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.
Food Memory Prayer
This is a guided prayer practice using a happy food memory. Take ten minutes of quiet time and try it. I don’t appear in the video at all, but there’s a red-headed woodpecker that comes and goes.
[youtube id=”m2veO6dhJnM”]
What food memory did you use? How did that work for you?
Gat No Heat
There’s a funny story about the end of King David’s life—a story we don’t usually read aloud in church. This is from 1 Kings 1:1-4, in the King James Version:
Now king David was old and stricken in years; and they covered him with clothes, but he gat no heat. Wherefore his servants said unto him, Let there be sought for my lord the king a young virgin: and let her stand before the king, and let her cherish him, and let her lie in thy bosom, that my lord the king may get heat. So they sought for a fair damsel throughout all the coasts of Israel, and found Abishag a Shunammite, and brought her to the king. And the damsel was very fair, and cherished the king, and ministered to him: but the king knew her not.
Gat no heat? Ouch … I hate it when that happens …
[youtube id=”CBuqAIXIZvo”]
So, on a more serious note: what does a healthy stance toward the Bible look like to you? Scroll down and tell us about it.
Cloverleaf Rolls
Here’s my favorite bread recipe: cloverleaf rolls.
[youtube id=”KtIv-q46_ZE”]
Is there an activity like this in your life — something that might seem mundane, but that is (or could become) a spiritual practice for you? Please tell us about it!
Best blessings,
Adam
P.S. For those who’d like to try it, here’s that recipe for cloverleaf rolls.
1. Stir a packet of yeast into half a cup of warm water, with an eighth of a teaspoon of sugar. Give it five minutes or so to show you it’s alive.
2. Mix together three and a half cups of flour (that’s about a pound), two tablespoons of butter (I grated it in, because I couldn’t find my pastry knife), two teaspoons of salt, half a cup of milk, a third of a cup of water, and one egg. Once it’s thoroughly mixed, let it rest for five minutes or so.
3. Knead it — roughly fifty times, but who’s counting? Then put the dough in an oiled bowl, cover it, and leave it in a warm place to rise. Allow an hour or more for this — it should rise to at least one and a half times its original volume. (In the video, I let it go a bit too long — it more than doubled in volume — but that’s okay too.)
4. Punch it down and knead it briefly again. Cut and roll it into small balls, and put three balls in each cup of an oiled muffin pan. It takes two 3×4 muffin pans — I usually get 18-20 rolls. Cover the pans (I used oiled cling film) and let them rise again.
5. Brush each roll with melted butter. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for about 16 minutes, until lightly browned.
Blessed baking!
In a Dream I Met the Buddha
Here’s a special holiday confection from The Merry Mystic.
[youtube id=”Hz5Mdc_aqPU”]
Be the Light!
Best 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.