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Reading: Mark 8:31–38
RCL: Lent 2  BCP: Lent 2  LSB: Lent 2 Legend
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Five People You Might Meet in Hell

Summary

Jesus pushed Peter aside with his words "Get behind me, Satan." If Jesus can accuse Peter of such infidelity, how many people in our lives are attacking us in the guise of friendship and concern? If we were to identify five people who have tried to lead us down the wrong path of life, who might they be? What might they look like? It could be surprising.


 Mitch Albom's small novel of 2003, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, begins at the end, with the main character dying. Eddie has worked at the Ruby Pier amusement park most of his life. On his 83rd birthday he dies in a tragic accident, trying to save a little girl from being crushed by one of the rides that malfunctions. The rest of the novel is about Eddie's entrance into the afterlife where five people he meets there explain his life to him. The book has been a bestseller producing so much interest that it has already been made into a TV movie.
 If you had to choose five people from your life who could best sum up the importance and meaning of your being, who might they be? Surprisingly, the people Eddie meets in heaven are not all people who stood out in Eddie's memories of life. But the story contends that there are things we need to understand about our lives, and things we need to let go of, before we can go on to enjoy eternity.
 It's good to know that there are people who surround us and give meaning to our lives. Most of us could easily identify five, and probably a lot more. What might be more interesting is to distinguish five people we could likely meet in hell ... people we want to avoid. These are people who fight for our very souls and try to take meaning away from us. The five people you might meet in hell are the ones who pose the most threat not only to your eternal salvation, but also to your spiritual well-being and happiness here on earth.
 We might be as surprised by the peop

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