PeaceBang
The manic mind of the minister -- Auntie Mame Meets Cotton Mather. Blogging about Unitarian Universalism, UU Christian spiritual practice, occasional cultural and political ravings, and the inner life of ministry. PeaceBang is the alter ego of a small town pastor serving an historic New England Unitarian Universalist congregation.
Why I Publish Sermons On the Internet
May 10, 2008 on 8:17 pm | In Joys and Concerns, Unitarian Universalism |This just made my day:
Hi Rev. Weinsten,
My name is [D.W.] and I am emailing you from ____, Idaho. I just wanted to let you know that you were an absolute lifesaver last week at the ______ Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, and I’m sure you aren’t even aware of it
I serve on the Sunday Services Committee, and we were holding our annual Stewardship Pledge Drive. Our minister, [name here], is currently on Sabbatical, and we had a local speaker scheduled to present on Sunday. Unfortunately, he was forced to leave town late Saturday evening to tend to a family emergency. In a panic, I searched the UU website for a worthwhile sermon that I could read that would speak about our Stewardship theme. That is when I found your wonderful sermon “They Need to Give”!! So, long story short, I read your sermon last Sunday (giving all of the credit to you, of course!) and it was a HUGE hit!! I can’t thank you enough for crafting such a beautiful sermon. Your wonderful message saved the day in [Our City, Idaho] and gave peace to one very stressed out service coordinator who needed to find a sermon at the very, very last minute
Thank you again! You can delight in the knowledge that an entire Fellowship clear across the country heard and loved your beautiful sermon!
- D.W.
I don’t know what UU website this lovely man is referencing [This just in! It turns out that the sermon in question given at the opening worship of a district meeting a few years ago, was a Sermon For the Day at the UUA website! Heck if I knew! - PB] , but I’m glad to have been of help to one of our congregations without having had to lift a finger to do so. For that I thank our church secretary and our webmistress for publishing my sermons so they can be read by anyone who cares to, used (with attribution, of course) by my colleagues who find merit in them, and save the day for a super stressed-out layman in Idaho. COOL! Yay for the internets!
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That’s a very generous offer: perhaps too generous. In Creative Commons terms, your offer is like a BY license, that is, anyone can use your sermon with attribution (”by” Victoria Weinstein).
But I would want to limit other’s use to NC (non-commercial use) and SA (share-alike) also. This second one allows people to excerpt, adapt and translate — even record audio and video versions — of my original work, provided the second user gives subsequent permissions downsteam. Indeed, this is how I license my blog.
So A. translates some of my test to Russian. That’s OK as long as A lets B excerpt a piece into a non-commercial anthology and then lets C use the anthology to make a podcast.
The best things in life are given away.
[This went way over my head, but that gives me a good excuse to come visit you sometime so we can drink sweet tea and you can explain it to me. xoxo - PB]
Comment by scott, peacebang's mechanic — May 10, 2008 #
My churched used an excerpt from one of your sermons last month. You were credited in the program and I jumped in my seat with excitement.
It was a piece read right before the offering, so it may have been in the same sermon mentioned above… =)
[Oh wow, and I’m not even dead yet! - PB]
Comment by Mars Girl — May 12, 2008 #