Sweet Spots
Ideas and messages from Len Sweet.
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Add Excitement –Preaching Tip for 14 April 2019
When you are excited about the gospel message, about Jesus’ resurrection hope, about praise, your people will be excited too! In order to get people feeling the joy of the resurrection, the joy of Palm Sunday, you need to get them excited about Jesus’ gift of life. Sometimes you can…
Pastor’s Prayer for 14 April 2019
Waken our hearts, O Lord, our God;
make them ever watchful to serve You and Your purposes.
Trouble us with the smallness of our vision and work.
Trouble us with the greatness of Your command to make disciples of all nations.
Trouble us with Your great love for sinners and our own slowness to make You our greatest love.
Trouble us with the brevity of our lives and time, talent, and treasure not invested in eternity.
Comfort us by drawing us to Yourself with the cords of Your
unfailing mercy.
Comfort us, O Lord, with the assurance of our salvation and
unending glory with You when we suffer and are afflicted.
Rekindle in us a renewed desire
for the coming of Your glorious kingdom
when all wrongs will be made right,
when everything that is broken will be made whole,
and when we will trade a cross for a crown.
In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
—Adapted from the Prayers of Martin Luther
The Home Stretch
The Home Stretch Lectionary 14 April 2019 Palm Sunday / Passion Sunday Luke 19:28-40 Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29 Isaiah 50:4-9a Psalm 31:9-16 Philippians 2:5-11 Luke 22:14-23:56 or Luke 23:1-49 Text to Life Who doesn’t like a party??!! We all love “Palm Sunday” because of the parade of pomp and pageantry that…
Nudge
Nudge:
Awakening Each Other to the God Who Is Already There
by Leonard Sweet
–Review by Teri Hyrkas
How would you initiate a change in the current negative mindset toward evangelism? Do you think a nudge might help? Nudge: Awakening Each Other To The God Who Is Already There (David. C. Cook, 2010), by author and professor Leonard Sweet, is a perspective-shifting look at what it means for Christians to be faith-sharers in the world today. Starting from the premise that Christians do not bring Christ to the mission field but join God in the work that God has already begun there, Sweet reorients the reader’s attention to show that the practice of evangelism can turn from an anxiety laden toe-to-toe confrontation to a hope filled personal engagement meant to recognize and encourage “Christ in you…”(Col 1:27 NIV).
read more…Lent 5
This week’s Suite #5 in C minor echoes a journey of pain or worry, sadness or contemplation. Unlike the D minor suite (#2), which sometimes feely jaunty, C minor settles into the weightiness of the minor key. In this suite, Bach uses a special technique to emphasize the resonance and depth of the music. The musician is instructed to retune the cello (called scordatura), to bring the pitch of the A string (the highest string on the instrument) down one whole step to a G, resulting in these open strings: C-G-D-G. This tuning causes the cello to vibrate and resonate quite differently from the way it does with the normal C-G-D-A setup; one can easily hear the dark pureness that this tuning provides.
read more…Lent 4
Sound Theology #183 – Lent 4
In the fourth Cello Suite, Bach takes us on an unexpected journey. The suite is nominally in the key of E-flat major throughout its seven movements, returning to the home key at the end of each movement. It is grounded and solid, exhibiting the characteristic ‘heroic’ feeling of many works written in E-flat. But between double bar lines, the instrumentalist follows Bach through a rugged terrain.
Of the suites so far, this is the most challenging. The harmonic foundation of double-stops and repetition of the ‘home’ key that are crucial in a solo suite are missing through most of this work. Because of this, the music can feel disjointed or angular. The focus on the single melodic line gives the performer artistic license to emphasize different parts of the melody. If you listen to different performances, you will find a wide variety of tempos and interpretations; each unique yet convincing.
read more…The Politics of Love
Story Lectionary 7 April 2019 The 5th Week of Jesus’ Journey to the Cross Abimelek’s Warning Vision Regarding Sarah (Genesis 20) Pharaoh’s Warning Dreams of Famine (Genesis 41) Washing of Hands in Atonement (Deuteronomy 21:1-8) Israel Wants a King (1 Samuel 8-9) David is Anointed King (2 Samuel 5,6,7) David’s…
The Love Drug
The Love Drug Lectionary7 April 20195th Sunday in LentIsaiah 43:16-21Psalm 126Philippians 3:4b-14John 12:1-8Text to Life There is no doubt we are facing a towering and tottering number of humanitarian, social, economic, environmental, and political crises in this first quarter of the twenty-first century. But perhaps the one that is both…
Keeping Kids Involved –Preaching Tip for 7 April 2019
Often pastors gear sermons only to adults. But if your kids are in worship, remember to include them. They pay attention more than you think, especially if your sermons are interactive and participatory. Think of creative ways to include kids, such as answering questions, passing out tangibles to congregants, creating…
Pastor’s Prayer for 7 April 2019
O Supreme Physician! O unspeakable Love of my soul! I have recourse to Thee. O infinite and eternal Trinity, I, though unworthy, ardently sigh for Thee! I turn to Thee in the mystical body of Thy holy Church, so that Thou mayest wash away with Thy grace all stains of my soul. I beseech Thee through the merits of St. Peter, to whom Thou hast committed the care of Thy Bark, to delay no longer to help Thy Spouse, who hopes in the fire of Thy charity and in the abyss of Thy admirable wisdom. Despise not the desires of Thy servants, but do Thou Thyself guide Thy holy Bark. O Thou, the Author of peace, draw unto Thyself all the faithful; dispel the darkness of the storm, so that the dawn of Thy light may shine upon the Head of Thy Church, and pour down upon him zeal for the salvation of souls. O eternal and merciful Father, Thou hast given us the means of restraining the arms of Thy justice in the humble prayer and ardent desires of Thy devoted servants, whom Thou hast promised to hear when they ask Thee to have mercy upon the world. O powerful and eternal God, I thank Thee for the peace which Thou wilt grant to Thy Spouse! I will enter into Thy gardens, and there I will remain until I see the fulfilment of Thy promises, which never fail. Wash away our sins, O Lord, and purify our souls in the blood which Thy only-begotten Son shed for us, so that with joyful countenances and pure hearts we may return love for love, and, dying to ourselves, live for Him alone. Amen.
–Catherine of Sienna