And a voice spoke softly behind him: "In the land of Ithilien, and in the keeping of the King; and he awaits you." With that Gandalf stood before him, robed in white, his beard now gleaming like pure snow in the twinkling of the leafy sunlight. "Well, Master Samwise, how do you feel?" he said.
But Sam lay back, and stared with open mouth, and for a moment, between bewilderment and great joy, he could not answer. At last he gasped: "Gandalf! I thought you were dead! But then I thought I was dead myself. Is everything sad going to come untrue? What's happened to the world?"
—J. R. R. Tolkien, Return of the King
Ed,
ReplyDeleteNice to see your Tolkien Passion-appropriate posts. Coincidentally, I used a LOTR image myself in my Easter sermon. A little person with the weight of the world on his back, heading into the center of danger found hope when there was no real possibility of success. It was a call to live your life as if the resurrection were true, and then who knows what would be possible.
Thanks, Joe. Wish I'd been there to hear your sermon.
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