There is a fine line between creativity and escapism. This is especially hard to admit for fans of science fiction like me, and even harder to discern. My love for franchises like Stargate often feels like an attempt to remove myself from the place in which I live.
That sounds a whole lot like the Kingdom of God.
Yet, I've found that a deep engagement with such imaginative writing and production helps me to become more creative as a preacher and as a musician. Sci-fi offers a unique perspective on the rules and expectations of life: they exist for a reason, though they can be bent, and they can be broken. The advent of new lifeforms, sentient species, unprecedented technologies, and the like suggest that we are not nearly as acquainted with reality as we think we are.
That sounds a whole lot like the Kingdom of God.
There is an inbreaking of a powerful reality, one that shares similarities with our current context, but one that requires an absolute transformation of our world in order to come to terms with the character of the Kingdom. This introduction to God's reality reveals to us, amongst other things, that we have much left to learn about who we are and who we ought to be, not to mention the nature of the universe as God's good creation.
I think I would struggle to see this if I weren't a fan of sci-fi. It seems a weird Lenten reflection, but in the midst of Lent, we are walking the steps of the Kingdom's reestablishment in our world. We are learning to see with the eyes of Christ, to walk Jesus' footsteps, to become more like God in every way, tangible and intangible.
The Ender's Game series has really inspired me lately about how sci-fi can influence faith and life. No doubt, Orson Scott Card's personal political, social, and religious convictions are far different than mine, but at the core, he tells a story of innocence lost, and a journey to make a beautiful reality out of a terrible tragedy.
That is a journey worth taking. In Lent, Jesus invites us into something like that journey, where the tragedy of sin and the horror of His own capital punishment fail to carry the most importance, for out of sinners Christ makes saints, and on the other side of the cross is an empty tomb.
But of course, just like the Ender's Game books, it is a long journey. In this case, at least forty days, and for most of us, an entire life of constant progress and regress as we seek the Kingdom of God. I pray for all of us that we will be part Christ's making a beautiful reality out of the tragedies we face, that He faced for us
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