This Tuesday

Sara and I are planning on going to see the Return of the King this Tuesday night at midnight. I think my brother will go, too. If anyone else is interested, give us a call. I've heard that this film is the best of the three. That's what Peter Jackson and Elijah Wood say, at least. My friend Brendan has seen the movie already, you can read about it here.

The Book

Right before each of the first two movies came out I reread the book. Since I'm looking forward to the movie so much, I had decided not to read the book, just so I wouldn't sit there and compare it to the book and be bothered by changes that the writers made. But then I got sick. I was sitting around feeling bored and I didn't have a book to read so I started reading the Return of the King. I didn't even intend to finish it, but I got hooked. This is such a good book. I'm almost finished with it now and I've been close to tears several times. If the movie adaptation is half as good as people say it is and half as good as the book, then we'll be in for a real treat.

Homily

Last weekend we had a retreat to plan church services for the next six months. During the brainstorming stage I mentioned that we could probably have a sermon that uses the Lord of the Rings to illustrate some biblical teachings. We all talked it over for a while and I guess people thought it would work, so I'll be preaching a three week series using the three books/films. I know Tolkien didn't write these stories as an allegory, but I think they'll work great for teaching concepts like the peril of temptation and addiction and the sacrifice that Jesus made to save the world. I'd love to have some more ideas, so if you know of any passages or scenes that I could use, pass them along. The series will start on February 8.Nai haryuvalyë melwa rë!