Christian Imagery

A friend of mine lent Deanna a book she bought for her daughter that explores the Christian symbolism in "High School Musical". Deanna's been faithfully reading it, looking for any reason for which she can possibly love "High School Musical" more.

This morning our Minister was gone. He's chaperoning the Senior High Youth Ski Trip, but he left our Associate Pastor, a second-career man in his late 40's who is officially a Deacon and will be ordained a Priest the first weekend in February, in charge. When we slid into our pew late this morning (as usual), I noticed there was no Priest on the altar. I asked Don, "What gives? Are we having morning prayers instead of Mass?" Our Priest has taken a couple of Sabbaticals since I've been in this church and, during those times, occasionally we had prayers instead of Mass with Communion, because there wasn't a Priest available to bless the Elements.

Don shrugged. Obviously, he didn't know. Then, following the Passing of the Peace, our Associate jumped forward to The Lord's Prayer. I was a little confused. There were 2-3 pages of Liturgy that got missed. Then I realized. The Elements must already be blessed, so there's no need for him to go through that part of the Liturgy. Sitting behind us was our Pastor's oldest son still living at home. I leaned back and asked Peter if Fr. Thompson had pre-blessed the Elements and he explained that it had been done last Sunday and reserved for today. Then, at Sunday School, our Deacon explained that what we celebrated is called a "Deacon's Mass" and is perfectly acceptable, though rare, and only used for emergencies, typically.

But back to my point. His sermon this morning was based on the Gospel reading about Jesus being baptised by John. He said it's one of his favorite scriptures because he can imagine all the drama: the Heavens opening and a dove descending, a voice booming out from above the earth (a voice similar to that of James Earl Jones) . . . this could be a Cecil B. DeMille production.

Then he talked about the movie, "The Lion King". He asked if there were any attendees at that service who weren't familiar with this movie and then laughed when no one raised their hand. At the early service (7:45 - I told you it was early!) which is typically attended by the older members of our congregation, no one knew the story and were quite at a loss to understand the comparison in the sermon.

He talked about Simba being greeted in the jungle (once he's grown into a young adult lion) by the baboon and told that the baboon knew who he was. The baboon then leads him to a pond and points in the water. Simba looks in to see a reflection of himself which then changes into an image of his father and he hears a deep voice pronounce "You are my Son!"

This is exactly what happens in today's Gospel and, according to our Associate Pastor, is where that portion of "The Lion King" is drawn from. One of the tasks that's most important to us as Christians is to understand "whose" we are. We are the sons (and daughters) of the King of Kings, the Prince of Peace, Heirs to the Kingdom of God. Before we can pass on our faith, we must be secure in our own faith, understanding that we are Princes and Princesses.

It was a beautiful sermon, but I'm not sure I would have made the connection between "The Lion King" and the story of Jesus' baptism.

Maybe I need to read the book Deanna has about "High School Musical". You never know what I might find.