A Christian theme throughout Harry Potter?

A couple of weeks ago, there was a great discussion on Josh Graves' blog about the Harry Potter series. Should we let our children read them? Should we support it as Christians? My answer has been always been an enthusiastic "YES"! Anyway, this article has been buzzing around blogs and emails, so I thought I'd follow suit and share it as well. Especially now, in light of the press we've read about Dumbledore being gay, this adds yet another layer to the HP series.

Quote taken from MTV.com:

That was the plan from the start, Rowling told reporters during a press conference at the beginning of her Open Book Tour on Monday. It wasn't because she was afraid of inserting religion into a children's story. Rather, she was afraid that introducing religion (specifically Christianity) would give too much away to fans who might then see the parallels.

"To me [the religious parallels have] always been obvious," she said. "But I never wanted to talk too openly about it because I thought it might show people who just wanted the story where we were going."

Indeed, at its most simplistic, Harry's final tale can in some respects be boiled down to a resurrection story, with Harry venturing to a heavenly way station of sorts after getting hit with a killing curse in Chapter 35, only to shortly return.

But if she was worried about tipping her hand narratively in the earlier books, she clearly wasn't by the time Harry visits his parents' graves in Chapter 16 of "Deathly Hallows," titled "Godric's Hollow." On his parents' tombstone he reads the quote "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death," while on another tombstone (that of Dumbledore's mother and sister) he reads, "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

While Rowling said that "Hogwarts is a multifaith school," these quotes, of course, are distinctly Christian. The second is a direct quote of Jesus from Matthew 6:19, the first from 1 Corinthians 15:26. As Hermione tells Harry shortly after he sees the graves, his parents' message means "living beyond death. Living after death." It is one of the central foundations of resurrection theology.

Are any of these things going to change someone's opinions about reading the series? Likely not. Most people have already made up their minds about them. But I will say that it easily nudges people to engage each other. To talk and interact and wrestle with these themes. It's exactly what the parables and the stories within the Bible challenge us to do.

More recent pics

Vicki and I took these at Yates Cider Mill while Mom was up visiting from Shelbyville. One year old . . . wow.

Genna's 1st Birthday party

OK, OK, so this is long overdue. I was looking through IPhoto and BAM, I saw all these pictures I completely forgot about posting of Genna's birthday party for everybody. So here goes . . . Enjoying some cake . . . Reading one of her new favorite books- Urban Babies Wear Black. We had plenty of friends and family turn out for her party. More people showed up to her party than at all my birthday parties combined! What's up with that!?! Still, it was a lot of fun. Birthday cake- been there . . .ate that. Presents and Food- good times. . . . There's plenty more (we took a TON of her eating the messy cake), but I thought we'd hit the highlights. There's other updates I need to put up here . . . Genna's walking now! So, I'm putting together a few video clips to post very soon. Blessings, Chris

Harry Potter and Christianity

There's an interesting blog discussion over on Josh Graves' blog about the Harry Potter series. As a fan, I had to share my 2 cents worth. Check it out and join in the conversation.

Come On

I found this video a couple weeks ago and thought everybody might like to check it out. We did this concert at Youth In Action back in 2005. Enjoy! -chris

Painting A Picture of Jesus

In our ongoing Sunday message series entitled: "Urban Legends: debunking spiritual myths", we talked about how Jesus doesn't look like a white, blonde haired, blue eyed, Republican male.

We looked at imagery throughout history that depicted Jesus as Asian, hispanic, african, and anglo-saxon. Would it offend us if we used this imagery in our churches. What makes us think that Jesus looked and talked like us? It is funny how we often make him into OUR image- instead of the other way around.

It was a sobering Sunday to say the least. As a worship leader and the MediaShout guru- it makes me think twice about the imagery I use as backgrounds in worship. Some churches avoid pictures of Jesus altogether for this very reason. Some only use silhouetted pictures of Him. And, by the way, where are the Jewish depictions of Jesus?

I struggle with this- for I still see beauty in a many of the sculptures and depictions of Jesus. On the other hand- I want to make sure that I'm not communicating visually that we have a "white man's Messiah".

Here's a photo I did (with some Photoshop action of course) that I'm pretty proud of. I still like it. I still want to use it in a worship setting.

I wonder how many churches are sensitive to these type topics or wrestle with them at all. We communicate so much through the imagery we use- for better or for worse. May we always strive as artists, as photographers, as musicians, as vocalists, and as sculptures that we strive to more clearly capture the heart of the gospel. May we use our giftings to illuminate the dark places with its Divine light. May we always seek to paint a brighter picture of Jesus.

-chris

The cool breath of fall is blowing across Michigan. The top of the trees are losing their green ever so faintly. The apple cider mills are firing up and getting ready to open.

Ahhhh . . . I love autumn.