A Couple of Kings

I was going to entitle this entry "A New Year Dawns" but then I realized that the new year has been much like the old one. I finished "Detectives in Togas" with the children. They really enjoyed it. The purpose of read-aloud books is to build vocabulary.

I talked to my friend Jamie last night, and he agreed that the best scene in "Return of the King" was when the riders of Rohan hit the orc lines... and just kept going.

I finished the book on Campbell Morgan. It was less of a biography than the other books I read, but was still interesting. He was also mostly self-taught, though clearly in all the cases I mentioned self-taught does not mean untaught or poorly taught.

I was on the web site for Salisbury Cathedral the other day. It is listed in one of my children's books as the finest cathedral in England. I went through one of the sermons that was posted. The title was "Christ the King", and the topic was "Why Christians should be involved in politics and social issues and especially with regards to George Bush and Iraq"! I make no claims to great oratory skills, but if I was asked to preach to hundreds of people in the greatest cathedral in England on the topic of Christ the King, my sermon would have been a bit... different. Invoking the name of Christ is not a magical formula that lends authority to whatever we decide to say. Sadly, in many churches this is the case. Whatever issues are trendy need to be supported regardless of what the Bible says, and Christ the King is only useful in so far as men can claim to be His legates, speaking on His behalf on matters which He Himself is silent.