There are some great folks out there posting stuff for sermon reflection. Two of my favorites are Dan Clendenin and Brian Stoffregen. Check them out if you need inspiration and/or thoughtful reflection on the texts for the week.
Speaking of helpful sermon stuff, Luther Seminary has a new preaching site: Working Preacher. Weekly commentary on the three lectionary texts is usually very helpful. Plus, Mark Throntveit, Professor of Old Testament at Luther Seminary, fellow Tolkien nut and self-proclaimed curmudgeon (though I don't think he's actually reached the age at which one can legally use the term self-referentially) has posted a great piece, "New Year's Resolutions for Preachers" .
I've heard this quote from Annie Dillard mentioned several times this week already:
“Does anyone have the foggiest idea of what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies' straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets! Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews! For the sleeping God may awake someday and take offense, or the waking God may draw us to where we can never return.”[1]
That's good stuff there, too. Put that book on my Amazon wishlist, if anyone's so inclined.
Tonight it's going to get busier here. We'll have choir practice at 8:00, followed by Holden Evening Prayer at 9:00 and pizza at 9:30 (again, campus ministry ROCKS). Will we have even more students in attendance this week, again? Hope so. But at some point the novelty of "the new guy" will wear off, and then I can really get to work.
Our good friend, JZ, who is a Baptist sometime-preacher, church janitor, sometime-mortician, erstwhile middle school English teacher and promoter of Public Television, made us a mix CD before we left for Iowa. He's been known to pass on music occasionally, ever since he discovered that we share a love for U2, Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash. I've been listening to it nonstop in the car ever since - it's a neat collection. Here are a few of the selections:
"Gloria" and "40" by U2 from Under A Blood Red Sky
"The Man Comes Around" and "Personal Jesus" by Johnny Cash from American IV: The Man Comes Around (yes, that last is a remake of the Depeche Mode classic. It's incredible)
"People, Get Ready" by the Blind Boys of Alabama & Robert Randolph
Good stuff, all of it. Thanks, JZ - it was a very thoughtful gift. Well, that's about it for this Wednesday - think I'll call the ladies and see if they want to make a Target run before I have to get ready for worship tonight. We need cat food. Well, the cats need cat food - we just need them to shut up about it. Anyway, I'm gonna get going. See yah.
Peace,
Scott
Tonight it's going to get busier here. We'll have choir practice at 8:00, followed by Holden Evening Prayer at 9:00 and pizza at 9:30 (again, campus ministry ROCKS). Will we have even more students in attendance this week, again? Hope so. But at some point the novelty of "the new guy" will wear off, and then I can really get to work.
Our good friend, JZ, who is a Baptist sometime-preacher, church janitor, sometime-mortician, erstwhile middle school English teacher and promoter of Public Television, made us a mix CD before we left for Iowa. He's been known to pass on music occasionally, ever since he discovered that we share a love for U2, Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash. I've been listening to it nonstop in the car ever since - it's a neat collection. Here are a few of the selections:
"Gloria" and "40" by U2 from Under A Blood Red Sky
"The Man Comes Around" and "Personal Jesus" by Johnny Cash from American IV: The Man Comes Around (yes, that last is a remake of the Depeche Mode classic. It's incredible)
"People, Get Ready" by the Blind Boys of Alabama & Robert Randolph
Good stuff, all of it. Thanks, JZ - it was a very thoughtful gift. Well, that's about it for this Wednesday - think I'll call the ladies and see if they want to make a Target run before I have to get ready for worship tonight. We need cat food. Well, the cats need cat food - we just need them to shut up about it. Anyway, I'm gonna get going. See yah.
Peace,
Scott
[1] Dillard, Annie. Teaching a Stone to Talk © 1988, Harper Perennial.
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