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The Deathly Hallows and Community – 1/10/11

Posted on January 10, 2011 By

I saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 for the 3rd time yesterday.  And I enjoyed it once more (though I fell asleep a couple times, caused more to jetlag than anything else).

From beginning to end (well, maybe middle, as this is only Part 1) the movie argues for the need of community.

This is the first movie to feature the three friends (Harry, Ron, Hermione) at the very beginning, within the first five minutes. While the saga is about Harry, this movie shows the importance that each person plays in eachother’s lives.  It is not just about Harry, it is about Harry and Ron, Ron and Hermione, Hermione and Ron, Ron and Harry.  There’s an amazing plot and great effects, but it is the characters that we follow, love, and cheer.

The Order of the Phoenix is a prime example of community in action.  I wonder if there are actual groups that function like the ones we extol in movies.  Each member of the community puts his or her life at stake for the one.  All for one and one for all.  They don’t just do it for Harry, but at the same time, they do.  Would this happen in your family?  Your friend group? Your workplace?  Your church?

But the community of Ron and Hermione and Harry, that is a beautiful community at work.  For though they fight and argue and run away and come back, they love each other.  They are there for each other.  They are one.

So often, we isolate and alienate and believe the lies.  The lies of the locket.

The locket intensifies the fears and the beliefs that Ron has about Harry and Hermione.  He feels useless, neglected, unloved.  But with Harry’s help, after he helps Harry, a wonderful give and take relationship, Ron defeats the locket.

And so we too, must defeat the locket and Voldemort and our own demons and fears and problems.  But not alone.  With our friends by our side and our powers as one.  Yes, I know, this sounds very Captain Planet-y, but it’s true.  We are better together.

Ron: You don’t know how it feels! Your parents are dead! You have no family!

Harry has no parents nor family, in the blood sense, but his family is his friends.

Scrimgeour: These are dark times, there is no denying. Our world has perhaps faced no greater threat than it does today. But I say this to our citizenry: We, ever your servants, will continue to defend your liberty and repel the forces that seek to take it from you! Your Ministry remains, strong.

The Ministry falls.  It is not institutions that can save the day, but the people themselves.  And when the days are dark, people show their worst- and their best.

The Deathly Hallows in themselves are a community.  They work best as one.  Meanwhile, the Horcruxes function through the splitting of a soul.  Gathering or Splintering, Community or Isolation, Together or Apart.

So that question must be asked.  Together or Apart?  Will you live life together or apart? Together with friends or apart and alone?  Community or Isolation?  Gather Together or Splinter Apart?  Choose.

 

These are just some of my thoughts.  For a much more in-depth analysis and story, check out Greg Garrett’s One Fine Potion.  Here’s an interview with the author:http://www.patheos.com/Resources/Additional-Resources/Deeper-Magic-Deeper-Meanings-in-Harry-Potter?offset=0&max=1 and here’s the Amazon page for the bookhttp://www.amazon.com/One-Fine-Potion-Literary-Potter/dp/1602581983/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1294619475&sr=8-1

Names – 1/10/11

Posted on January 10, 2011 By

A few months ago, I spoke at Elementary Chapel at Cypress Christian School, as I do occasionally.  I spoke about Names.

 

What does your name mean?

My name is Evan Christopher Weppler.

Evan means Young Warrior / God is Gracious (or Young Warrior of God’s Grace, as I like to see it)

Christopher means Christ-Bearer.

Weppler means Weapon/Shield Bearer.

So I am a Young Warrior of God’s Grace, Christ Inside, Shield at my Side.

Mister Rogers, on the other hand…

Well, Mister Rogers has become a hero of mine lately.  Involved in television and children and fantasy and more, all as his ministry to families everywhere.  I noticed some similarities between our names a while back.

Fred McFeely Rogers.

Fred comes from Frederick or Alfred.  Frederick means Peaceful Ruler.  Alfred means Wise Counsel.  So, Peaceful Ruler of Wise Counsel.

McFeely means Chess Player (or Chess Player’s son, really.)

Rogers means Famous Spear.

So his name is Peaceful Ruler of Wise Counsel, Chess Player, Famous Spear Bearer.  My name is Young Warrior of God’s Grace, Christ Bearer, Shield Bearer.

 

Grace/Peace.  Old/Young.  Ruler/Warrior.  Spear/Shield.

Anyway, all of this doesn’t really have anything to do with my point.

But Names are amazing, aren’t they?  You hear your name in a crowd and jump to attention.  The name of a good friend brings a smile to the face.  Everyone has a different name (Well, yes, there are many many many many John Smiths and more in the world, but still with all the combinations of First, Middle, and Last names, there is a wide variety.)

And so now to the reason I’m blogging about names today.  In both of my classes, we spent a considerate amount of time hearing each other’s names.  And not just their names, but their stories as well.  For the two go hand in hand.  Who can think of the name Barack Obama and not picture the whole drama of his rise to Presidency?  Who can hear Shakespeare and not instantly think of “to be or not to be” and “a rose by any other name” (although that rose quote kind of goes against my thoughts)?  Name and Story, like Chips and Salsa, a dish that must be consumed bit by bit, bite by bite.  That is why we get to know people first by name, then by story, then more and more as we go.

I have been in classes where I just can’t remember people, even if we are close and have had great conversations.  But it gets to the point that you can’t ask for their name.  Seriously, we need a word for those people: people who we know very well but cannot remember their name.  It’s like eating the Salsa without the Chip—it’s just not as good.

But how great it is to know another person’s name.  We connect to each other through knowing each other’s names.  It’s like a doorway into their life.  (Yes, a Name is a Chip and a Doorway.  And a Magnet and a Jewel and… and so on and so forth march the metaphors.

But how amazing it is to know God by name.  He told Moses his name- Yahweh.  Jehovah.  I AM.  And God came in the form of man.  Emmanuel.  And we came to know him—Jesus Christ.  And in the name of Jesus Christ, the mountains rise and demons fall.

And God knows us by name.  And not only by name, he knows the hairs on our head, the cells in our brain, the veins in our body.  He knows our heart, our soul, our self.  He knows our name.  He knows us.  He knows me.  He knows you.  And he wants you to know him too.

Do you know more than the name?  Of a friend or a God?  Have you stuck to the chips and not tasted the salsa?  It’s spicy, but oh so good.

Know the name.  Know the story.  Chips and Salsa.  Mmmm.

 

http://evanlycalling.blogspot.com/2011/01/names.html