Please note, Black Widow is rated PG-13. Spoilers! In Black Widow, we finally learn the truth of what happened with Black Widow and Hawkeye in Budapest all those years ago, as referenced in The Avengers. It turns out that Natasha gave up her former boss Dreykov, head of the Red Room, in order to join S.H.I.E.L.D. When she did so and gave the all clear that S.H.I.E.L.D. could take out Dreykov knowing that his daughter Antonia was with him and that she would be caught in the explosion as well. Antonia unfortunately went on to become Taskmaster, a Red Room operative who can learn a person's fighting style by merely looking at it. Natasha still feels guilty about what happened to Taskmaster, and she tries not to make the same mistake again. When the Red Room base is going down, Natasha frees Taskmaster, telling her she won't leave her again. This may seem like a foolish mistake, but Natasha finds a way to free Taskmaster of her father's brainwashing influence so she, and the other Red Room operatives, can go live a new life. Natasha continues to tell Taskmaster how sorry she is as she asks for forgiveness. Part of what Natasha does is repentance. She knows she cannot fix what she has done, but she can move forward and make better choices with her life. This is what we are called to do in our Baptism, is to move beyond our past life to our new one in Christ Jesus. Natasha also acts like Jesus did for us. By removing Taskmaster from her father's mind-control, she has helped free Antonia from the influence of sin and evil on her life. We've seen how Natasha was given a new chance to be removed from her former life of killing thanks to Hawkeye. Now she's paying that gift of grace forward. We are called to do the same with the reconciling gift that Jesus gave us with His sacrifice to all others we meet in the world. Taskmaster isn't the only one who is saved. The other Red Room Widows are freed from Dreykov's brainwashing too, and they have the resources to go and save the other Widows who are out there in the world. That's what the Apostles did in the early days of the church, and it is what we hope to continue to do still. GSH will take next week off, except for a review or two. Have a happy Thanksgiving, and look forward to what we've got coming next!
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Please note, Black Widow is rated PG-13. During this summer's Journey with the Avengers Vacation Bible School, Black Widow was still only available on premier access, but it was the talk week by many of our participants. In honor of that, the final two codas for Journey with the Avengers will talk about the film. There's a scene where Red Guardian, Black Widow's adoptive father at one point in her life, is captured and takes the time to make an apology to Black Widow. Black Widow became a part of Red Guardian's adoptive family years ago when they were on a spy mission. At the end, Black Widow and her sister were returned to the Red Room to continue being trained as assassins. Both were children at the time. Red Guardian starts to say "No cause is worth that. You should only sacrifice yourself..." before being cut off by being freed. What Red Guardian declares, if only in part, speaks to our lives as Christians. We are not called to live into causes that are willing to sacrifice others only to continue to prop themselves up. Unfortunately, these groups are often the very ones that try to use the idea of "the greater good" as a rallying cry to get what they want at the cost of all those around them. Instead, we are called to sacrifice ourselves only for love, specifically the love of others. That is what Jesus did for us. We are called to do the same. Stop and think about the groups that you serve. Are they asking you to sacrifice yourself solely for the good of the group, as if that were "the greater good" of all? Do they instead call on you to show love and compassion to others and to help build our fellow human beings up? If the answer to this last question is "yes", then this is a group that can possibly help bring us closer to God. In the end, they just might be the kind of group Red Guardian was looking for too. Jesus says in John 15:13, "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends." Please note, Avengers: Endgame is rated PG:13. Spoilers!!! One of the scenes I reflected on sharing for the Journey with the Avengers VBS was Black Widow's fate in Avengers: Endgame. I decided against it because I was worried about the violence of her death. However, it is a great scene that demonstrates following in the path of Jesus' life-giving love. Natasha (Black Widow) and Clint (Hawkeye) are called on to travel to Vormir to retrieve the Soul Stone, one of the Infinity Stones they need to bring back all the people they've lost to Thanos. It turns out to get the stone, one of them will have to die. Natasha and Clint both reflect on who should take this sacrifice. Clint has