Sweet Spots
Ideas and messages from Len Sweet.
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Pastor’s Prayer for 23 December 2018
Ah, dearest Jesus, holy Child,
Make thee a bed, soft, undefiled,
Within my heart, that it may be
A quiet chamber kept for Thee.
My heart for very joy doth leap,
My lips no more can silence keep,
I too must sing, with joyful tongue,
That sweetest ancient song,
Glory to God in highest heaven,
Who unto man His Son hath given
While angels sing with pious mirth.
A glad new year to all the earth!
–Martin Luther
Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat
Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking
by Samin Nosrat
ISBN: 978-1-4767-5383-6
Published 2017
–Review by Douglas Balzer
Inspiration abounds around us. Have you ever laughed when you read the title to a book or a sign because it connected with something other than what it was communicating? For me, these four words evoke a semiotic feast as I considered the biblical narrative. Now the book Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat is a cookbook. It is not an ordinary cookbook either. It introduces us to some important metaphors that can lead to some delicious semiotic preaching even if you are not following the recipes.
What is in it for you, reading a cookbook? Reading a cookbook, this cookbook as a source of semiotic metaphors will help us learn some fundamentals secrets behind preaching the story, our presence in the world, and how we can be and give people an irresistible taste of Jesus. read more…
Merry Chrystery
Merry Chrystery Lectionary 23 December 2018 Fourth Sunday of Advent Micah 5:2-5a Luke 1:47-55 Hebrews 10:5-10 Luke 1:39-45 Text to Life Advent is a season of anticipation. In other words, it is at heart a “birth” story. The prescribed Advent lectionary texts speak of a coming Messiah, a divine presence,…
Over the River and Through the Woods
Over the River and Through the Woods Story Lectionary 23 December 2018 The Fourth Sunday in the Advent of Our Lord Abraham Journeys from Ur of the Chaldees to the Promised Land (Genesis 12) Moses Journeys with God’s People to the Promised Land and Consecrates Firstborn (Exodus 13-15) Elijah Journeys…
Eye of an Eagle and Spirit of a Dove
Eye of an Eagle and Spirit of a Dove Lectionary 16 December 2018 Third Sunday of Advent Zephaniah 3:14-20 Isaiah 12:2-6 Philippians 4:4-7 Luke 3:7-18 Text to Life Bird brain. It is an insulting label we plaster on those we deem dim-witted, clueless, or less “with it” than the rest…
Advent 3: Waiting in Darkness
Darkness can seep into our lives in many ways, regardless of the season or the time of year. And despite the festivity that is inherently part of preparing for Christmas, darkness – as a metaphor and as a lack of light – for many, pervades. read more…
Being Mortal
Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
Atul Gawande, 2014
–Review by Landrum P. Leavell III, Th.D.
This book has absolutely nothing to do with the art of preaching. It has everything to do with the stories of those to whom we preach, for whom we care, and with whom we interact.
Atul Gawande is the author of three best-selling books, a surgeon in Boston, a staff writer for The New Yorker, and a professor at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health. He has given all pastors, preachers, and parishioners counsel, insight, and input into end-of-life issues and realities that is both informative and disconcerting. The gift of clarity is hard to overstate. read more…
The Prismic Nature of Metaphors –Preaching Tip for 16 December 2018
Metaphors are like prisms, which are multi-faceted reflectors of meaning, and especially in the scriptures of the Light! Make sure every metaphor you investigate also reflects in some way the attributes of God. These root metaphor have the ability to transcend time and place, and yet can reveal God’s presence…
Pastor’s Prayer for 16 December 2018
Lord, our God and Father give to many to all, and to us as well, that we may celebrate Christmas like this: that in complete thankfulness, utter humpty, and then complete joy and confidence we may come to the one whom you have sent and in whom you yourself have come to us. Clean out the many things in us that, now that the hour has come, have become impossible for us, can no longer belong to us, may, must, and will fall away form us, by virtue of your beloved Son, our Lord and Savior, entering into our midst and creating order. Have mercy also on all those who either do not yet or do not fully know you and your kingdom, who perhaps once knew everything and have either forgotten, misunderstood, or even denied it! ….. We thank you that we are permitted to know that we do not pray and will never pray to you in vain. We thank you that you have let your light rise, that it shines in the darkness, and that the darkness will not overcome it. We thank you that you are God, and that we may be your people. Amen.
–Karl Barth
Deliverance / Angel on Your Shoulder
Deliverance (Angel on Your Shoulder) Story Lectionary 16 December 2018 Third Sunday in the Advent of Our Lord Pregnant Hagar Encounters God as the Angel of the Lord Who Gives Her a Message (Genesis 16 and 21) The Angel of the Lord Speaks to Abraham Regarding His Sacrifice of Isaac…