Please note, Astro City is rated T. After the Confessor's death, his protégé, Altar Boy, has to make a choice. What does he want to do with the rest of his life.
Altar Boy takes a little time before taking on the mantle of the Confessor, continuing his legacy. As a teacher, this is what the Confessor would have hoped for. It was all of us in Faith hope for really. The point of our work is to bring others to follow our example of Faith. This is what we as Christians have done since our beginning. At the end of Jesus' time in this world, our Lord calls the Disciples to follow His example and spread the Good News of His ministry to the ends of the earth. Paul even took on his own protégés, such as Timothy and Titus, to help in his work and to take on leadership in his absence. Our hope as Christians is to follow Christ Jesus. Our hope is others will follow our example too. We try and raise up others to follow our example so that the world will never be without someone to share the Gospel of our Lord.
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Please note, Astro City is rated T. Major Spoilers Ahead! The Confessor's last act is one of self sacrifice to save the world. Thanks to what he did an alien takeover is revealed and the other heroes are able to put a stop to it. Caught in the fray is the Confessor's mentee, Altar Boy. Thankfully another Christian-based hero group, the Crossbreed, come and save him. After they take him to safety, their leader Noah tells Altar Boy he regrets they couldn't have gotten there sooner to save the Confessor too. Altar Boy asks if their late arrival had anything due to who the Confessor was. Before he can finish the thought, Noah reveals that they knew the Confessor was a vampire. That fact was not important to them though. As Noah says: Regardless of what he was, he was doing God's work- he was saving innocents and serving Truth. And in the Final Judgement, what is more important? The burdens we bear- or the way we bear them? None of us are perfect. We see that in all the Saints, and with the Apostles who followed before them. Peter denied our Lord on the night Jesus faced death. Paul started out as a persecutor of the church. Neither were perfect, yet they dedicated their lives to spreading the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ. We all have burdens to bear. We all have things we suffer through. We all have sins that are difficult for us to move past. Yet Noah's words are what we see throughout Scripture. It doesn't matter what we have done or what we face. What matters is that we listen to what God is asking of us and spread the Gospel in our service to the Truth. All that matters is that we keep moving forward in doing God's work as best we can in this world. Please note, Astro City is rated T. Previously, we learned the truth about the Confessor, Astro City's ordained priest turned Batman-type hero. This truth comes out after Confessor leaves little clues for his Robin-type mentee Altar Boy to deduce. After Altar Boy figures it out, Confessor reveals his entire backstory. Afterwards, Altar Boy asks why the Confessor chose him, or really anyone, to be his sidekick in the first place. Confessor's response is: Well, one of the Priestly Duties is to teach. That line has stayed with me over the years, in part because of its truth. While the Confessor speaks from the Roman Catholic tradition, this role of priests, or presbyters as we are also called, is present in other denominations too. In The Episcopal Church, my role as presbyter is to serve as Pastor, Priest, and Teacher. This three-fold role was even laid out for me by my bishop at my ordination. Back in the 80s, the World Council of Churches recognized this role of Teacher in Ministry in their landmark Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry document (See "Ministry" Sect III.C.30.). This document was created by a plethora of scholars across denominations. While we have our differences, and even our disagreements, it is nice to see that Teaching as a key role of ordained ministry is something we agree on more than less. As Teachers, we hand down the examples given to us by those before us, tracing back all the way to the Apostles of the early church and to Jesus. Our hope in passing these teachings down is that people will continue to know God through our Lord Jesus Christ from now until the end of time. The Confessor shows the importance of the role of teaching to the ordained life as well as the central role it continues to play in the church. Please note, Astro City is rated T. This past Sunday, we had a reading from Romans where Paul writes: But the righteousness that comes from faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? In my sermon, I used Prince Caspian when Lucy sees Aslan to discuss how God is found not above or below, but with us all along. In that passage, Lucy also comes to terms with the fact that she has been raising herself up above her siblings (bringing Christ down) and at the same time lowering her siblings in her own esteem ("bringing Christ up from the dead"). Prince Caspian, though, wasn't the first story I thought to frame Paul's words in Romans. Kurt Busiek's story of the Confessor in his Astro City series came to me first. There are major spoilers ahead, and The Confessor is a great story arc in Astro City, so precede at your own peril. The Confessor, as a hero, is basically Batman, if Batman were a Roman Catholic priest. It turns out the Confessor has another secret that, depending on your perspective, might make him more or less like Batman. It turns out that the Confessor is also a vampire. The Confessor originally came to Astro City in the 1800s to help administer the construction of the cathedral there. He did many good things, like helping the injured and sick. All of this was meant to be in service to God. Yet the Confessor had one moment of weakness. Though priest in the Roman Catholic Church take vows of celibacy, he found a woman he longed to be with. In one brief moment he went to embrace her. It turns out she was a vampire just looking for a meal. After she drained him, the Confessor woke up too, knowing he was now cursed to roam the world as a vampire. Though the Confessor had been brought low, God was still there. The Confessor was able to still serve God, even in the depths of the Abyss. It took the Confessor many years, many tries, and many persecutions, yet he finally found a way to continue to serve God. When the first superheroes started to show up in the 20th Century, he decided to join them to protect others. He wore the symbol of his Faith on his chest, the Cross, even though it caused him pain, to honor his service to the Lord. Even when we are at our lowest, God is there. Even when we are at our lowest, God can use us to do God's will. The Confessor shows us that. At his best and at his worst, he has been able to find ways to serve God in this world. We all struggle to do what is right. We all struggle to be good. The Confessor shows us that even as we struggle, we can still limp ahead and find ways to best serve the Lord. |
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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