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The Commons

A preaching blog with ideas and for interactive story sermon writing and image exegesis by Len Sweet.

Here, you can comment on any post to discuss its meaning and share your thoughts.

God With Us

During the fourteenth century the greatest pestilence swept through Europe that has ever been recorded in history. It was called *’The Black Death,” and claimed its victims by hundreds of thousands, in every country of the old world. In that dreadful epoch men sought to save their lives by isolation.…

Christmas

One of my most cherished mentors, Luther Ridgeway, preached the same sermon every Christmas Eve. I first heard it in the late 70s. But he first preached it on 25 December 1961, at Williamsville United Methodist Church in western New York. The sermon is entitled “No Time For A Sermon,”…

Back to Basics

A man was bothered with continual ringing in his ears (tinnitus), bulging eyes, and a flushed face. Over a period of three years he went to doctor after doctor. One took out his tonsils, one removed his appendix, another pulled out all his teeth. Nothing seemed to help. He still…

Hospitality

Everyone is celebrating the Sinatra centennial. Here is a story you might be able to weave into one of your sermons. Sinatra was famous for a mercurial temperament. “Yet it would have been unwise for anyone to anticipate his reaction, for he is a wholly unpredictable man of many moods…

Broken Hearts

Canadian author Margaret Terry made this her New Year’s Facebook Greeting for 2014. It would make a great Christmas eve meditation, or something to use when you only have a few minutes to convey the good news: “The first year I made Chocolate Hearts, Patrick was six years old. When…

As You Make It

A young couple stepped into a crowded elevator. The girl, with a look on her face a “smile wide,” held out her left hand to the other riders and exclaimed; “See my diamond ring! We just got engaged!” Her fiancé quietly demurred: “Oh, it’s not much of a ring. I…

Where Am I Going?

When he was eighty-eight years of age, Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes (1841-1935) found himself on a train without a ticket. The conductor recognized him, and wasn’t worried about it, but Justice Holmes got terribly upset. He searched all of his pockets, and fumbled through his wallet. “Please, Sir,…

The Commons

In fifty-plus years of marriage, a couple had the same dog, except many times. They loved the breed, so when one dog got to old age, they got another one just like it. The only problem was that the dog constantly heard things at night, and started barking, but refused…

The Dummy

“Star Wars: Episode VII.” Is there anyone who isn’t planning on seeing this? It starts on 18 December 2015, so get your ticket now if you can. Everyone needs a Yoda. But our kids aren’t sure that’s it’s not R2D2 that we need the most. Wouldn’t it be nice if…

Fritz Kreisler

Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962), one of the greatest violinists in history, was accosted after a concert by a fan who cried, “Mr. Kreisler, Mr. Kreisler, I would give my life to play as you do!” To which Kreisler replied quietly, “Madame, I did.”  

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