Please note, Sky: Children of the Light is rated 9+ As the Season of the Little Prince unfolds in Sky: Children of the Light, it becomes clear just how much the Prince loves the Rose, and just how much he feels the pull to return to her. It also becomes clear how much he is willing to go through to make his way back to her. But the Prince loves the people in Sky as well. He asks that the player doesn’t follow him because he doesn’t want the player to see his pain. He even leaves before the player wakes up. Scripture calls on us to care for our loved ones, especially when they are going through hardship. As we hear in Galatians 6:2, “Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you fulfill the law of Christ.”
As that sort of friend in the game, we go to accompany the Prince through the most dangerous area Sky has to offer. We are called to do the same others in our own lives. That way, like with the Prince in Sky, we can hope that at the end of the journey we can great each other once again with joy.
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After their journey in the previous chapter, Shasta, Bree, Aravis, and Hwin find Rabadash's army right on their heals. To make matters worse, another lion is upon them and poised to attack. Shasta does something no one expects, least of all him. As the lion attacks Aravis, he runs towards her and yells at the lion to go away, who remarkable then leaves. There is a hermit nearby who takes them in and tells Shasta he still must travel on to warn of the oncoming attack to Narnia. As the rest of the heroes take the time to heal, Bree is in despair that he can never enter Narnia now. After all Bree's training, Shasta managed to do better than him and go in the right direction to help the others. Bree is ashamed at what has happened. Aravis too is amazed at Shasta and her own inability to recognize this greatness in him. The Hermit, on hearing this points out to Bree that he just was never as great as he thought he was, but that shouldn't prevent him from going to Narnia. Instead, what he really needs is a little humility. In the Gospels, we often see Jesus hanging out with tax collectors and sinners instead of the leaders of the Scribes and the Pharisees. Jesus tells the leaders of the Pharisees that this is because the tax collectors and sinners are the ones who actually need a physician. In Truth, we are all in need of Jesus' healing in our lives. Unlike the leaders of the Scribes and Pharisees, the tax collectors and sinners realize they are lacking. They have a sense of humility instead of pride in themselves. We all need a little humility in our lives. We all hope that we will be like Shasta when the time comes, but we may not be. Instead of being prideful, we are called to have humility, the same humility that lead Jesus Christ to come into this world to be with us in the first place. Please note, all movies mentioned are rated PG-13. During the Journey with the Avengers VBS, our participants talked a lot about Hawkeye is underrated as an Avenger. I would agree. He might not have superhuman strength, and his primary skills might rely on a bow and arrow, but Hawkeye really serves as the heart and soul of the Avengers. As we saw with Black Widow and Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye serves as a mentor, bringing those who were once bad to become good. He serves in the same role as Ananias did for Paul in Acts, acting as a mentor and teacher for others as they enter this new life serving as a hero. Hawkeye also provides his own home as an escape for the Avengers, which they need after receiving a psychic attack affecting them all to their core. Really what he does is provide a retreat, a helpful and necessary part of anyone's spiritual life. We all need a Hawkeye in our lives. We need someone to help bring us back into the light, whether for the first time or once again. We need someone who can provide us what we need for our spiritual growth at the right time. That is who Hawkeye is for the Avengers, and it is why he should never be underrated as an important member of this superhero team. After learning everything they have in Chapter 5 and Chapter 8, Shasta, Bree, Aravis, and Hwin now have a plan to warn Narnia about the Tisroc's son coming attack. Their travel is extremely difficult, but they remain true to their mission. This is our hope in our own Faith Journey. Our own travels through life can be hard, and the world can often feel like it is encroaching on us by its temptations or just by making the way difficult for us. Our hope is to continue forward in Faith, just as Shasta, Bree, Aravis, and Hwin move forward with their mission to Narnia. It is amazing that Shasta, Bree, Aravis, and Hwin continue onwards. The humans, in particular, don't really know what Narnia is, and so they don't fully comprehend what it is they are striving for. They are simply guided by the idea that what they are doing is right. We are fortunate to know why we move forward: out of love for God and those God has given us to serve. We also have the assurance of God's presence in our