been struggling since he lost his family to Thanos, leading him down a dark path of taking down the worst criminals still on Earth. He feels he is beyond redemption, and thinks he should take the plunge. Natasha doesn't see it that way. Since she first brought Clint back to the Avengers, she has only shown concern for him. She also knows that his family will want to be with him again. A fight between them ensues, and Natasha wins out, sacrificing herself so that Clint, and all the others they will bring back from Thanos' snap, will get to keep on living. This is the same kind of love that Jesus has for us. He died so that we wouldn't have to. Jesus was willing to die for us even though we, like Hawkeye, didn't deserve it. Now Natasha might have felt she owed this to Clint for all he did for her. I personally chose to think she did it ultimately out of love for both him and his family. Jesus didn't die out any sense of owing us anything, because He didn't. Jesus died because He loves us and wanted us to have life once again. His death and sacrifice made that possible. We in turn, like Natasha, are called to do whatever we can to spread that love to others. We've now reached the end of The Horse and His Boy. You might note that this book is an interesting outlier in The Chronicles of Narnia. It is purely set in World of Narnia without anyone traveling from our world (or at least a world like ours) to the Narnian realm. While the Pevensie children make an appearance, it is not as children but during their time on the throne of Narnia. As far as the overall story of Narnia, we don't really need The Horse and His Boy. However, as a story that brings us closer to God, I would argue it is the most important in the series. Through our own journey in The Horse and His Boy, we saw how Shasta/Cor, Bree, Aravis, and Hwin encountered a great deal of what seemed like coincidence. In truth, these seeming coincidences were merely the work of Aslan, the stand in for God (and specifically Christ) throughout The Chronicles of Narnia series. Aslan's relationship with Shasta/Cor is the one we see the fullest, making it an important lens to see our own relationship with God. Not only is Aslan there for Shasta/Cor even when he doesn't realize it, but Aslan is present for Shasta/Cor even though he has no way of knowing Aslan before the start of his journey. The same is true for all of us with God. God desires a relationship with all of us, and our hope as believers is to make God known more fully to others so that they might develop their own relationship with our Lord. That God is there for us, whether we realize it or not and no matter where it is we come from, is vitally important for our lives. Knowing that God is present always helps us to start to see the times when God is working in the background of lives. Knowing God is there can give us hope in the hard times too, just like for Shasta/Cor at the tombs and as he makes his way to Narnia. The Horse and His Boy might be the most important book in The Chronicles of Narnia because it reminds us that God is always there. It gives us hope and is applicable to us in our own lives, if we will only take the time to listen. Learn more about The Horse and His Boy and the rest of The Chronicles of Narnia by going to the Archives and Formation sections of this site. Our journey through The Chronicles of Narnia will continue with Prince Caspian sometime in the Advent season!
After the fight in Chapter 13 and our heroes gathering back together in Chapter 14, the Calormens and Narnians now have to decide what to do with Rabadash. Edmund, after his own experience with forgiveness, reminds us that “even a traitor may mend.” Aslan appears to agree. When He comes on the scene, He tells Rabadash that “Justice will be mixed with mercy.” Rabadash’s punishment is to be turned into a donkey and then go and stand in front of Tash’s altar to be transformed back to normal. If Rabadash ever leaves home again, he will be permanently turned back into a donkey. The result is that Rabadash ends up having a peaceful reign because he cannot leave his realm, nor will he allow those under him to claim glory in battle for themselves. Even though Rabadash is a bad person, good comes from his ill intentions, thanks to the just mercy of Aslan. The same is true for us in this world. Good can come even when evil is intended, just as with Joseph and his brothers at the end of Genesis. Mercy mixed with Justice can help transform bad to good, just as with Jesus’ death on the Cross. If we can live into this creation that God has formed around us, a world where justice can be tempered with mercy, then we will be all the better for it. Finish the journey through The Horse and His Boy with a retrospective reflection next week!
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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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