Heroes and Psalm 147:10-11

Tonight at our church's LOGOS ministry we're doing "Heroes Night" and as I lay awake early this morning I wondered about why we're still fascinated by or repelled by heroes. And then I read this morning's daily lectionary from the Psalms, especially verses ten and eleven which read; "[God's] delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the speed of a runner; but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love."

What those two verses said to me is that we want someone in whom we can trust steadfastly. And even as we are reminded again and again that steadfast love is what God wants from us, we fickle, finite, people are always on the lookout for a being who is greater than we are and yet also one whom we can see.

That's where heroes come in. Whether they are heroes from the battlefield, like the dwindling number of Medal of Honor Recipients, or heroes from the ball field, or heroes from the world of comic books; we all long for someone who can do more than we can and whom we can trust to be there for us no matter what. Of course that is who God is in our lives and our longing for God to be more present was accomplished by God through the incarnation and later the crucifixion, resurrection and ascension of God's Son Jesus Christ who made the way for the Holy Spirit.

And yet even as we confess our faith in such beliefs we daily long for something more tangible. And so we put our hopes in the boys in blue on the blue turf in Boise or in the men and women who give of themselves overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan or we look to supermen and women from the world of "graphic novels" to rescue us. And yet at some point or another all of these valiant heroes let us down in one way or another and we would better serve by the One who came to be among us--Emmanuel--God with us. And that is our challenge for this Advent season, to longingly trust that God comes among us and lives in us and that makes all the difference in the world.