troubles through psalms like Psalm 23. We saw in Chapter 6 how Psalm 23:4 relates to this story. We get other hints that harken back to it in this chapter with the description of grayness as they enter the desert. Hwin sheds light on their purpose for this mission when they are near the end and worried they cannot go on. Bree, at this point, demands to stop for a snack. Hwin admits that she too is struggling but remarks that now that they are free, shouldn't they be able to do more, especially when it is for Narnia? This is a reminder to us of what Paul says in Romans 6 when he speaks of how we have now been made free from the tyranny of sin by Jesus Christ's death and sacrifice for us. Being free doesn't always make the journey easier, but it does give us a purpose, as Hwin points out. Unfortunately Bree doesn't listen. Hwin's words also speak to Lasarleen's reaction at the start of the chapter to the conversation she and Aravis overheard. Aravis is at a point where she can accept that the Tisroc is not as infallible as he would like the people of Calormen to believe. Lasarleen is not there yet. We hope one day she might be, just as we were freed from the hold of sin on us by Jesus Christ. Please note, Sky: Children of the Light is rated 9+. During the Sky season for The Little Prince, there are many times the Prince asked if the creatures that inhabit Sky can be tamed. It seems a strange question to ask for those who have played the game. It also seemed a strange topic in the book, at least to me. In Sky, the Prince refers to a character missing in this season who comes up in the book: the Fox. The Prince mentions that the Fox told him being tamed means establishing ties. What that really means is we no longer remain independent, but that we come to need one another. In our life of Faith, this idea is present in the Two Great Commandments: To love God "with all your heart, with all your soul, and all your mind" and "to love your neighbor as yourself." We are connected to God and each other with ties that make us dependent on our Lord and on one another. In this sense, we have been tamed, both by God and one another. As Sky tells us, there is a risk that we can be hurt in being tamed. That is because we care for the other and what happens to them. We want what is best for the other, so when that other feels pain, we do too. This is part of what love means. In expressing love for us, Jesus on the Cross said "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Even as we hurt Jesus, He still continued to care for us. That is the depth of His love. That is the kind of love we are called to show for one another as well. We also see this love in the Prince and the Rose longing to see each other again. One could say the two of them have tamed each other. The joy of these ties is that they are unique among each of us. That means our ties with God are all unique too. God loves each and everyone of us individually and as individuals. We see this in Matthew 18:12-14 and Luke 15 where Jesus speaks of leaving the fold to find 1 sheep out of 100. That is how much God loves us individually. Love can be scary. It requires us to be dependent on others, including God. It causes us to care. But in the end, that love builds us up. Even though we risk weeping by being tamed with love, it is a risk worth taking for all the joy and wonder we receive. At the end of Chapter 7, Aravis and Lasaraleen ended up hiding in the corner for what turns out to be a meeting between the Tisroc (the leader of Calormen), his son Rabadash, and Aravis' would-be husband. Rabadash, it turns out, wants to attack Narnia. His father, the Tisroc, is less anxious to do so, and only agrees to let Rabadash do so as long as he has plausible deniability. The Tisroc doesn't believe the plan to attack Narnia will succeed, and thus wants some distance if/when his son's plans fail. The Tisroc is slow to want to attack Narnia for the same reasons discussed in Chapter 5. Though Narnia is a small land, there is a great power in it. Narnia reminds us of Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 12:9, mainly that the power of God is "made perfect in weakness." There are parallels between Narnia and Ancient Israel's place as a small kingdom surrounded by so many more powerful countries around her. The Tisroc's concern is also due to the past defeat of the White Witch Jadis in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. He recognizes she had great power, and he is not sure how Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy were able to defeat her. He doesn't know how they did it because he does not know Aslan. It is the same in our world when people fail to recognize power made perfect in weakness. It is because they do not know God. For this reason, it is up to us to make God known to others. All of the information Aravis hears will help her and her companions on their journey. Once again, we see the power of coincidence helping our travelers as they find themselves at the right place in the right time. When we look back, we often see God working in these moments for us.
