, “It’ll take a hundred years to know whether you’ve helped us or hurt us. But you certainly didn’t leave us where you found us.” That should preach. The one thing Jesus never does is leave us where he…