Sweet Spots
Ideas and messages from Len Sweet.
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Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis
Our Kids
The American Dream in Crisis
by Robert D. Putnam
Here is a troubling thought: What if fewer and fewer young Americans had the opportunity to avail themselves of a good education, one that could bring them a sense of security, stability, better employment, and hope for a brighter future? Robert D. Putnam, author of the best seller Bowling Alone, has written a new book that suggests this scenario already exists in America, and is likely to cause major changes in America’s social landscape very soon. read more…
Fan the Flame
In the days following Pentecost, I offer you music about fire. I am reminded by these wonderful works to be intentional about giving the fire inside the oxygen that he needs to flourish. read more…
Cocoon or Chrysalis?
Cocoon or Chrysalis? This would make a good sermon title and theme. The church can either shroud you in a cocoon of safety and religiosity, or enfaith you in a chrysalis of change and metamorphosis. The “sheltering arms” do not domesticate us in a playpen, but prepare us and push…
Don’t Drink Alone
Falling in Love with God
The Spanish philosopher, Jose Ortega y Gasset (1883-1955) had claimed that being in love was essentially a matter of attention abnormally fixed. He says, “Falling in love, initially, is no more than this: attention abnormally fastened upon another person.” His claim is that the lover is one who can abnormally…
It’s All About Relationships
It’s all about relationship: “Early in her relationship with her God, Israel discovered that her religion was unlike the fertility religions of her neighbors, which reenacted the stories of the gods. Her faith is not about the battles and love affairs of the gods above, but in God’s relationship to…
Upside Down
Jesus turns the world upside down, making us see like newborns? In the physics of light, the image projected on the retina is upside down. Our brain reorients it for us. But newborns for their first few weeks actually see upside down. http://www.physlink.com/Education/askExperts/ae353.cfm
Big Trouble
Two brothers, aged 8 and 11, were notoriously naughty, sometimes virtually out of control. They had such a reputation that whenever some mischief took place at school or at church, the assumption of the boys’ parents and teachers was that they were involved in some way. When they were almost…
There Be Flying
I don’t agree with Rilke, but it is great writing. And it can be a great foil for teaching on how God will not be without a witness, but God cares for every witnesser as much as the witness. “If I don’t take flight, someone else will, the Lord wants…
The Smuggler
Sometimes the hardest things to see are the most obvious. Could this be one reason why the disciples had such a hard time recognizing Jesus in his post-resurrection appearances? There is a story told about a man in West Berlin who worked in the eastern sector of that divided city.…