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Showing posts from February, 2014

Eros

--> Sermon: Love - Romance/Eros                                                           Scripture:  Song of Songs 1:1-4a, 4:9-10, 6:3a, 8:4                                     "A man was reading his paper early one morning at the breakfast table. His wife came over to him and patted him on the shoulder. She looked at him, smiled, and said, “I bet you don’t know what today is, do you?” He looked at her and said, “Of course I know what day it is!” and went back to reading his paper. He didn’t have a CLUE what day it was, but he was AFRAID that he would make his wife UPSET—she was really SENSITIVE about SPECIAL OCCASIONS. He thought to himself, “Is it her BIRTHDAY? That must be it.” So after he got to WORK he called the FLORIST and had a BOUQUET of WHITE ROSES sent to his wife. Then as the day went on, he began WORRYING that FLOWERS may not be ENOUGH for such an IMPORTANT DAY. “What if it’s our ANNIVERSARY?” he thought. So he

"The Fault in Our Stars" V. "An Imperial Affliction"

"The Fault in Our Stars" is a brilliantly written book. I especially like how author John Green uses "The Fault In Our Stars" as the resolution to the abrupt ending of "An Imperial Affliction." You could say it is a meta-narrative.  "An Imperial Affliction" ends abruptly mid-sentence, representing the death of the main character but also the fullness of life of all characters.  It's fictional author Peter Van Houten is unable to finish the stories of the other characters, because he is unable himself to finish his own story.  He is as the Dutch Tulip Man, a con, a lover, and a possibly good man, who is stopped mid-track by the death of Anna.  For Peter, life ended when his daughter's life ended. There can be no more to the story.  His inability to even imagine a continuation, except for the hamster, matches with his inability to live past his own tragedy.  "The Fault in Our Stars" offers another answer.  In the midst of the h