The View from the Vicarage, Easter Day 2022
My Dear Family in Christ,
As I wade through what sometimes seems an endless number of commercials on TV networks and social media, I find myself both fascinated and extremely puzzled by the subject matter and content of a majority of the shows, movies and computer games advertised. Aside from the usual fare of romantic comedies, historical fiction dramas, character studies, and family-oriented programs (clearly produced for an audience with about a middle-school level of education and sophistication), so many of the selections offered in recent years center around tales of fantasy set in worlds which never were and, God-willing, will never be. Constant gratuitous violence, murder, death, and utter annihilation of one sort of imaginary foe or another fill every scene as people and other outlandish creatures vie for survival and conquest. “So,” I surmise, “this is where the Star Wars culture of decades ago has led the American consumer”—little more than a deep, cynical, desperate scream to “get me the h*** out of my world, my life!”
With some glowing and inspiring exceptions, if the “entertainment” industry is responding to our insatiable demand for constant escape from reality, as a human species we have abandoned any sense of our basic created reality: that we are placed on this fragile earth to love--ourselves and all other forms of life, especially God--because we are designed, hard-wired for love. Nowhere is this Love revealed more graphically and profoundly than in our deliberate execution of the Son of God, fully God and fully human, on the worst device ever fashioned to kill a human being. God allowed us to murder God’s Christ so that we might finally see and embrace our true nature as ones beloved. To my experience, in that sacrificial and salvific death I am forgiven, healed, and made new, so much so that I am able to find joy, beauty and hope not only in myself but also in the community of faith which surrounds and upholds me every hour of every day.
So search on, if you must, for the perfect strong and victorious hero to save you from the horrors and challenges of life. We’ve come a long way from Superman and Buck Rogers, yet sadly haven’t really moved an inch, unless in reverse. For me, and perhaps you as well, the real hero worthy of devotion, respect and love is God in Christ Jesus. After all, He’s the only one to have actually conquered death, the real and lasting enemy, and fully reveal to anyone who will actually listen the infinite possibilities to be discovered in the boundless love of God.
Alleluia! Christ is Risen! The Lord is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!