Free Stuff
My sheet music and other free resources are available here. Just follow this link.
These things are under a Creative Commons license that allows you to download them and copy them freely—for any non-commercial use.
Enjoy!
Store
I have books, CDs, and a video series for sale from my store page. (I wish I could just give everything away, but one must eat!)
I’m especially excited about my new book, now available: My Burden Is Light: A Pastor’s Plea for Rationality, Honesty, and Humility.
About
Merry, Mystical Missives
Here you’ll find everything I’ve sent out to the mailing list for The Merry Mystic.
Free Stuff Updates for Star-Struck by the Stable Gate
Hello, Merry Mystics!
Preparing for next week’s release of my new book, Star-Struck by the Stable Gate, I’ve been updating our Free Stuff page. Sheet music for all the hymns in the new book is available there now, and it’s easy to find at the top of the page. Also, there are video performances of all the music in the book. A few are solo performances, but most are videos that can be used to lead congregational singing, in case you don’t have an accompanist available. (I also added some videos for older hymns from The Inn of God’s Forgiveness.)
The new book will be available on the 19th. For now, check out the new free stuff here.
New Book Coming: Star-Struck by the Stable Gate
Hello, Merry Mystics!
I have a new book on the way: Star-Struck by the Stable Gate: Fifteen New Hymns and Thoughts for the Christmas Season. It will be available on October 19th; the Kindle version is available for pre-order on Amazon now. By releasing it now, am I going after those big holiday bucks? Well, that’d be nice; but the truth is, the only books I’ve ever written that paid for the time I put into them were my computer science textbooks. I just wanted to get this new book out in time to be a bright Christmas blessing for someone.
The book is a collection of essays with original hymns and carols for Christmas. The format is similar to that of my 2014 book, The Inn of God’s Forgiveness, only with more music and less text. About half the hymns in the new collection make explicit references to the Bible stories of Advent, Christmas, or Epiphany; the other half, too, are connected to the Christmas season and to the birth of Jesus, in ways that I explain in the text.
The hymn texts, while distinctively Christian, are largely non-dogmatic, and I hope they’ll be useful across denominations. In these hymns, you will find no excerpts from the Nicene Creed (as in “O Come, All Ye Faithful”), no assertions about Jesus’ mother’s virginity (as in “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”), and no conjectures about his atoning sacrifice (as in “Joy to the World”). I still love the old hymns too, and I sing them often; but I try to avoid weighing my own hymns down with that kind of dogmatic freight.
The hymns themselves are not new to you, my Merry Mystic subscribers; they’ve all been available on our website for a year or more. But I hope that the essays will be interesting. And I’ll be adding some things to our Free Stuff area, including video recordings of all the hymns in the book, to support congregational singing when an accompanist is not available. So stay tuned!
Testosterone
Greetings, Merry Mystics!
Here’s a recruiting song for Pete Hegseth’s new “high-T’ Department of War. This is a parody of “The Longest Day” by Paul Anka, which was the theme song of the 1962 movie of the same name.
In the video, I’ve used clips from some other movies—some well-known, and some obscure. Does anyone know the movie from which the final clip was taken? Hint: it’s from 1957.
The Ruler of the USA
Greetings, Merry Mystics!
Here’s an American success story—with apologies to Gilbert and Sullivan.
Bright blessings,
Adam
These are the (mostly video) messages sent out to The Merry Mystic mailing list.
Sermons and Such
Every week, I preach in the Open Prairie United Church of Christ in Princeton, Illinois. I’m not sending most of these out to The Merry Mystic mailing list; but on the outside chance you’d like to see a sermon, here they are.
Paul’s “To Do” List
The Apostle Paul had some advice about how to get a taste of the peace of God.
Wrongful Use of God’s Name
Some thoughts about posting the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms, as now legally required in four states.
Kenosis and You
The Apostle Paul wrote that Christ “emptied himself.” Emptied himself of what?
Ethics and Incentives (for A.I. and the Church)
A.I. raises many ethical questions. So does church history.
The Sins of A.I.
We’re giving A.I. our languages and many of our mental abilities—along with our faults.
Midwives of God
Midwives help hope to be born into the world. Often, that’s how God’s help begins.
Three Sermons on Jesus and a Woman of Great Faith
Matthew’s story of Jesus and the Canaanite woman is often a problem for preachers. Here are three different ways to think about it.
The Two Mistakes (Again!)
The story of Jesus walking on the water always brings me back to this: the two mistakes we often make when reading miracle stories in the Bible.
How Many Gods Are There?
Our faith ancestors were not as monotheistic as we might think.
Stairway to Heaven
As Jacob discovered, heaven and earth are connected. But not just in one place!