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.
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.
Come and See
Hello, Merry Mystics!
I’ve been working as a pastor, and part of that work is writing and delivering a new sermon every week. But there’s a paradox at the heart of all such work, and all religious teaching: the very thing we most want to communicate is a thing that can’t be put into words. Sometimes, as Philip said to Nathanael in that story at the start of the Gospel of John, you just have to come and see.
Here’s a (typically wordy) song about that: Come and See.
A Song from Sunday: Fear Not, Said the Angel
We didn’t have much of a sermon in church this Sunday, but I read some scripture and sang some songs. Here’s one part: I read a few of the many places in Bible stories where God tells people not to be afraid, and then I sang my song, “Fear Not, Said the Angel”. My wife Kelly sang the song with me.
A Song from Sunday: Be True
We didn’t have much of a sermon in church this Sunday, but I told some stories and sang some songs. Here’s one: the story of the baptism of my children, and the song I wrote for the occasion, “Be True”.
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.
Sermon and Song: Be Born in Us Tonight
For the First Sunday in Advent, I introduced a new hymn, “Be Born in Us Tonight.” It treats the presence of Christ, not as something that happened in the past, nor as something that might happen in the future, but as something that can happen in us right now.
Crown Him (or Not)
We have a lot of rousing hymns about crowning Jesus king. They’re fun to sing, but Jesus always preferred more humble metaphors.
Exploitation and Generosity
Generosity is always part of a well-lived life. Exploitation is not.
The Father of Lies (Election Sermon, 2024)
Tuesday is an Election Day that has been looming over us for years. After Tuesday—well, it won’t be over.
Message from God: Call Me!
Some lessons in calling out, from the story of Bartimaeus.
Cherishing the Harmony (Week Four—Interdependence)
A tiny space rock can rock the heavens. The poorest child in the poorest country can rock our world. That’s how God’s creation always works: with interdependence.
Cherishing the Harmony (Week Three—Population)
To cherish the harmony of God’s creation, we must avoid causing extinctions. One thing that would help: not grabbing quite so much of the earth for ourselves.
Cherishing the Harmony (Week Two—Diversity)
God loves the exuberant diversity of creation.
Cherishing the Harmony (Week One)
The start of a sermon series on cherishing the harmony of the natural world. This week: why it’s so important, and why Christianity has so often neglected it.
Lies Light Fuses
This is a reflection on the recent presidential debate, with help from the Book of Proverbs and the Epistle of James. (Every now and then, the lectionary readings and the events of the week seem made for each other.)