$3 on Amazon<\/a>. It\u2019s worth the money and I recommend you download a copy. I read it in the\u00a0summer of 2012 when I did a unit of CPE hospital chaplaincy work \u00a0our whole group was read it . \u00a0It tells the story of two teenagers who are dying. One of them has lost the normal function of her lungs. One of the has lost the normal function of his leg. They meet in a cancer support group through a mutual friend who has lost the normal function of his eyes. They come together in \u201cthe literal heart of Jesus\u201d which is the cross-section of a Church basement shaped like a cross.<\/p>\nThe teens struggle through listening to every empty platitude about life and struggle and finding meaning in the midst of the meaninglessness of their suffering. Each teen struggles to come to terms with what their sickness means to them in their own own unique way. Gus seeks to do something heroic with his life, he wants to be remembered by doing something great. Hazel seeks to find meaning by trying to resolve an unresolved book by a reclusive author. Their friend Isaac tries to find meaning in a teenage love affair that he hopes will give him eternal love, but it doesn\u2019t even last through his surgery. The book points to an existential frustration that we all must endure at some level. We wish that we were placed on this earth for some special purpose. Life seems too precious to simply end without a crescendo. I know that I can relate to this. I hope that my life is significant. I want to write things that matter, do things that matter, and make a difference to the world. In short, I want to do great things. However I am reminded of what Blessed Teresa of Calcutta said, \u201cthere are NO great things, only little things with great love.\u201d<\/p>\n
The title of the book comes from a line in Shakespeare\u2019s play Julius Caesar (Act 1, scene 2). The nobleman Cassius says to Brutus, \u201cThe fault, dear Brutus is not in our stars, \/ But in ourselves, that we are underlings.\u201d This is a truly beautiful line. Throughout much of human history people have looked away from themselves for meaning. They have looked for a calling from God, or to astrology, or to platonic forms, or to money, or power, or respect. The beauty of this book is that it helps the characters find out that they are loved for who they are even as people who are not whole. The world is not changed by great endeavors but as people love one another in little ways. Gus\u2019s love for Hazel helps Peter Van Houten come to terms with his own loss of his child. Mrs. Lancaster finds her new vocation as a social worker through the love she has in her vocation as a mother.<\/p>\n
I love this theme because it resonates so dearly with my own fascination with Jesus. The thing that is so amazing about what Jesus shows is that God isn\u2019t interested in saving the world in a way that is beyond us. God wants to heal people through people. God wants to demonstrate his love in a way that is tangible and contagious. God chose a grace so real that you could touch it, smell it, taste it, and even kill it. God shows us love in Jesus. A love as fragile as life itself, but never broken. A love in the language of skin and bones, that is spoken by every culture.<\/p>\n
I suppose what I\u2019m trying to say in all of this is that John Green helped me. He helped me live inside a character who is dying. As I spent time that summer working as a hospital chaplain I encountered a great deal of sorrow and pain as people were dying and suffering around me. It\u2019s easy for me to want to jump to empty platitudes about clouds and silver linings and other such nonsense. This can sometimes be nice for people, but in the face of the immensity of our own mortality it falls far short of a lasting hope. By allowing me to live a bit inside a dying teenager, I was able to open my heart a little more. I was able to love a little better, and I hope that through reading this book I might be able to do more small things with a greater love.<\/p>\n
So it\u2019s\u00a0$2.99 today\u2026 go ahead and buy a copy.<\/a>\u00a0 There is also\u00a0a movie<\/a> based on it coming out next year, so there\u2019s that too.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This week The Fault in Our Stars, a book by novelist and nerdfighteria ringleader John Green, is on sale for only $3 on Amazon. It\u2019s worth the money and I recommend you download a copy. I read it in the\u00a0summer of 2012 when I did a unit of CPE hospital chaplaincy work \u00a0our whole group […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1678,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/394\/2013\/12\/john-Green.png\" "\\"john")
<\/a><\/p>\n