Sweet Spots
Ideas and messages from Len Sweet.
Here, you can comment on any post to participate in the discussion.
Run Away Bride
Run Away Bride Story Lectionary 18 February 2018 The First Sunday in Jesus’ Lenten Journey (Jesus’ Last Months) Moses Officiates the Covenant Between God and Israel (Exodus 24) Ezekiel’s Story of Jerusalem and the Lord’s Adulterous Wife (16 and 23) Jeremiah’s Story of Israel’s Unfaithfulness to God (3) Hosea’s Story…
Barking to the Choir
Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship
By Gregory Boyle
–Review by Landrum P. Leavell III, Th.D.
If you haven’t read Father Gregory Boyle’s first book, Tattoos on the Heart, you’re behind. This Jesuit priest, known to homies as “G-Dog,” has worked with gang members in Los Angeles for three decades. His first book introduced us to Homeboy Industries, the largest gang-intervention program in the world. (All the net proceeds of this book are donated to Homeboy Industries. HomeboyIndustries.org)
Tattoos was deemed by the Los Angeles Times as “destined to become a classic of both urban reportage and contemporary spirituality.” This second book reveals how compassion is transforming the lives of gang members. You get a series of snapshots into the challenges and joys of life on the margins. The stories from real life throughout the book are riveting, powerful, and inspiring. We get glimpses of life for many who from an early age “realize how thrown away they are.” (180)
Know going in that this book is real. It’s not a G-rated book. It’s R-rated. Real-life. Relational. Redemptive. You’ll get a few, candidly refreshing F-bombs. [If you haven’t heard one in a while, I’d check how far away from the mission field-real world you are.] read more…
Metaphors of Love –Preaching Tip for 18 February 2018
The scriptures are filled with metaphors describing God’s unconditional and awesome love for us. One of the most prominent metaphors is the metaphor of the Bridegroom. Or the Bridegroom Son of the Father. The “wedding” of the Lamb or Bridegroom is always accompanied by a Feast. From the land of…
Pastor’s Prayer for 18 February 2018
Behold, Lord,
An empty vessel that needs to be filled. My Lord, fill it.
I am weak in faith; Strengthen thou me.
I am cold in love; Warm me and make me fervent,
that my love may go out to my neighbour.
I do not have a strong and firm faith;
At times I doubt and am unable to trust thee altogether.
O Lord, help me. Strengthen my faith and trust in thee.
In thee I have sealed the treasures of all I have.
I am poor; Thou art rich and didst come to be merciful to the poor.
I am a sinner; Thou art upright.
With me there is an abundance of sin; In thee is the fullness of righteousness.
Therefore, I will remain with thee of who I can receive but to whom I may not give.
Amen.
–Martin Luther
Artists and Their Thoughts –Eric Whitacre
I believe now more than ever that singing is a universal, built-in mechanism designed to cultivate empathy and compassion.
— Eric Whitacre
Research has shown that simply by looking and smiling at each other, moms and babies synchronize their heartbeats to within milliseconds of each other. Research has also shown that, overtime, the heartbeats of those who sing together in a choir synchronize.
Singing has the power to make connections between people that go far beyond the superficial. Like smiling, singing activates neurotransmitters that give us good feelings. We all know that listening to music can help relax or energize us: our bodies take on the rhythmic energy of what we hear. Singing in a choir, and listening to voices raised in song, resonates deeply, in ways that we are still working to understand. read more…
Do You Know Sarah Smith?
Do You Know Sarah Smith? Lectionary 11 February 2018 Transfiguration Sunday 2 Kings 2:1-12 Psalm 50:1-6 2 Corinthians 4:3-6 Mark 9:2-9 Text to Life There are 7.5 billion people on Earth today. At least 1.5 billion speak English, or 20% of the world’s population. Why has English become such a…
Emergency!
Emergency! Story Lectionary 11 February 2018 The Building of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9) Jacob’s Ladder at Bethel (Genesis 28) The Blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh (Genesis 48:12-20) Micaiah’s Prophecy of God’s Deliverance (1 Kings 22) The Prophet Isaiah Tells of the Lord’s Sovereign Hand Over Stubborn Israel (48)…
Preparing for Lent with the Ultimate Metaphor –Ashes
The metaphor of ashes is deeply steeped in Christian tradition. The imposition of ashes begins the “fasting” of Lent. Yet, Jesus was not known as a “faster” but a “feaster.” For when the Bridegroom is here, the Feast is near. Even people within our communities need the tradition and symbolism…
Pastor’s Prayer for 11 February 2018
Pierce, O most sweet Lord Jesus, my inmost soul with the most joyous and healthful wound of Thy love, and with true, calm and most holy apostolic charity, that my soul may ever languish and melt with entire love and longing for Thee, may yearn for Thee and for thy courts, may long to be dissolved and to be with Thee.
Grant that my soul may hunger after Thee, the Bread of Angels, the refreshment of holy souls, our daily and super substantial bread, having all sweetness and savor and every delightful taste.
May my heart ever hunger after and feed upon Thee, Whom the angels desire to look upon, and may my inmost soul be filled with the sweetness of Thy savor; may it ever thirst for Thee, the fountain of life, the fountain of wisdom and knowledge, the fountain of eternal light, the torrent of pleasure, the fullness of the house of God; may it ever compass Thee, seek Thee, find Thee, run to Thee, come up to Thee, meditate on Thee, speak of Thee, and do all for the praise and glory of Thy name, with humility and discretion, with love and delight, with ease and affection, with perseverance to the end; and be Thou alone ever my hope, my entire confidence, my riches, my delight, my pleasure, my joy, my rest and tranquility, my peace, my sweetness, my food, my refreshment, my refuge, my help, my wisdom, my portion, my possession, my treasure; in Whom may my mind and my heart be ever fixed and firm and rooted immovably. Amen.
–St. Bonaventura
Hannah Coulter
Hannah Coulter
A Novel
by Wendell Berry
–Review by Teri Hyrkas
True confession: Hannah Coulter is the first book by Wendell Berry that I have read. I blush to admit that Berry’s books about the fabled town of Port William, Kentucky, have been on my “To Be Read” list for at least twenty years. Happily, long time friend and super-reader Tracey Finck proposed that we make Hannah Coulter (2004, Counterpoint), the choice for our initial book discussion of 2018. Because of Tracey’s suggestion, Hannah Coulter was the guide into Berry’s community of Port William residents — and what an extraordinary membership it is.
Hannah Coulter is written as a memoir with the Port William community set as the rich and colorful source of Hannah’s memories. As the story begins, we learn that Hannah was born in 1922, some distance outside of Port William on a small farm owned by Hannah’s grandmother. When Hannah’s mother died and her father remarried, Hannah’s stepmother, Ivy, resented Hannah’s presence in their home. It was Hannah’s grandmother who then stepped in to provide the love and direction Hannah needed to flourish. In the following paragraph, Hannah describes her grandmother’s profound influence on her life: “…She made the connections that made my life, as you will see. If it hadn’t been for her, what would my life have been? I don’t know. I know it surely would have been different. And it is only by looking back, as an old woman myself, like her a widow and a grandmother, that I can see how much she loved me and can pay her out of my heart the love I owe her.” It is through her grandmother’s friendships that Hannah eventually moves to Port William and begins her life there. read more…