Please note, Hawkeye is rated TV-14. In the past, we've seen how Natasha Romanoff, Black Widow, gave her life so Clint Barton, Hawkeye could live and be with his family. Like Jesus did for us, she gave her life freely in spite of the fact Clint had a lot to repent for, as we've more recently seen. When Clint is in a tough spot in his journey to redemption, he goes back to where the Avengers first gathered and talks to Natasha there. He tells her: I do my best every day to earn what you gave me. The same is what we are called to do. As Paul says in Philippians 3:12, Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own. We know we are not perfect, but we strive to be better because of the love Jesus has for us. We strive to be better because we know the gift of Grace we have received unearned and undeserved, just like Clint. Clint's way of talking with Natasha is common, and even healthy, in times of grief. It is not something we should limit to the dead though. We should also find places where we can best and more easily speak with God because in those places, if we listen with the right state of our hearts, we might be able to hear what God has to say back to us.
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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! 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. Please note, The Avengers is rated PG-13. All content in this post was made for kids. After the Avengers capture Loki, Natasha Romanoff, a.k.a. Black Widow, takes the time to integrate him. Primarily she wants to know how to help Clint Barton, a.k.a. Hawkeye, since Loki has brainwashed him.
Loki being Loki asks Natasha to tell a little more about herself. Natasha reveals some of her dark past. She had a "very specific skill set" that she "didn't care who [she] used it for, or on." Her deeds put her on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s radar, and they sent Hawkeye in to take her out. Clint saw something in her though, and instead of completing his mission, he brought her in. From that moment on, Black Widow lives by the code that she's "got red in her ledger" and she wants to wipe it out. Like Wanda yesterday, Natasha is a little like Paul on the Road to Damascus. She is someone who once worked against S.H.I.E.L.D. and is now working for them, just as Paul once persecuted the Christians and then became one of their primary leaders. Natasha can also be compared with the Penitent Thief on the cross next to Jesus. She knows she has done wrong and what she deserves for it. She is also trying to repent for her past and do right. Black Widow is like all of us at one point in our lives. She has lived a live in need of grace and forgiveness. It takes someone like Hawkeye coming in and showing her mercy to get her to change. She needs a gift of grace, free and underserved, just like we all do. We all need a Hawkeye in our lives to show us grace. We also need to have the courage of Natasha to repent and try to make up for our past by doing good. We all need to have the perseverance to wipe our ledger clean. It is interesting that Loki tries to mess with Black Widow's confidence. It is very similar to what the evil one tries to do to us in our lives and in our spiritual warfare at times. Loki wants to make Black Widow believe that her task of finding redemption is worthless. Black Widow, however, is able to turn Loki's spiritual warfare against him. Would that we all had the strength to do the same in our own battles with evil. Please note, The Avengers is rated PG-13. All content in this post was made for kids. In 1 Corinthians 12:4-13, Paul speaks of the various gifts of the Spirit we as Christians are granted. According to Paul, while these gifts are different for each of us, we all come together to use them in service to God and for the good of our community (a.k.a. the church, the Body of Christ, the communion of saints as discussed yesterday). The Avengers give us a great sign of what Paul is talking about. Each of the Avengers has a different gift:
Every single one of the Avengers, even the ones we might least expect, plays a crucial role in the conflict with Loki and the Chitauri in The Avengers. All of their skills are needed. The strength of the Avengers is only manifest when they all start working together, just as with us as Christians in the church. Like us, they become united in doing good. Every single one of us have gifts our Lord gives us to do God's will in the world. Our task is to discover what those gifts are so we can help our community better serve God in this world, just like with the Avengers. The roster of the Avengers changes over time as other heroes come and join them. This is similar to another task of ours as well. We are called to help bring others to join our Faith and serve God with us. Our hope, as we continue our journey this week, is to become better examples of following Christ Jesus in order to lead others to Him. |
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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