Please note, Encanto is rated PG. Encanto is the story of a family, the Madrigals, who are blessed with superpowers. They use those powers to try and help their town. These powers are the result of a miracle candle found by Alma, the matriarch of the family, after she lost her husband when their family was trying to escape some sort of tragedy in their home. This miracle allowed them to rebuild and help others with the family's newfound powers. Unfortunately Alma lost her way. She worried so much about losing their gifts, she started putting a lot of pressure on her children and grandchildren. This pressure led to a rift in the family. The result was the miracle candle blew out and everyone lost their powers. For a moment Alma lost sense of the true purpose of the miracle. She lost sight that the miracle not only helped her family, but everyone else around them as well. The point of the miracle wasn't the superpowers they got, but the fresh start they had for going forward. We see a similar losing of our way in Scripture as well. In Nehemiah, the Israelites return to their homeland after years in exile. Hoping to never be exiled again, they focused on following the Law as diligently as possible. Unfortunately, at the end of Nehemiah, the Israelites decide they need to get rid of their foreign wives, not thinking about what will happen to these women when they do so. Ruth was actually written in response to this action, and the book demonstrates that the great King David’s own lineage contained a foreign wife who joined the people of Israel. The loss of their way did not end there. In Jesus’ time, He read from the Scroll of the Prophet Isaiah while visiting the synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth. Isaiah spoke not to the “righteous” or rule followers but instead spoke to the poor, the blind, and the captive. Basically, Isaiah and Jesus were speaking to those who needed it. The response to Jesus was to try and literally chase Him off a cliff. Of course, the leaders in His time worked to put Jesus to death instead of listening to Him. The Ancient Israelites in both these situations had the best of intentions. They wanted to follow God so that they would not face exile again. Yet they went too far with their zeal. They lost their way really. Alma does the same. Fortunately, she has her granddaughter Mirabel to help remind her what the miracle was really all about. We are fortunate to also have a miracle to help bring us back when we fall astray. That miracle is Jesus Christ. If we can listen to Him, unlike those who did not in His own hometown, and if we let Him into our hearts, He can bring us back when we’ve lost our way so that we can rediscover the original purpose that we had from our Lord and our miracle light.
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The Rev. Trey KennedyHere is my take on how Superheroes and other characters can help us know God better. Categories
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June 2024
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