Hero Worship
Originally scheduled for August 10
Most of the older members of the congregation
will not be familiar with the name Jackie Chan.
Mr. Chan is a movie actor; he specializes in high-energy
karate films. There are
three usual characteristics in his films:
·
The fight scenes are very well
choreographed; usually the odds against the hero are very large and
the action quite exciting.
·
There is a certain tongue-in-cheek
humor that pervades his films.
Mr. Chan takes his films quite seriously – but takes himself
lightly.
·
Often, the most interesting (or at
least funniest) part of the picture is – the final credits!
Why would the final credits be interesting?
Because as they roll by Chan features some of the outtakes
from the film. In
particular, he shows those in which someone was injured or (for
example) karate kicked himself off a pier and into the ocean.
It’s his way of teaching young viewers that the stunts
they’ve just seen are just that: stunts.
Don’t try this at home.
He has, of course, a large collection of
hero-worshiping fans.
Hero worship has its rules:
·
Rule 1:
people want to have heroes.
They come in many forms – sports, military, literary, for
example – but we seem to need them. Perhaps this is because we know
we cannot triumph by ourselves.
·
Rule 2:
you should make sure they really are heroes!
Real heroes show the bitter and the sweet.
They have opposition to overcome; if it was easy, they
wouldn’t be a hero.
They’d be ordinary like the rest of us.
·
Rule 3:
emulate the real heroes.
If you have a good example, follow it.
Heroes often arise in the context of war, and
there is no greater war that the struggle between good and evil.
It’s a war that all of us, like it or not, are in.
We’re all sinners; we all seek to overcome that.
So we seek the Hero in that war, Jesus Christ.
He is the one who gave us the ultimate victory in that war.
Like Jackie Chan’s outtakes, Jesus shows us the
cost of that victory – the Cross.
Suffering and sacrifice are part of the hero’s life.
We, as his followers, are to imitate him – and that means
that we will share in his suffering.
Communion is a reminder of his suffering;
it is therefore a reminder of the suffering we should expect
as a follower of Christ.
Remember Rule 3:
If you have a good example, follow it.
In communion you acknowledge that Christ is your divine
example; so follow him.
