"I need a hero.
I'm holding out for a hero
'Till the end of the night
He's gotta be strong
And he's gotta be fast
And he's gotta be
fresh from the fight"

Bonnie Tyler’s song echoes the sentiments of many people who wander around the world looking for meaning. I like movies about Heroes. Indiana Jones, undoubtedly my favorite action star, is one of those heroes who epitomizes the swashbuckling, damsel saving, bad guy foiling knight in a fedora kind of guy that makes grown men long for adventures and grown women giddy as teenagers. Heroes are the kinds of people that do great things, who go to great lengths to save the weak and who make every effort to bring justice to the oppressed and broken hearted. Heroes make grown men tear up when their selfless deeds come to an apex in a crescendo of epic music and gorge crossing leaps of faith. I call that swell of emotion the man tear. It’s one of the only times a grown man is allowed to have a tear in his eye. The more noble the deed the bigger the tear is allowed to be, but it can only be one tear. Epic heroes have been around as long as stories have been passed down through generations. The great Achilles, the brave Sir Lancelot and the Mighty Kings of old, each story has its own classic bent, but the one common denominator is the hero, doing great things: for guts, for glory, for the girl, for God and country, for selfish gain, but for whatever end, he does it in an almost effortless and sweeping way that makes even the most selfish ends seem noble.

If these images weren’t so powerful, the epic films of our day would be non-existent. Last week, I used an illustration from Star Wars, which is in itself an epic film, the epitome of good vs. evil, dark against light. The power of these stories have their effect in the heart of humanity. There is an almost universal desire to be in the presence of greatness. The desire to be swept up in a good story about an almost super human being doing the things we could only dream of in the darkest hours of the night. Human kind has an almost innate desire to be "saved" by a hero, to be caught up in stories of greatness, to be rescued from evil doers who threaten our safety.

The Bible, like other ancient books, is replete with stories of great people, doing great things against the greatest of odds. Stories like that of Moses and the Children of Israel crossing the Red Sea, the story of Joshua becoming victorious over the peoples who inhabited the promised land before them, the great stories of King David, all tell us the story of an even greater hero. The God of the Bible is portrayed as a great rescuer, one who sweeps down from heaven to bring justice to the oppressed, to save the endangered children of his promise. God has a reputation to just as swashbuckling and damsel saving as the great Indiana Jones. We have all grown up hearing the stories in Sunday School class, learning the greatness of how big God is and how much he loves each one of us.

The stories have more than a nostalgic, hero worship tint to them. These stories have a meaning that go beyond the epic storytelling of old men camped around a fire while young children listen in amazement. They are stories that explain the greatness of God as God interacts with the people of God’s own creating. No other story is so epic, so grandiose that it can compare to the story of God becoming human, taking up humanity in all of its ugliness and making a grand stand against the work of evil that is natural to all of us. The bible is the record of God’s interaction with humanity in such a way that describes the divine’s desire to be in relationship with the created order.

Inside of each of us there is a great desire to be rescued. God describes God’s great love for us in that while we were still God’s enemies, God chose to show us the greatest of mercies. The prophet Isaiah describes this desire when he speaks for God as a great rescuer, one who can control the uncontrollable. God is described as a great redeemer who can quench raging fires, calm raging seas, limit the advances of floods and break down the walls of injustice, intolerance and ignorance. God is a Great Hero indeed!

As for us, it is indeed a great and mighty thing to desire to ascend to the hero status. Each of us must daily walk in such a way that is worthy of the great Hero who has rescued us. While we were still the enemy of God, God chose to become our friends, making a way for us to be in relationship with God forever. While we were weak, the bible says, Christ became our strength and in doing so, offered us a hope of peace that endures all things.

As Christians we are called to be heroes to the broken down, defeated and the damned of our world. There are stories of regular every day heroes who have ascended to greatness through the brave and courageous work of the martyr. People like these find in themselves a desire to be a great hero, one who suffers alongside the broken hearted, who cry along side the ones who mourn, who seek to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the imprisoned and who feel the sickness of the leper in their own hearts. Mother Teresa was one such hero. All of her ministry to the sick was in such a way that brought mercy to those who had no access to it. She brought power to the powerless, meaning to the undefined and under valued people of Calcutta. She wrote concerning the calling bestowed upon each of us who claim Christ as our example saying: "Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat."

Our calling is not be a swashbuckling, damsel saving hero who fights dragons, evil kings and great distant obstacles. Our calling is to give hope to the hopeless, to be a kind of hero who gives value to the unwanted, unloved and uncared for. We are called to do as Jesus did, in that while they are weak, we will bring them hope. While they are hungry, we will bring them food, while they are lost we will bring them home, while they long for peace we will put an end to wars, while they thirst we will bring them waters of life, living waters that have no end. We are called to be bearers of good news, people who bring hope to the world.

But what of us? Do we not also need a hero? Are we not equally as weak as the most unwanted of Calcutta? Isaiah’s text promises us that we will not be overwhelmed by floods or by fires. Isaiah’s text promises us that we will not be forgotten, unwanted or unwelcome. God’s promise in Isaiah’s text is to protect us through the greatest of trials. Trials will come, floods will fill our lives with pain and fires will burn away the things we may value, but God will be ever true to his promise to never let the floods overwhelm or the allow the fires to consume us in utter destruction. The promise is not to be free from floods or fires, but to be free, truly free in the hope of the coming redeemer who will bring us home to the friendship of God who cares for us beyond our value and our worth as broken down people.

Amen.