Agape

Before they went to sleep, Piccadilly said to Frank Leigh Dearie, »Turner's paintings are the best.«

Frank agreed. »Their brutal incandescence abolishes all perspective.«

It was Frank's last night in London Town.

Considered the loftiest form of love, agape is selfless and pure.

When I was younger, I remember my brother in the Boy Scouts as a member of the prestigious 'Order of the Arrow'. At the time I thought this was highly impressive and when I grew older, I too joined the Boy Scouts in order to learn the secrets of the Order of the Arrow.
At one camp-out, my tentmate actually took part of the secret initiation. When he returned to the tent, he was supposedly under vow of silence. Somehow, I had made him laugh (breaking the vow), and exchange for *my* silence over his error, he told me the secret codeword for the Order:

»Agape means Love«.

I remember thinking that was the stupidest thing I had ever heard, and didn't remain in the Scouts much longer than that. But whenever I run into groups or cliques that maintain an aire of secrecy or eliteness, I remember that little incident and puts everything into perspective...

Piccadilly was a rosy blaze against the white sheets. Frank was a shadow in the window. Piccadilly was his sun.

When you see a church named »Agape Christian Fellowship,« do you imagine the congregants standing in stunned, silent amazement, their mouths hanging wide open?