Please note, Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne and Time and the Batman are rated T. In the past, we've seen Batman's final conflict with evil incarnate in the form of Darkseid. We even saw Batman being reaffirmed in his identity. In the course of this journey, though, Batman is directly attacked by Darkseid. He's infected with radiation from Darkseid's Omega Beams, and he's chased through time by Darkseid's Hyper-Adapter. He's directly impacted by the evil he faces. It even tries to make Batman forget who he really is. At the end of the journey, Batman has to be purified of evil's influence to the point of death. Only then can he be made whole. Only then can he continue his mission. In this world, we face evil around us everyday. It can seep inside us. It can lead us to do things that we don't really want to do, as Paul says in Romans. In times like these, we may need to repent. That means turning away from the road we've been on and turning back to God. Baptism is a form of doing that when we first join the Body of Christ as we die to sin and are reborn in the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Along the path of life, though, times can get difficult. We might find ourselves in need of renewing our Baptismal Covenant. We do that through services like Reaffirmation, as spoken of before. Batman shows us that ridding ourselves from evil is possible. Just as with Batman, we never do this alone. We do this only through the help of Christ Jesus.
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Please note, Star Wars: The Clone Wars is rated TV-PG and Star Wars: Rebels is rated TV-Y7. Some may wonder how Anakin's former Padawan Ahsoka became so powerful in the Force. The answer lies in a journey she, Anakin, and Obi-Wan had during the Clone Wars to a planet called Mortis. They found there 3 incredibly powerful force welders known as the Father, the Son, and the Daughter. As a quick note, we should not see this at all as the same sort of Trinity that God is revealed to us on earth. The Son, in this case, was seduced by the Dark Side, the Daughter held allegiance to the Light Side, and their father tried to maintain the balance between the two. The Father summons Anakin, in his role as Chosen One, to try to maintain the balance. Yet the Son has other plans. He corrupts Ahsoka with a vampiric-like bite and uses her to sow conflict so he can try to kill his father. The Daughter intervenes, though, saving her father at the cost of her own life. Yet that's not all she does. With her last breaths, she has Anakin transfer her life-force into Ahsoka, riding her brother's influence and saving Ahsoka's life in the process. Now the Daughter's power resides in Ahsoka, explaining how she became such a powerful force user. This is essentially what Jesus does for us. Though we fall to the influence of sin, Jesus died for us not only to save our life, but also to pave the way for the Holy Spirit, God's very presence, to live inside all of us who call upon the Lord. We receive this Spirit by being baptized into Jesus' death and being raised up from the waters in the Resurrection. The Daughter had a pet owl named Morai, who pops up from time to time in key parts of Ahsoka's story. It is a reminder of the Daughter's life-giving presence still inside her. We have signs of God's presence with us too, from time to time. This presence can take the form of many things. We have to be open so that we can recognize these signs and also feel God's presence with us when we need to feel it. Please note, Astro City is rated T. When I was in seminary, I remember my preaching professor getting up for a weekday service and discussing the first issue of Astro City. There, we are introduced to the superhero known as Samaritan. He's a Superman-level hero who constantly goes about saving others. Except when we first see the Samaritan, he is dreaming. He's dreaming about flying in fact. His dreams are the only time he really gets to fly just to enjoy it. Otherwise, he's just traveling from one place to another so he can try and save people. Samaritan doesn't have the luxury to stop and smell the roses. Later in the issue, Samaritan stops slightly so a girl can see him as he rescues her cat. This almost puts him too far behind to save a man in a different city. To save as many people as possible, the Samaritan gives up any chance at a normal life. What the Samaritan does is really live into what Jesus says in both Mark and Matthew, when he tells the Disciples: "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it" This is said in the context of Jesus speaking about His upcoming Death and Resurrection. We give up a great deal to serve our Lord. Yet in the end it is worth it. We have the chance to help so many in this world now. Our hope, in the world to come, is that we may then take joy in things greater than we can even imagine, perhaps even flying like the Samaritan in his dreams. |
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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