Sweet Spots
Ideas and messages from Len Sweet.
Here, you can comment on any post to participate in the discussion.
The Meaning of Life
In one of his novels, French poet and novelist Anatole France (1844-1924) retold the old story of an eastern king who, on succeeding to his father’s throne, asked the greatest scholars of his country to compile for his guidance a history of humanity as complete as possible. After years of…
Wagging fingers 9-6-15
Do you have a “wagging” finger problem? Or a lagging finger problem? Some preachers spend so much time finger wagging that they forget to add in God’s grace and forgiveness. Others forget that God’s grace comes with repentance. Somewhere between a wagging finger and a lagging finger, there is the…
Getting the subject right
Auberon Alexander Waugh (1939-2001) was an English journalist, and eldest son of the famed Evelyn Waugh. He wrote five excellent novels, but gave up writing fiction because he didn’t like being compared to his famous father. Instead he made his living by writing and speaking. One day he received an…
Roosevelt
There is a story told about President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Apparently, sometime after being president for a very long time, he got tired of smiling that trade-mark Roosevelt smile and saying the trade-mark Roosevelt things at all those White House receptions. So, one evening he decided to find out whether…
All the Light We Cannot See
All the Light We Cannot See
by Anthony Doerr
A dazzling book, All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, published by Scribner in 2014, concerns a subject that would not necessarily bring the word “dazzling” to mind — war. World War II and the Holocaust are the underlayment of the novel, and upon this is shaped the story of the parallel lives of two young people — a blind French girl and a orphaned German boy. These two youngsters, who grow up during World War II and are molded by the extraordinary pressures of the time in which they live, also learn about and engage in an emerging technology of the time: radio. The title, All the Light We Cannot See, was inspired by the electromagnetic spectrum which, among other things, includes radio waves and visible light waves. Both sound and sight are dominant themes throughout the book. read more…
Too much charity?
A preacher delivering a sermon on the text “What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world but lose his own soul?” argued that people can lose their souls by being TOO charitable. When some gasped at his statement, he continued: “Many people attend church, hear the…
The Delicate Thread
In the past few weeks, two musical groups have crossed my path. From different sides of the world, in two different languages, I have not been able to get them out of my mind.
On the surface, they could not be more different: Samoan traditional folk songs and American Barbershop arrangements. Young men in suits vs. middle aged men in costumes.
Dig a little deeper, though, and similarities appear: choral singing; obvious dedication and persistent attention to their craft; and groups of men doing something other than sports in public! read more…
Einstein for President
In 1952, 3 years before his death, Israel offered Albert Einstein the Presidency. In Einstein’s note declining the invitation, he wrote: “All my life I have dealt with objective matters, hence I lack both the natural aptitude and the experience to deal properly with people and to exercise official functions”…
What is your language?
“English-speaking tourists abroad are inclined to believe that if only they speak English loudly and distinctly and slowly enough, the natives will know what’s being said even though they don’t understand a single word of the language. Preachers often make the same mistake. They believe that if only they speak…
Do you need a Pharisectomy?
Do you need a Pharisectomy? Story Lectionary 30 August 2015 Exodus 7-11: The Egyptians Do Not Heed Moses’ and Aaron’s Miracles 1 Samuel 16-19: The Story of David, Goliath, and Saul’s Vendetta 2 Kings 1: The Story of Ahaziah’s Bid to Baalzebub in Samaria Psalm 1: Do not follow the…