Sweet Spots
Ideas and messages from Len Sweet.
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Artists and Their Thoughts –Johann Sebastian Bach
In the transition from Lent to Holy Week, Bach’s assertion about the aim of music fits perfectly. Our Lenten disciplines have helped to prepare us for the events of the passion, but we need a soundtrack to keep our hearts and minds attentive to the “glory of God and the refreshment of the soul.”
This week’s playlist includes only one piece of music: The Passion of the Lord Jesus Christ according to the Gospel of Matthew, aka “The St. Matthew Passion,” by Bach. Writing about the place of the Passion in Bach’s life, renowned tenor David J. Gordon writes:
An indication of the special regard he held for this work is that Bach went to considerable trouble in his old age to repair the large manuscript score of the St. Matthew Passion. This presentation-quality copy, still in existence today, is unique among Bach manuscripts: he designed it beautifully, painstakingly bound and re-sewed it by hand, and carefully highlighted the biblical words in red ink. Those few who saw it after Bach’s death considered the manuscript unperformable and left the huge work unpublished and unheard until 1829 [a full century after it was composed] when Felix Mendelssohn organized [and conducted] a performance, heavily abridged, in Berlin. read more…
Clear to Enter
Clear to Enter Story Lectionary 1 April 2018 Day of Resurrection The Mercy Seat / The Closing of Eden and Guarding of the Tree of Life (Genesis 3:24) The Angel with Sword and the Story of Balak and Balaam the Donkey (Numbers 22) Psalm 99: The Lord Sits Enthroned Between…
Is Not Was, Forward Not Back
Is Not Was, Forward Not Back Lectionary 1 April 2018 Easter Sunday Acts 10:34-43 Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 John 20:1-18 Text to Life The message of Easter is a simple exclamation: “Hallelujah! Christ is risen!” We respond with another exclamation: “Christ is risen, indeed”! Can you…
Holy Week Metaphors
Holy Week has such a plethora of metaphors to celebrate and lift up! It’s as though all of the metaphors set down in Genesis have now come to fruition! Light, Lamb, Tomb, Garden, Tree of Life, Olive, Fig, Stone, Curtain, Water, Feet, Serving Apron, White, Thorns, Perfume….. and many more.…
Pastor’s Prayer for Easter 1 April 2018
Lord Jesus Christ, who came at the first in great humility as our Redeemer, grant, we pray, that when you come again in glorious majesty to judge the living and the dead, we may be regarded worthy to stand before you.
–Moravian Easter Prayer
“Yea…that we shall see the great Head of the Church once more . . . raise up unto Himself certain young men [and women] whom He may use in this glorious employ. And what manner of men [and women] will they be? Men [and women] mighty in the Scriptures, their lives dominated by a sense of the greatness, the majesty and holiness of God, and their minds and hearts aglow with the great truths of the doctrines of grace. They will be men [and women] who have learned what it is to die to self, to human aims and personal ambitions; men [and women] who are willing to be ‘fools for Christ’s sake’, who will bear reproach and falsehood, who will labor and suffer, and whose supreme desire will be, not to gain earth’s accolades, but to win the Master’s approbation when they appear before His awesome judgment seat. They will be men [and women] who will preach with broken hearts and tear-filled eyes, and upon whose ministries God will grant an extraordinary effusion of the Holy Spirit, and who will witness ‘signs and wonders following’ in the transformation of multitudes of human lives.”
–George Whitefield
A Failure of Nerve
A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix (1999/2007)
By Edwin H. Friedman
ISBN: 13:978-1-59627-042-8 pbk
ISBN: 13: 978-1-59627-167-8 ebook
–Review by Douglas Balzer
Let’s be honest; we live in an anxiety-ridden age. All we must do is look around us to see how pervasively anxious the global community is at present. It is affecting every level of society; no one is exempt from it. Anxiety is rising due to a plethora of issue from ongoing terrorist threats and attacks, school shootings and the world’s political struggles. For these reasons a book like Friedman’s A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the age of the Quick Fix is a must read or reread in some of our cases.
There are books that I make a practice of reading every year, and one of them is A Failure of Nerve. I have found it to be a book that helps me work through an assessment of my leadership in the midst of whatever the present situation I find myself within. I was introduced to A Failure of Nerve by MaryKate Morse, now a friend and colleague, but at the time my professor and mentor at Portland Seminary. read more…
Dangerous
Dangerous Story Lectionary 25 March 2018 Palm Sunday / The Procession of the Lambs The Blessing of Judah (Genesis 49) The Feast of Passover (Exodus 11-12) David Anoints Solomon King After Bidding He Ride in On His Mule (1 Kings 1) The Song of Deborah (Judges 5) Zechariah’s Prophecy of…
The Lamb Parade
The Lamb Parade Lectionary 25 March 2018 Palm Sunday / Passion Sunday Palm Sunday: Mark 11:1-11 Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29 Passion Sunday: Isaiah 50:4-9a Psalm 31:9-16 Philippians 2:5-11 Mark 14:1-15:47 Text to Life How many of you here this morning have swabbed your mouth or spit into a test tube and…
Artists and Their Thoughts –Amadeus Mozart
Are you the conductor of your own life? An orchestra conductor has a unique role in the process of making music. She studies to understand the musical score and the intentions of the composer, combining that knowledge with her connections to and relationships with the members of the orchestra. The conductor does not play an instrument or use her voice in any way, but the music relies on her expertise in many ways. The conductor “reads” a musical score by learning the structure and semantics of each composer’s language and integrating her own imagination and creativity into the mix. She communicates this reading of the score to the orchestra through words during rehearsals, but during performances using only gestures, emotions, facial expressions, and a tiny stick called a baton. Then she gets out of the way to let the composer shine. read more…
The Palms –Preaching Tip for 25 March 2018
Palm Sunday it’s easy to use metaphors! The palm is an evident one. However, be creative in the way you use this metaphor. Beside waving palm leaves, you can create artful bulletins using the palm. You can have members or kids make banners with palms. You can create a dance…