Annie Dillard

Here's a good essay on a rather obscure but popular area of rhetorical endeavor.

http://www.nytimes.com/books/99/03/28/specials/dillard-christmas.html

I just tried this link and realized that you get asked for a login from the link. Very tricky. You can get to this link w/o a login if you just google the words "dillard leg in stocking" (w/o the quotes). It should be the first link or so on the google search. Sorry the link didn't work!

Exhortation: Elk, WA, October 24

It is both a mercy and a shame that we often live life as though we will live forever. To live constantly under the full pressure of the reality of our own death is neither right nor good. Yet there are many things to learn from a consideration of our mortality. When death is near priorities change. Life appears in higher relief—knowing what you are about to leave you love it all the more. And if you love God, you are thankful for it. Not only this, but there is the dread of death itself. All of us will die—our bodies will be unmade from our being and will decay. An unnatural and distressing separation will occur, in the face of which we can only hope or despair. Without the gospel all visions of hope ring hollow. No other vision of the afterlife puts us back together; no other vision of the afterlife includes a gracious Savior who has gone before us even in death but also in resurrection. So when we consider our mortality, we must consider the Gospel, and when we consider the Gospel we must not forget the awful price that was paid for our hope. We must not forget the reason that price had to be paid. Let us confess our sins.