I got the pleasure of hearing Leonard Sweet in person at Evangelical Seminary yesterday. It was a free event, and that was surprising in itself.
Len talked about some important things. Some of them were already clear in my mind, but for the audience they felt shocking.
I will unwrap a few of his main points and add a few of my own over the next few posts.
He spoke about the power of image and story trumping words and books (which are essentially an anti-social and individualistic experience).
Len showed this video:
(It’s for a hotel. Their tag line is THERE’S NO GREATER ACT OF HOSPITALITY THAN TO EMBRACE A STRANGER AS ONE’S OWN.
IT’S IN OUR NATURE.) The (French) language barrier is overcome by using just a soundtrack and story that gets to the heart of something we all want.
“The world is stealing our best lines (as Christians) because we don’t know we have them.” -Len Sweet
(I would add that the Story is gone too–left to marketers and cheapened to sell goods and services, yet failing (of course) to truly deliver on its promise.)
It only takes a generation to lose a Story. Instead of mission statements maybe we need stories, or The Story.
How can we bring it to a new age and generation that has move “from Gutenburg to Google” ?
The arts may have a new renaissance if we properly apprehend the shift.
(Check back soon for the next in this series on “The Tyranny of the Left Brain”. Or get it sent to you directly by signing up in t he sidebar for delivery.)