He preached on Soren Kierkegaard.
Oh, brother. Didn't see that coming. In the minister's defense, he said that since it was Labor Day Sunday he thought nobody would show up so he might as well preach on Kierkegaard.
Soren Kierkegaard was an 1800s writer, philosopher and theologian. He was also kind of negative. (Sort of like SNL's Debbie Downer.) As the minister said, "He dedicated himself to making the Christian life harder."
But he was one of the world greatest thinkers and we have much to thank him for even though he wrote books like "The Concept of Dread."
But I really liked Sunday's sermon, mainly because, while making an excellent theological point, the minister teased Kierkegaard. I love teasing Kierkegaard.
Here is one of his quotes:
I see it all perfectly;...there are two possible solutions...do it or do not do it. You will regret both.
Kierkegaard, along with another not fun guy named Nietzsche, was the father of existentialism. Their definition of existentialism was:
The focus of philosophical thought should be to deal with the conditions of existence of the individual persons and their emotions, actions, responsibilities and thoughts.
But, as you may remember, I have a better explanation:
Existentialism
I and thou,
Here and now,
Wow!
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