Please note, Sky: The Children of the Light is rated 9+ Spoilers Ahead! One of the most beautiful aspects of Sky’s The Little Prince season comes from the relationship of the Prince and the Rose. Those familiar with Le Petit Prince may recall their story from the book. The beauty of Sky’s retelling is that we get to live into it and even see both sides of the story. From the Rose’s and the Prince’s telling, they clearly shared a deep love for each other. The Rose did not always know how to show that love, though. This leads the Prince to go off and explore other planets, where the world of Sky. The Rose remains behind. There is a rift torn between them, as there is with us when we cannot express our love for each other well. As they are parted, the Rose begins to long for the Prince, and her petals start to fall one by one. The Prince, while basking in joy at his adventures, is reminded of the Rose, and longs to see her again. There is a divide between the Rose and the Prince that has to be crossed. The Prince is willing to bridge that gap, even by journeying into Eden, the darkest realm in Sky that leads to death. Forgiveness often involves a similar crossing for us. There is a dying to self needed for us to return back to the other. Sometimes it involves admitting where we were wrong, as both the Prince and the Rose do at various points in their story during this Sky journey. The ultimate act of forgiveness also came from a crossing into death. That act is Jesus’ crucifixion and Resurrection. To cross the divide back to us, Jesus was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice, even though He had done nothing wrong when it came to His relationship with us. Fortunately, Sky gives us a happy ending for the Prince and the Rose. Although each is near death, they do make it back to each other, sharing another sunset at the end. The same is the hope for us. By forgiving, we are brought back into relationship with one another, just as Jesus’ death brings us back in relationship with God. Forgiveness provides the healing that makes it so we will not die apart, but we can instead share one more sunset with each other, or bask in whatever it is that we enjoy doing together. We move away from Shasta in Chapter 6 to learn what has happened to his companions. Aravis, after they lost track of Shasta in Tashbaan, runs into an old acquaintance from her past. This is Lasaraleen, a friend she had growing up.
It is immediately clear that Aravis and Lasaraleen are very different people. Aravis is much more serious while Lasaraleen is more frivolous and often quite selfish. She cannot for the life of her understand why Aravis doesn't want to get married, especially when she would get so many houses and servants with her husband. Aravis is encountering an issue we often face when we encounter the world. Others often don't understand our beliefs or approach to life as Christians. Like Aravis, however, we cannot let what others think define our lives or affect our relationship with God. Also like us, Aravis is changed by her journey, although not automatically. In the previous chapters, we saw her look down on Shasta. Now when Bree asks what to do if they make it to the Tombs and Shasta is not there, Aravis tells Bree to "Wait for him of course." The journey is making her a better person, just as our journey in our Faith does the same for us. It will be fascinating to look at where her adventures will take Aravis as she grows. Please note, Iron Man is rated PG-13 Another Avenger I considered for Journey with the Avengers VBS was Iron Man. In many ways, Tony Stark is the perfect look at the move from a life of sin to the life of a disciple. This is because Tony very much lived a life of sin before becoming a superhero. He was selfish and arrogant, as we see from his very first appearance on screen. Then Tony is captured and forced to try and build a weapon for a group of terrorists. Instead, he works with fellow prisoner Ho Yinsen to build a mechanized suit of armor and escape. Unfortunately, as their plan approaches the end, they need more time. Yinsen helps buy it for them, but dies in the process. Tony thanks him for saving his life. Yinsen tells Tony not to waste it. Yinsen's death for Tony is like Jesus' death for us. It is a sacrifice for us, even though we don't deserve it. Tony certainly didn't. But like Tony with Yinsen, we are changed by Christ Jesus' sacrifice. On returning from being captured, Tony holds a press conference. He says that he saw his weapons being used against American soldiers overseas and that he has learned to accept responsibility for being "part of a system with zero accountability." This is Tony repenting for his former life, just as we repent of our former life of sin in Baptism. At this point in the conference, Tony has been siting. As he repents, he tells the press, "I had my eyes opened." Here he stands. It is a sign of his moving to a different life, just as we do in our Baptism. Tony then tells the press that he will be shutting down Stark Industries' weapons program effective immediately. Tony afterwards begins his new life as Iron Man trying to protect others. Pepper Potts, Tony's assistant, eventually finds out about Tony's new life as a superhero. Worried that he's going to hurt himself, she refuses to help him at first. However, Tony changes her mind by saying: You stood by my side all these years while I reaped the benefits of destruction, and now that I'm trying to protect the people that I put in harms way, you're going to walk out?... I shouldn't be alive unless it was for a reason... I just finally know what I have to do. I know in my heart that it's right. This is a sign of the extent of Tony's change. He is no longer being selfish. He wants to help other people for the first time in his life. The same change is hopefully seen in us as we come to new life in Christ Jesus. It is important to note that Tony doesn't come away unscarred. He bears the mark of his past life with the Arc Reactor in his chest keeping the shrapnel that impaled him during his capture from reaching his heart. The same is true for us. We still bear the scar of our sin, even if it isn't always visible, but through the healing of Christ Jesus we, like Tony, are able to move forward into a new and fuller life by being made whole through God's redeeming Grace. |
Please note, there maybe Spoilers in the Posts below!
The Rev. Trey KennedyHere is my take on how Superheroes and other characters can help us know God better. Categories
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