For the next couple of weeks, we will take a look at superheroes and what they signify and why we 'need' them to face the world around us. In the passage in Isaiah 65 in this week's lectionary, we hear words of hope in the midst of anxiety. The people of Israel, after having been exiled for 60 years, were allowed to return home, but 'home' was not what they remembered. Their homes were no longer there and everything they thought they knew was different and strange. Much like returning to clean up after a natural disaster, there was shock and dismay, and then grit and resilience.
I remember going into Lyons with my pastor friend Emily the first day they let people re-enter after the flood in 2013. I was a bystander, but the people who lived there... oh, how I felt for them. We saw the river literally running through people's homes. We saw cars turned upside down. We saw houses leaning sideways as their foundations crumbled. It was devastating. But, the resilience and the grit of these people whose lives were being swept away in the waters was also on full display. Somehow you just knew that they would fight and grow stronger and build a new tomorrow together.
And they have.
In Luke 21, we have Jesus telling the disciples that everything they have had their security in... the temple, the nation, their way of life... is coming to an end. He doesn't say this to scare them, but to remind them that all of our material goods and our daily trivialities are not what life is about. Life is about living for God's way. Life is about trusting in Jesus' message of love. Life is about knowing that all we have to do is trust in that message and, no matter what, we will be secure. Because God will be with us.
Jesus is the Superman figure in our narrative as Christians. Jesus lets us know that he came to be with us in the flesh as proof that God always walks with us on the way.
In the movie Superman returns, there are a lot of metaphorical references to Christ. I'll get into those more on Sunday, but one of my favorite quotes is this exchange between Lois and Superman:
Superman: Listen; what do you hear?
Lois Lane: Nothing.
Superman: I hear everything. You wrote that the world doesn't need a savior, but every day I hear people crying for one.
The world is always crying for a savior. And as we head to Advent, we begin to be a world preparing for our savior to arrive.
We all have our own version of apocalypse going on at any given time. Over the course of this year, beloved church members have died and we have mourned their loss and tried to trudge forward in a new way. At the same time, we have been subject to a troubling and vitriolic campaign season that left us unusually unsettled. But God has been in and with us through all of it.
As I told the confirmation students Sunday, there is no place that God isn't. God is with us at school, at piano lessons, at drama club, everywhere. God is always there. And we just need to stop, be still, breathe, and say "hey... glad you are here." That will put our minds at ease and help our hearts to soar.
Our church is the best church I can imagine being part of. The love we have for one another is real and deep and true. No matter what we are going through, we always have each other. Because God lives here with us.
Thoughts? Email at peverhart@niwotumc.org or comment by clicking the link below.
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