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.
Albert Schweitzer
Someone once asked missionary/physician/organist/biblical scholar Albert Schweitzer to name the greatest person alive in the world at that moment. The good doctor, whom some would have named as deserving the honor, replied quietly: “The greatest person alive in the world at this moment is some unknown individual in some obscure…
Today’s Culture
In 1999, an unnamed Columbine High School in student in Colorado, USA, accurately summed up today’s culture when he/she communicated with the Internet Community during the fall of 1999. The article stresses the urgent need for a spiritual awakening: The paradox of our time in history is that we have…
Fanny Crosby
Hymn-writer Fanny Crosby had a contract with a publisher to write three hymns a week. That explains the 9000 hymns. That also explains some of her hymns. But she became a different person after an experience at a prayer-meeting in the 1860s. Fanny Crosby confessed how “I sprang to my…
Sunnyside Up
When we come to God and complain about each other, how many of us are like the man who went to a psychiatrist. He was wearing two strips of bacon attached to each ear and two fried eggs, sunnyside up, on top of his head. “Doctor,” he said, “I want…
Who Jesus Is
Jesus’ different titles elicit different kinds of responses As King, we crown Him As Brother, we carry and cover Him. As Baby, we adore Him. As Son of God, we reverence Him As Son of Man, we preference Him As Son of David, we deference Him As Shepherd, we…
The Peace and Mercy of God
When asked by a colleague how he had liked his sermon, Dr. Mahaffy, former Provost of Trinity College, Dublin, replied that it was like the peace and mercy of God. The clergy was deeply flattered by this kind of response from the Provost of Trinity College. Basking in his glory,…
Roosevelt’s Heaven
Teddy Roosevelt was as colorful a President as we’ve had. He won the Nobel Peace Prize, even though he was quite a hunter and fighter. He was never known for his humility or his reticence. He would offer opinions on almost any subject, even those he knew nothing about. One…
Sweet Pea
A grandmother raised her granddaughter all by herself. She did everything for her, and wanted to communicate that she was her pride and joy. So she called her either “Sweet Pea” or Bubeleh, which is Yiddish for “darling” or “dearie.” On the first day of school, she gave her granddaughter…
Pearly Gates
A young couple had a fatal car accident on the way to their wedding. When they met St. Peter at the Pearly Gates they asked if it was possible for them to marry in heaven. Peter said he would make some inquires and get back to them. A year later,…
Promised Land
Preachers, if you ever get lost in a convoluted sentence, and don’t know how to get out, stop dead in your tracks, and say this: “Friends, I have long since lost the nominative of this sentence, but I am bound for the Promised Land.”