In our Contemporary (9:30 am) Service, Rev. Ron Bartlow concludes his sermon series – “MARVEL(ous) Faith” – where we consider the heroes of MARVEL alongside the heroes of our Christian faith. This week, we look at “Hey, Peter Parker: Claiming One’s Identity” (Matthew 5:13-16 and 1 Peter 4:10). Perhaps better than other Marvel heroes, Peter Parker shows us someone struggling with claiming/knowing their identity; student and/or hero? Who is he? Who can he tell? How do his lives interact? In the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), this struggle eventually culminates in the last (as yet) Spider-Man film, where the climax is that everyone has to forget Peter Parker completely; but, by then, he knows who he is, and he’s learned what the other Spider-Men have learned, “with great power comes great responsibility.” The Biblical story of Esther is about a woman who must claim her identity as a Jew in order to potentially save others, at great risk; and Paul encourages us to be free, but not for our own benefit, but to love others. God wants us to know and be who we are, that we can be the hero we are meant to be.
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