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.
Advent Processional
Hello friends!
Thanksgiving is tomorrow, and Advent starts next week. Here’s something I wrote and arranged for my church choir. We’re using this at the start of the service throughout Advent. (The shhh! at the end is meant to be followed by the lighting of the Advent candle.)
I’ve posted it in two pieces:
This is the text:
Searching and seeking, we hear the Spirit speaking. The signs are appearing: the Holy One is nearing. Finding and feeling, the Hidden One revealing, Invoking, inviting, with every candle lighting. Mary is bearing, and Joseph is preparing, The Spirit entwining, and all the stars aligning. All are expecting our God with us connecting, Creation awaiting its holy recreating. Longing and yearning, We keep the fire burning. The time is near, the time is near, The time is near, the time is near. Bells are ringing! Angels singing! Drums are drumming! Christ is coming!
The music is simple and dramatic, with three vocal parts (plus cantor) and a repetitive structure in four-bar phrases. I hope this will be useful to someone out there, and I hope it will help you feel the wild hope of Advent.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Videos for the Inn of God’s Forgiveness
Hello, friends! This month, I’ve been thinking about my book, The Inn of God’s Forgiveness. I have an idea, and I’d like to get your thoughts about it.
It seems to me that The Inn of God’s Forgiveness would be ideal for use in an adult study group in a progressive church. It’s a small book and modestly priced. It presents progressive (and sometimes provocative) theological ideas in a good-humored and accessible way. It’s divided into eight chapters, which would fit a one-chapter-a-week structure quite neatly. And it has a built-in activity for each chapter, because each chapter introduces a new hymn. A study group could look at each hymn, give it a try, and then perhaps decide whether to bring it to the wider church.
What the book hasn’t had, until now, is video content to go with it. My idea is that it would be useful to have a video to go with each chapter, so that a class leader could simply show the video and then lead the discussion (and singing).
I’ve made a draft of a video to go with the first chapter. It’s longer than the usual five-to-ten-minute Merry Mystic missive: it’ll be about forty minutes, including the singing, leaving twenty minutes for discussion in a one-hour class. This draft has a few defects, and the video is grainy in places, but it’ll give you an idea of what I’m suggesting. (And I’m a bit proud of it, in spite of the defects!)
So please: have a look, and let me know your thoughts. Is it useful to you? Would a full video series like this be useful to you, or to others? What would you like to see in the final version? If I make a series like this, how should I deliver it, and how much should I charge for it? (Alas, I don’t think I could give something like this away; just making a draft of the video for the first chapter took a ridiculous number of hours.)
[youtube id=pV-47gb4kRA]
Come, O People
I write a lot of music, and often, it’s humorous and irreverent. But one can’t be sassy all the time; that would just be annoying.
Today, I have something serious to share with you: some liturgical music I wrote and used in my church during Lent. It’s a processional, arranged for cantor and choir. (The choir part consists of three simple parts, so it’s undemanding—unless the choir also has to stomp and clap as they process!)
[youtube id=BEUKjX8F144]
The sheet music for “Come, O People” is available here, in our Free Stuff area.
The Perfect POTUS
Hello, friends! Today was Trinity Sunday at church, and I did my best with a sermon. Maybe I’ll share it with you, one of these days. I did my best to keep it light. But, damn: it’s still a pretty heavy topic, theologically speaking!
After that, I was in need of an antidote: a little silliness. And here it is: in honor of the forthcoming Democratic presidential debates, an advertisement a la Mary Poppins. Wanted: a president for fifty adorable states…
[youtube id=1DDYudAvuzY]
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.
Why Fishermen?
Why did Jesus start his ministry in a fishing village? John Dominic Crossan has a theory about that.
Presence and Guidance
The nativity legends of the Bible are full of the presence and guidance of God. (This sermon featured some clips from old movies; the video only has transcriptions.)
Children Matter More
A simple lesson that could change the world: children matter more than almost anything.
Summarizing the Teachings
This is the seventh and final sermon in my series on the ethical teachings of Jesus.
Service
This is one of the core teachings of Jesus: “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.”
Honesty
Jesus spoke and lived truly, and taught his followers to do the same.
Universal Solidarity
A teaching of Jesus: solidarity with everyone, excluding no one.
Responding without Violence
A teaching of Jesus: responding to hate, violence, and aggression in a way that makes things better.
Wonder Drug #2: Decentering Money
A teaching of Jesus about money: don’t let it go to your heart!
Wonder Drug #1: Releasing Anxiety
A teaching of Jesus about releasing anxiety, just in time for Election Day here in the USA.