my opinion

Last night (well, I suppose it would be more accurate to say this morning) I finished the final book of the Harry Potter series. I must say I don't understand the reaction they have received in the Christian community over the last ten years.

They seem to me quite a powerful allegory of the Christian life. Someone paid the price for us to live by Their own willingness to die in our place. We finally overcome that same evil in our lives by our own choices of love and self-sacrifice. And I guess I always feel like magic in stories is just a picture of the supernatural.

So, I suppose I could understand not liking them if you believe that the supernatural is not for us any longer. That Jesus' promise that we would do greater things than he did died out with the first century apostles. But I do not believe that. I believe that God's promises are sure and never ending. And I believe that we should always be aiming for the kind of belief and trust that leads to such great authority that we can fly or walk on water or be translated from one place to another or even see dead people raised up.

I believe that we need to stop limiting God with our own fears. This morning I read in Isaiah that "a trusting life will never topple." And I think we all know that "love never fails." So whatever else I do with my life, my goal is always enlarging my capacity to love and my capacity to trust.