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So far Adam has created 270 blog entries.

O Mother of Music

Hello, Merry Mystics! Here’s a new hymn for Advent. You can learn more about the O Antiphons here, and more about the hymn tune Ebenezer here. The words of the hymn are these:

O Mother of Music

O mother of music! O father of harmony!
Lost in a cacophony to thee we cry.
Though roughened our voices by noisy iniquity,
Hear, singer and savior, our sibilant sigh.
Come, sing us again the song we have forgotten,
Come, teach us again our high, heavenly parts!
Your hand on the harp-strings, your touch on the tuning pegs,
Your beautiful music infusing our hearts. 

O water of healing! O fountain of love and life!
Unbearably thirsty, for mercy we cry.
Once growing and green, we wilt under the sultry sun,
Once gracing your garden, we harden and dry.
Come now like a rainstorm, rise now like a river,
Soak into the soil and reach into the roots!
Your heavenly fountain, mounting to eternal life,
Your waters arriving, reviving green shoots. 

O light of the dawning! O hope of the weary world!
We wander in darkness, in need of your aid.
Grim now is the heart and faint under the force of death,
Cold, heavy and hopeless, alone and afraid.
Come, brighten the night with your radiant wonder,
Come, guide us along with your heavenly light!
Let never again our way wander away from you,
Let hope to our hearts return, let it burn bright. 

And, as always, sheet music for O Mother of Music is available in our Free Stuff Area.

2023-12-05T12:43:43-06:00December 5, 2023|0 Comments

God’s Little Lights

This sermon, for the first Sunday in Advent, shares a true story from the current Israel-Hamas war. (It’s a hopeful sermon, but also disturbing in places; parents of young children are advised to view this before sharing it them.)

2023-12-03T15:50:08-06:00December 3, 2023|0 Comments

Creative Risk-Taking

The Parable of the Talents is one of the most annoying parables of Jesus. There’s a reason for that.

2023-11-19T10:29:18-06:00November 19, 2023|0 Comments

Models of Virtue

Some literary characters are models of virtue. They serve as a celebration of an ideal, and as a reproach to pretenders. Maybe we could too!

2023-11-12T10:12:36-06:00November 12, 2023|0 Comments

Confessions of a Heretical Author

Hello, merry and mystical friends!

In this video I make an embarrassing confession, and then I introduce my new book: My Burden Is Light: A Pastor’s Plea for Rationality, Honesty, and Humility. The book was a labor of love; special thanks go to the reading group at the Open Prairie United Church of Christ in Princeton, Illinois, who read and discussed an early draft. They put up with me as their pastor, even though I am both a wild-eyed Christian mystic and a skeptical and irreverent heretic. (But I don’t suppose Merry Mystic subscribers will be surprised on either count!)

2023-11-07T08:05:54-06:00November 7, 2023|0 Comments

New Book: My Burden Is Light

Hello, friends! I have a new book just out: My Burden Is Light: A Pastor’s Plea for Rationality, Honesty, and Humility. I’ll be releasing a Merry Mystic video which introduces the book. Following that, I’m making a series of posts with some short excerpts from the book.

But in case you just want to read it now, you can find it on Amazon here.

2023-11-06T10:18:16-06:00November 6, 2023|0 Comments

The Scary Motion

How can the church avoid turning into a Halloween horror: a Bates-Motel Church, a Vampire Church, or a Mummy’s-Tomb Church?

2023-11-05T12:40:09-06:00November 5, 2023|0 Comments

Doing What Brings Peace

The Apostle Paul has some advice for all of us: not about what to believe, but about what to do, to have peace.

2023-10-15T14:48:01-05:00October 15, 2023|0 Comments

Story and Allegory

The Parable of the Tenants in the Gospel of Matthew is strongly allegorical. The version found in the Gospel of Thomas is quite different.

2023-10-08T10:15:37-05:00October 8, 2023|0 Comments
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