Free Stuff
My sheet music and other free resources are available here. Just follow this link, and enter your Merry Mystic password when requested.
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.
Fatcat Love
Here’s a little political parody aimed at the current batch of fat cats. Remember when the original song (by Willis Alan Ramsey) was a hit for Captain & Tennille? How time flies! Toni Tennille was my dream girl when I was 14 …
TikTok Time
Hello, Merry Mystics!
For the past few weeks, I’ve been experimenting with TikTok. I’ve made some micro-sermons, like this one on the Parable of the Good Samaritan. I’ve posted some concert footage, like this recording of my Real Men song. I’ve posted some silly songs, like the Prophet’s Lament. And I’ve posted some serious stuff, like this Easter message.
It’s an interesting medium. The vertical video format is straightforward enough; what’s trickier is the brevity. (Or, to put it less generously: the short attention span.) I haven’t found many viewers there yet, but I’m still working on it. I’ve got a couple more political songs in the works; we’ll see how they do.
If you’re on TikTok, I’m there as merrymystic.preacherman.
Bright Easter blessings!
The Gulf of America
I wrote and arranged this song about the real Gulf of America. Maybe someday I’ll do a music video for it. For now, I just want to get the song out there.
If it speaks to you, please share.
Bright blessings, Merry Mystics!
The Bird Is the Word
Hello, Merry Mystics!
This coming Sunday, in many churches, we’ll celebrate the baptism of Jesus. I wrote this song about that story—from the perspective of the dove. I borrowed most of the melody from Sir Arthur Sullivan (H. M. S. Pinafore). When I started the lyric, I thought it was going to be something for congregational singing, but on the whole I think it works better as a solo:
If you’d like to try it, there’s sheet music here.
Bright blessings,
Adam
P.S. Here’s that lyric:
I Am but a Little Dove To the man of God I came, where the Jordan’s waters flow. When the Spirit called his name, what it meant I did not know. I am but a little dove; all I know of God is love. Sore afraid, I shut my beak, but in me, the greater Dove flew that day. I heard Her speak words of sure, parental love. Though I’m just a gentle bird, let me tell you what I heard: Wings aflame and feathers flared, Her unending love She sang. Love for him, Her coo declared, till the earth and heavens rang. Neither far nor fast I fly, yet Her flight made light the sky. When you baptize, do you know that Her sky remains alight? Do you feel Her love still flow down to earth from heaven’s height? Do you see, inside your church, what I see from where I perch? Turn your face up to Her sky; let Her wingtip brush your brow. On Her love you can rely— just don't ask me why or how. I am but a little dove; all I know of God is love.
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.
Pope Francis and Earth Day
When I sat down to write my Earth Day sermon this week, the first thing I did was turn up the heat. Oops …
A Tree in the Ever-Loving Now
I asked a tree to help me with my Easter sermon.
Palm Sunday
Here are some moderately interesting things about Palm Sunday, and one that’s really important.
Die Heilige Neugier
Science and religion should be friends; they have similar goals and similar weaknesses.
Lady Day
March 25th is the Feast of the Annunciation, otherwise known as Lady Day.
Congratulations! It’s a Person!
The story of Jesus healing a centurion’s slave hits one of the deepest notes of the Way of Jesus: the equality of all people in the eyes of God. We can take that lesson to heart by addressing the exclusion and oppression that folks with unpopular gender identities are now facing.
When There’s Nothing (More) We Can Do
Are you feeling, maybe, a little Lent-ed out already?
Legendary Literature and Celtic Dreams
The story of the Transfiguration is not a mere collection of facts. It’s a legend that rings with truths.
Eminently Practical
In Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain, he gives some pretty plain teachings. Why do we act as if we’re excused from listening to them?
Everyday Prayer
Prayers for everyday occasions—like Rabbi Irwin Keller’s prayer for watching the news—help us to be recollected in God throughout the day.