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.
Altar Alteration
Hello, friends,
Here’s a mostly-musical video piece I made for the annual meeting of the Illinois Conference of the United Church of Christ. (Not sure they’ll be inviting me back!) It includes a song about how hard it is to change anything in church.
May you be blessed with a merry and mystical new year!
Wolf at the Door
Wolf at the Door, the third book in my fantasy romance series Tales of Corwin, is now available.
I finished Wolf at the Door while on vacation in New Hampshire. Yes, that is my idea of a vacation: getting to see more of my family … a little swimming … a little walking in the woods … a little listening to the loons … and a little writing of this kind. Not all writing refreshes and sustains me, but writing the Tales of Corwin does. I like the characters—most of them!—and I’ve enjoyed discovering and telling their story.
I hope you will enjoy reading it. It’s available from Amazon for Kindle and in paperback.
Guilty Pleasure
The other day, my wife caught me with my nose in a book and a silly grin on my face. It’s happened before, and it’s always embarrassing. She gives me a hard time about it, too—and justly so. It’s embarrassing to be caught enjoying your own writing.
I know: self-indulgent, isn’t it? But I can’t help it. I get a kick out of it, every time I dip into The Pastor and the Priestess, the first book in my fantasy romance series. But I had a good excuse, this time, for re-reading my own writing: I’m putting the finishing touches on Wolf at the Door, the third volume in the series, and just needed to check a few things for continuity. (That’s what I told Kelly, anyway.) I’m delighted with the way the latest story is turning out, and I’m excited about releasing it shortly.
But nobody’s going to be excited about the third volume if they haven’t read the first two. So today, I’m dropping the price of the Kindle edition of The Pastor and the Priestess to 99 cents. If you haven’t read it, I hope you’ll take advantage of this price reduction. Maybe a bit of happily-ever-after fantasy romance is just what you need.
And if you have already read The Pastor and the Priestess and Storms Over Corwin, thank you, and stay tuned! Volume three is nearly ready. Here’s the cover art:
And here’s the text from the back cover:
Sandra Shelby, high priestess of the Rose Feather Circle, and Mark Collins, pastor of the Corwin Congregational Church, are engaged to be married at last. They’ve set the date. They’ve chosen two people to perform the ceremony—a Christian minister and a Wiccan crone. Their friends are happy for them. Mark’s parents are happy for them. What could go wrong?
Plenty, as it turns out. Not everyone is as happy about the forthcoming marriage as they are. First, a mysterious Pagan organization sends two scouts into the town of Corwin to discover the secrets of the Circle and to lure Sandra away. At the same time, a faction within Mark’s church takes exception to his interfaith relationship and tries to get him fired. Then, just before Easter, a wolf comes to Mark and Sandra’s door with disturbing news: Joni, the youngest member of the Circle, has disappeared. To rescue little Joni, Mark and Sandra and their friends would go to the ends of the earth.
But they’ll have to go farther than that.
I’ll let you know when Wolf at the Door is available to order. Two weeks, I hope!
Beyond This Journey’s Ending
When I was working on this new composition, my wife asked me, “What’s it about?”
“Death,” I said.
“Ah, another commercial success in the making,” she replied.
Well, this song isn’t exactly about death. It’s about mortality and hope. I don’t know where the path leads after death. But I do know the One who walks with us on that path. And therefore I know that, as Julian of Norwich wrote, all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.
This is a four-part choral piece; the video below shows a socially-distanced quartet performing it, consisting of myself, my wife Kelly, and my daughter Fern, with my friend Ron singing and conducting. The music, as it moves from lamentation to hope, changes in melody, key, and time signature; the final melody is a traditional Welsh tune, Bugeilio’r Gwenith Gwyn.
The words are below. Sheet music is, as always, available in our Free Stuff area.
The mainspring wound at birth is bound In time to be unwinding. The candle flame that binds my name Burns down to my unbinding. In joy I sang; the heavens rang With all my fiery yearning. But now I see that I must be Too soon to dust returning. The mortal path on which I walk Is one of certain sorrow. It ends before a silent door, A day with no tomorrow. Yet even so, one thing I know: Your love has always found me. All shall be well, all shall be well, For you are all around me. Love will be sustaining me On hilltop and in hollow, In sun or rain, in joy or pain, Whatever path I follow. I shall not fear though death be near, I shall not break though bending. You love me still, and still you will, Beyond this journey’s ending.
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.
Keeping It Simple, Making ’em Think
Why didn’t Jesus always give simple answers?
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.
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.
Come and See
Last week, we heard the story of how Jonah tried to run away from God’s call. Not all call stories are so conflicted, of course. There are some much simpler ones from the first chapter of the Gospel of John: the callings of Andrew, and Peter, and Philip, and Nathanael. I have song to go with them: come and see!
Welcome, Jonah!
The book of Jonah is a comic masterpiece, and Jonah himself is both a warning and a comfort to all of us. This sermon includes a dramatic interpretation of a part of the book of Jonah, and ends with the hymn, “Welcome, Thomas, Doubts and All,” which has a verse about Jonah. The hymn-sing is led by Ron McCutchan. (Sheet music for “Welcome, Thomas, Doubts and All” is available in our Free Stuff area.)
Cherishing the Harmony, Part Two
The concluding part of “Cherishing the Harmony,” delivered at the Pilgrim Park church camp on the occasion of the Open Prairie UCC’s twentieth anniversary.
Cherishing the Harmony, Part One
In this reflection, we hear a beautiful psalm about the harmony of the natural world—and then we hear some competing voices of scripture, with other ideas about the nature of nature.
Quaker Simplicity
As a student at the Earlham School of Religion, I learned some great lessons from the Quaker tradition. Here’s one of my favorites: simplicity.
Nourishment
Here’s a reading (the story of the feeding of the five thousand), a sermon, and communion, all together. Viewer participation is welcome!
Stenazo
Check your shopping list: does the food you buy have high levels of stenazo?