"Eternal God, we thank you for Jesus. We thank you for his many reminders that we are
to love one another. Nevertheless, we confess that we have great difficulty following
his command to love. We become upset and easily reject others rather than seeking to
understand and still love them. We struggle with the command to love our enemies."
Those are the opening sentences that we will say on Sunday morning during our Time of Confession. This is our weekly discipline of acknowledging that we are broken people who make mistakes and need help. It is a time for us to grasp onto humility, to say out loud that we need help as individuals and as the human race. It is also a time for us to receive a blessing of forgiveness from our God, who promises to not only forgive, but to use us, in spite of our flaws.
Yesterday, Pastor Brett and I took a research/creativity/Sabbath break and went to see Avengers:Age of Ultron. I've watched a number of the Marvel/Avengers franchise and consider myself a fan of the genre. But I was unprepared for the theological reflections on humankind that were displayed 60 feet wide, in high-definition, with surround sound. Human frailty, pride, sin, anger, violence, redemption, sacrifice, reconciliation, restoration, faith, unity and salvation are all on full display for those who see it.
The most compelling element of this movie is the emphasis on human frailty. Without giving away too much of a spoiler, I can tell you that the primary villain in this story comes into being because one of the Avengers attempted to create a super-weapon to protect our Earth. There is a thread throughout the movie which questions the Avenger team, and us, about the side effects of the violence that we use to stop violence. The overarching question of the movie is whether there is any hope for the human race.
Enter Wanda Maximov (pictured above). As a child, she was a victim of this violence. Collateral damage. Her anger and pain is used to turn her against the Avengers. Her superhero ability, which she uses against them, is perhaps the most effective Time of Confession that you or I have ever seen. She puts her hands near the temples of her "victims" and red waves of light and energy cause them to fall into a dreamlike state. They see their deepest flaws and brokenness, mixed in with the side effects of all the violence that they have used, whether their intentions were pure or not.
In all of my 39 years of attending worship services, I have never seen a better portrayal of our need to confess our brokenness and our need for humility. Hollywood is full of gifted storytellers. And in this instance, they raise deep and beautiful questions and gave us images of how we can respond.
They tell a better story.
But so do we.
At various points in the movie, I couldn't resist thinking, "Tony Stark should go to church!" If only he held onto our practice of Confession, he would do a much better job of using his powers for good rather than evil. If he recognized the brokenness that was within him, on a regular basis, rather than waiting for his actions to explode into crisis, the Marvel world would be much better off. He needs our story. He needs to recognize his flaws and tendencies, he needs to be humbled and welcome the strength that comes with being part of the body of Christ. Flawed, forgiven, and called to live in faith as people of grace and truth. (That whole part about loving your enemies might be helpful too, but that's another post.)
Tony Stark needs to go to church. And so do we.
