I liked the movie. I will confess that I am with all the purist who are a little put out with the short cuts and the modifications to the story line. I will also acknowledge that that story line stays fairly true and it's unlikely that anyone would sit through a five hour movie...well, twice anyway. It was nice to see Hogwarts again, I really enjoyed the dialogue between characters, and Miss McGonagall was delightful. Neville didn't get as much credit as he deserved and I was sorry the scene between he and Harry was cut on Harry's way to meet Valdemort. That was one of the tender moments in the book I really enjoyed. I was also sorry that the duel with Valdemort was more action and less verbal, that was one of the best dialogues in the book. I have often thought that you could write a "God in Literature" thesis based on the end of this series.
Okay, I am about to blow the movie for you, so stop reading here if you want to be surprised.
The story of God seems to be stamped all over the conclusion of this series. I don't know JK Rowling, I don't know a thing about her or her faith, but the Harry Potter series goes a long way towards creating a parable of sorts that explains Christianity to millions of people in the most interesting way. Valdemort, who is the embodiment of evil, has done all that is possible to make himself immortal, to make evil win out in the end. Harry fights valiantly only to realize, that having done all he could to by fighting, he is left to surrender, and die so others might live. His death is the death of evil once and for all. Only in dying to defeat evil, Harry is 'resurrected' to complete the battle, when love triumphs in the end. If this is all sounding vaguely familiar it is because, while a pale comparison, this is the Good News lived out in Jesus. Jesus, fully man and fully God, dies in order that evil, sin, separation and death will be defeated, arises again providing, reconciliation, eternal life, and hope for all those who call on his name. Love triumphs there too. Isn't God amazing? Do you know how many people have met Harry Potter thinking it was just good fantasy stuff who may one day say, "Whoa, Jesus did that? For me?"
It is not just Harry, the story is told in various ways in all kinds of generations. The truth of it is so fundamental that God's story pops up in a million ways. I know that some Doubting Thomas is right now thinking, how can I be sure that stories about people who lay down their lives for others verify the Gospel? Could it be that the Gospel picks up this common theme and is a variation on that?
It may be that everyone has to wrestle with these kind of questions themselves. I have had that battle and I am happy to tell you that I am sure. I have worked out my salvation with fear and trembling, just as Paul advises, I expect I will go on working it out! God is gracious though and some of these battles result in victories that lead to healing and wholeness.
First, there is the historical data and eye witnesses, after all Luke seems to have done some in depth reporting naming people, locations and times. Those early witnesses didn't just tell people, they lived their faith, and died for it as well. Surely, if this was simply a fascinating story from the imagination of some monk or another, someone would have said so by now. You know what gossips we are!
Second, for several thousands of years, we stiff necked, argumentative, wacky, opinionated, knuckle headed people have done all that we can to push, pull, strain, regulate, impose, and intellectualize God right out of existence, and yet God is unfazed. In fact, God is still God and takes all of the incredible nonsense we concoct and still reaches people every day in spite of the great help we try to give Him. People who have had some of the worst examples of what following God is supposed to be like, somehow still choose to follow God. This is nothing short of miraculous.
Finally, God has loved me faithfully. I have no doubt that God,revealed in Jesus, loves me enough to make the sacrifice of everything in order to give me everything. Not at all because I am so worth while, because by no real worldly measurement do I have much value, but because having known me since my mother's womb and called me His own, God hungered to have me know Him as my own. I can't tell you how I know, though I can point to a hundred stories, episodes, wonders over the years. I can tell you that sometimes the battles have been fierce, but in the end I have been called to come and die, so I might truly live. I can point to the same things in those I have been blessed to journey with. God's love triumphs and evil is defeated, both at the end and in the present. If God is for us, who can be against us?!
So Harry Potter has come to a conclusion, but a new story begins. It is the same in the Kingdom of God. We welcome home a new soul and the celebration is loud and the party is fun. Now one more light illuminates the path for the next traveler seeking the way home The end is truly the beginning. It's so good, I just may have to read it again. Good God stories are just that way!
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