Oddcoupling in a different vein

Ang and I had a bit of a different oddcoupling tonight, Friday night's Joan of Arcadia (which we missed because we were at film society watching City of God ) and Spiderman 2 .

I was just remarking to Angela that I envy Spiderman. I think deepdown there's a part of every kid that wishes they could grow up and do these amazing things. Knowing they can't, they live vicariously through their comic books and movies and video games. I think that City of Heroes might be as popular as it is because of that. Someday, when virtual reality really becomes reality vs. the vaporware that it continues to be, City of Heroes could become a much more interesting game, but until then, I know that even though I envy Spidey, I will never BE Spidey, if only because I can barely even ride a roller coaster at Six Flags without feeling the motion sickness kick in. I am human and fear (no, fear really isn't the right word) that I always will be.

I'm losing where i was trying to go with this because Angela is watching TV in the background and it's making me lose my train of thought. What's the connecting thread? I think there's actually a substantially strong one. Both Joan and Peter Parker didn't choose to be who they are. Both try to be who they aren't and bad things happen, both have to come back and realize what they need to be. I'm interested in seeing where Joan goes this season. Last season, as she struggled with trying to figure out where God was taking her, or guiding her to do, she didn't really struggle with it that much. There was a superficial struggle, but nothing concrete and set in stone. Joan faces an Augustinian struggle. Before Augustine, the church was full of the supernatural. The supernatural was accepted. It was anticipated. It was a vibrant part of the church. Augustine steps in... (although in all fairness to Augustine, it wasn't just him... but the whole Roman way of thinking) Logic is all the rage and silly things like Leviathan and the Nephilum must be struck from the record because if it's not tangible, it must not be real. Now, Joan struggles with just that. Is this a tangible thing that's happening to her? Is God ACTUALLY talking to her or is it something that means she's crazy? She'd like to think it's her being crazy, but God introduces her to someone who truly is crazy and shows how the insanity is destructive and not constructive. Knowing that she has the option of being sane and still believing that God could speak to her she has to deal with whether she can actually do this task she's been charged with or not.

The problem we find is that there's really no choice. Linda, my boss, talks about how "many are called, but few are chosen." Traditionally, it's been translated to mean that many people are called to the faith but there are only a few who choose to follow. Linda comes at it from a different path. Many are called, many are saved. But God in whatever infinite wisdom has specific tasks that need to be done by specific people for reasons that are unknown to anyone but him and those are going to be done no matter what this person does, even if they have to come kicking and screaming. One could imagine that Spiderman and Joan are stuck in the same situation. For unknown reasons they've been charged with changing the world in real and tangible ways. They can struggle against it all they want, but at the end of the day, they're still going to be dragged kicking and screaming towards doing the right thing.

Aunt May talks about giving up dreams in order to do the right thing and be a hero. Maybe that's true. But I get the sense that the 'A' plan that God has for us if we chase after him, or if we're dragged kicking and screaming, has the potential to be so much greater than any dreams we could potentially have.

In any case, I don't know where my thoughts are wandering off to, and maybe as the ideas roll around my head, I'll come back and expound some more, but even though I know that Spiderman and Joan of Arcadia are fiction... I can't not think that there's some tangible bit of truth that we can glean from their respective dilemnas. I know that some people have reacted negatively to what Linda calls "red people" saying that God calls everyone and that by saying that there are certain people that God is ESPECIALLY calling, it elevates them and turns Christianity into some kind of hierarchy. "You're more Christian than I am! YEAH RIGHT YOU ARE! Get off your podium!" Maybe there's some truth to that, but maybe there isn't. Linda mentions that one of the ways you know you're red is that you're too Christian for your secular friends and too secular for your Christian friends. I can see that. I feel that all the time. But I'm blathering. More thoughts as I think them through.

In the words of my friend Ian Punnett

Deus Te Amat (and I do too)
Bri