Catching Ghosts, Embracing Grace
The grace of God makes us part of God’s story of salvation.
A while back, I discovered the trailer preview for the next installment of the Ghostbusters franchise. You’ll remember that I am a Ghostbusters nerd. I have no time for horror films, but when it comes to Bill Murry and Slimer, I will stop what I am doing and cheer the boys on as they cross the streams.
My parents recall with wonder and pride that, as a child, I would stand on the coffee table in the family room on the lower level of our split-level home and recite, word for word, the entire scripts of Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II. Every word would roll off my tongue from beginning to end as I stood on the table wearing my Egon Halloween costume with the worn-out plastic mask attached to my head and my Hasbro Proton Pack strapped to my back.
This past Halloween, my son donned the tan jumpsuit of glory and strapped on a proton pack before he ventured off into the dark unknown of our neighborhood.
Have you ever noticed that the best stories have the best cast of characters? Great characters make a story great.
Egon, Winston, Peter, and Ray, while a team, each bring their personalities and experiences to the story. Throw in the personalities of the actors portraying Egon, Winston, Peter, and Ray, and again, the story becomes great.
Egon, the brains of the operation, makes sense (empirically) of the seemingly impossible situations the team finds itself in. With his dry and understated humor, Egon is a fan favorite without fans knowing they love the “nerd” of the ensemble.
Ray is the (at times reluctant) doer of the group. His enthusiasm for the job of ghostbusting causes others to want to join him in his efforts. He is sometimes a pushover yet a vital part of the team. Ray is the sounding board for Egon as they figure out how to catch the ghosts haunting New York City.
Peter, well, Peter is the point-shoot-aim member of the group. He provides comic relief at inappropriate moments while also being the unnamed leader of the group. Peter’s irreverent humor and his single-track focus on Dana expose the human side of the group.
Winston is the everyday man of the group. He’s not a scientist. He’s in it for the cash, telling Janine, “If there's a steady paycheck in it, I'll believe anything you say.” While Winston takes the gig for the money, he becomes a believer as the group saves the day.
The four main characters each rely on one another to accomplish the group's common goal, even if their individual goals are not entirely aligned. And while the viewer can identify with an individual character, when watching the film for a second (or 100th) time, the character we identify with will probably change.
The same is true of our Holy Scriptures.
While God's amazing grace is the thread that ties the Holy Scriptures together, it is through the stories and experiences of those encountering the grace of God that we can begin to see for ourselves where and how God is at work in our lives. It is through the characters that, while having individual stories and goals, all point to the grace and glory of God.
If you attended church as a child, think back to the stories you were taught: Noah and the ark, Daniel and the lion’s den, David and Goliath, the Holy Family at Christmas, Jesus and Peter on the water, Holy Week, Easter, and even the stories of the early church. Those stories were taught to you through the stories of those who experienced God at work. The starting point was a story and not theological doctrine. The starting point was individuals within a larger story of God’s grace.
Jesus was known for telling parables. For full disclosure, the parables are not my favorite parts of what Jesus had to say. However, Jesus’s parables are effective because he shows God's grace, kingdom, and judgment through tangible, real-life examples rather than telling us.
Using imagery like an older brother watching in anger as his father welcomes home his younger brother and a wedding banquet, Jesus made his teachings a physical reality that we all have experienced instead of remaining a theological exercise. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, each character offers listeners an opportunity to place themselves within the story, and this placement changes each time we hear the story.
Great characters make a story great. Great characters invite us to be part of the story.
The grace of God makes us part of God’s story of salvation. We are not left to sit on the couch or in a theater seat with imitation butter on our fingers. No, the grace of God makes us part of the work God has done and is doing to bring about the fullness of the Kingdom of God. It’s God’s story, and we, through grace, are part of the story.
❤️