Clark, Lana, and the Family of Faith.

Smallville has been one of my favorite shows on television for a good while now, but lamentably, the new episodes come on at eight every Wednesday night. Thank God for the DVD player, and beyond that, thank him for a friend like John Gibson, who brought season one back with him from the break, and splurged to buy season two last Saturday.

Earlier tonight, we were watching some episodes in the lounge, and the second one really got to me. It's called "Visage," because it deals with a teenage girl with the power to shapeshift. She's obsessed with the heroine, Lana Lang, and in order to fulfill her obsessive Lesbian desires for her, impersonates her ex-boyfriend, Whitney, who's currently MIA overseas. Of course, the charade falls through, but not after all much hurt and damage has been done: death, trauma, and emotional scarring. At the end of the episode we find our hero, Clark Kent, the one day Superman, in a cave, processing his thoughts as looks at Indian paintings on the rocks. The gorgeous beyond reason Lana, who has been his not-that-secret love interest for some time now, seeks him out. Whitney, her ex-boyfriend, is indeed dead overseas, and she will not forgive herself for breaking up with him, knowing that he might have died in heartache.

It is here that we see who the real hero is. The real hero is not Superman, the real hero is Clark Kent. He helps Lana bear her emotional burdens by taking them on himself. Lana, in her shatteredness of spirit, cried that everyone she gets close to died. Her parents had died in the meteor shower that brought Clark to Earth, and now her ex had perished in Indonesia. Clark, however, was still there, still supporting her, still being her friend. And in this amazingly hard moment, that is what she needed.

We live in a community; we are a family. The application here goes so much farther beyond guy/girl stuff. This is about our life together as fellow members of the Body of Christ. "Visage" has stirred me in a way that few TV episodes have in quite some time. May we all be stirred to genuine service, deep kindness, selfless love, and God sized priorities.

"Carry each other's burdens and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ." - Gal. 6:2 (context of accountability)

I challenge you brethren to reflect on Philippians 2:1-11. Through the power of Christ, the hero of history, we are redeemed from our fallen-ness. The God-man has saved us. Let us be heroes to each other as well.