death | Don't Mind Me

Read Hebrews 9:1-10 and 10:1-4 to start.

Long, long ago, way back in 2001, some friends and I discovered a silly website called Homestar Runner. For several years they put out weekly three minute long cartoons, occasionally longer items, which were generally amusing and entertaining. The creators funded it by selling merchandise, I still have at least one or two of their t-shirts.

One cartoon they did in I think 2004 was a parody of children’s TV shows, and featured a ridiculous song about counting. It went like this, “Stave it off, one two three, and now you can count to three.” The joke was that then it was going to be repeated fifty times, which of course would be annoying and pointless, so it ends after the song plays just twice more.

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Read Genesis 49:29-33, 50:22-26.

Is everyone familiar with The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe? Even if you’ve never actually read it, or if it’s been many years since you have, it is of course a very well known book. It is the best known book from The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, which is a series of seven books about people from this world who travel into a different dimension, into a land called Narnia. Perhaps you’ve read only the first book, or just a couple of them. Perhaps you’ve read them all. They come highly recommended.

I would give you a cautionary note, though, about the last book, entitled The Last Battle. It’s, how can I say it, it’s odd. I remember reading it when I was much younger, and finding it dark, somewhat disconnected with the other stories, and frankly, dissatisfying. While the Narnia books are allegorical fiction, and certainly not a text for Biblical instruction, The Last Battle also implies some rather questionable theology. It is not a strong end to an otherwise superb series. Continue reading Finishing Well →