Sweet Spots
Ideas and messages from Len Sweet.
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Musical Instruments –Preaching Tip for 31 March 2019
How can you use musical instruments in your sermon? This week, Len Sweet gives an example in his sermon about a violin and freedom. By having someone exhibit a violin, play it…..or use the strings loose and attached, you can bring the sermon to life. You can also use other…
Pastor’s Prayer for 31 March 2019
Almighty God, Who has given us this good land for our heritage; We humbly beseech Thee that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of Thy favor and glad to do Thy will. Bless our land with honorable ministry, sound learning, and pure manners. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion, from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people, the multitude brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues. Endow with Thy spirit of wisdom those whom in Thy name we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that through obedience to Thy law, we may show forth Thy praise among the nations of the earth. In time of prosperity fill our hearts with thanksfulness, and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in Thee to fail; all of which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
–Thomas Jefferson
Freedom “For”
Freedom “For” Lectionary 31 March 2019 UMCOR Sunday 4th Sunday in Lent Joshua 5:9-12 Psalm 32 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 Text to Life Human beings thirst for freedom. Human beings thrive under freedom. Human beings mess up freedom. Human beings throw freedom away. In the 1980’s Afghanistan locals,…
Trouble I’ve Seen
Trouble I’ve Seen: Changing the Way the Church Views Racism
by Drew Hart
–Review by Vern Hyndman
In Trouble I’ve Seen Drew Hart opens his heart.
Dr. Drew Hart, Ph.D. is an African American college professor at Messiah College, blogger, activist, pastor, and guest lecturer. Drew’s measured prose and carefully crafted ideas are woven into startlingly vulnerable threads of personal story.
Dr. Hart’s observations invite the reader into a larger, more inclusive frame of reference.
Dr. Hart’s ten-year experience as a pastor in the anabaptist tradition shines through the book. Hart coined a word anablacktivism… describing a culture-active, African American Anabaptism that both counters racism yet offers proactive peace. read more…
Dangerous Discipleship
Dangerous Discipleship Lectionary 24 March 2019 3rd Sunday in Lent Isaiah 55:1-9 Psalm 63:1-8 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 Luke 13:1-9 Text to Life McDonald’s and Chick-fil-A are offering discounts on their fish burgers this month. Did you even notice. It’s a small bow to the on-going season of Lent on the…
Bitter Sweet –Preaching Tip for March 2019
Lent is a bitter sweet time. Bitter because we remember the sorrow of the cross. Sweet, because we know the joy of the resurrection. Choose props and visuals that help people feel both of these feelings during Lent. This creates a unique and memorable experience of Jesus’ sacrifice and victory.
Lent 2
Pastor’s Prayer for 24 March 2019
Lord Jesus,
You are my righteousness,
I am your sin.
You took on you what was mine;
yet set on me what was yours.
You became what you were not,
that I might become what I was not.
– Martin Luther
The Rise
The Rise: Creativity, the Gift of Failure, and the Search for Mastery
by Sarah Lewis (2015)
ISBN:978-1-4516-2923-1
–Review by Douglas Balzer
Three words, yes, three words resonated with me in the title of this book and drew me to it. Creativity, failure, and mastery are the words that drew me in. I am well acquainted with all three, and I suspect you are too, especially failure, Ugh! In The Rise, Sarah Lewis explains the integral roles of creativity, failure, and mastery play as necessary parts of our journey in life. If you received the same coaching, I have throughout my life since early childhood you were encouraged to look at failure as a part of the learning process. Failure is not something we go our looking for in our journey, but it is ubiquitous in the experiences of all human beings. One statement I learn to say to myself is “failure is never the end.” And it is not the end of our stories.
The outstanding quote from Sarah Lewis in The Rise is “I still remember the shudder when I sensed a knowing as sure as a fact – that I might only truly become my fullest self if I explored and stayed open to moving through daunting terrain.” read more…
The Thorny Price of Perfidy
The Thorny Price of Perfidy Story Lectionary 24 March 2019 The Third Sunday in Jesus’ Lenten Journey to Jerusalem Thorns Out of Paradise (Genesis 3) Joseph is Betrayed By His Brothers for 20 Shekels of Silver (Genesis 37) The Three-Score and 10 Pieces of Silver for Abimelech’s Murders and Jotham’s…