Tim and I took the ferry into Portland today and saw the new Harry Potter movie. Between the movie and its trailers, I saw some interesting parallels. Here’s the list that got me scheming:

• Harry Potter series- saw movie today
  
• The Dark is Rising series- trailer today
• The Golden Compass trilogy- trailer today
• The Lord of the Rings trilogy- trailers referenced it
• The Chronicles of Narnia- for comparison

Give or take a little, all these movies….
are based in the United Kingdom (at least to start with)
were written for young adult audiences
access the world of fantasy, folklore, allegory and magic
have “ordinary” coming-of-age characters called to extra-ordinary tasks

Hollywood has tapped into something written deep into the human heart.

• Don’t we all have a sense that the world is not as it seems, that there is something deeper and more significant waiting under the surface of our lives? Don’t we sense the supernatural among and around us?
• Don’t we desire to matter, to play an irreplaceable role in time and eternity?
• Aren’t we longing to recover the passion we left behind as we came of age?
• Don’t we all long to take part in the war we feel raging around us? Don’t we want to stand up and fight for something?

I know these are the longings of my heart, the desires that have cleared the path toward ministry in Peru. I am convinced that there is more to life than what we see around us, that there is a war for hearts and minds and justice and mercy. I want to stand up and fight with passion, to play my role in the supernatural reality I see unfolding before me. I want to be Lucy, Harry, Frodo, to be wrapped up in this drama of power and beauty.

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men, yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”
Ecclesiastes 3:11

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