August 5 Worship: "The Dark Knight Rises"

I don't know if it was the slightly cooler weather, but a large number of us gathered on Sunday -- about 120 people -- which is quite something for the first Sunday in August.  And our collective praise and worship seemed powerful, at least to me and to many who mentioned it to me after the service.  I'm sure that was in no small part to how many of us gathered together in God's presence.

In the sermon, I finished off this year's "Summer Blockbuster Sermon Series" with "The Dark Knight Rises," which was certainly the summer movie I was most excited to see.  The final installment of director Christopher Nolan's take on the Batman story was not only a great movie, but, surprisingly, it managed to offer a different Batman than I think has ever been shown on the screen -- either movie or television.  The emotional and psychological turmoil faced by Bruce Wayne in the movie reminded me of that faced by the Apostle Paul at the end of his career, which he eloquently expressed in his letter from prison to the Philippian church.

I think that this challenge -- how to keep claiming our identity as Christians as our body (and spirit?) seem to break down -- is present in our lives of faith as we continue our pilgrim journeys.  And while Batman is a troubling role model in some respects, in the way that Bruce Wayne faces this dilemma of how to claim his identity as Batman as he gets older and poorer, we can see another example of how we might face the doubts and challenges that are a part of maturing faith.

If you missed the sermon, if you'd like to listen to it again, or if you'd like to share it with other people, you can find an audio recording here.