A First Post

I'm Christian, was raised Christian, am a devoted Christian. I try to live a Christian life, but I know I trip and fall on my face often. I'm saying that to make a point that this statement is not supposed to imply that I'm proud of my Christianity. Living as a Christian is hard and I'm not always good at it. So, there you go: disclaimer given.

I'm also a fan of fantasy. I've fallen in love with all of the Christian Fantasy that's become available in the past few years, but before that any of us who were lovers of fantasy in addition to our faith were left with separating our reading from our faith. I guess that's why they call it "fantasy" – it's another world, disconnected, not real. And that never sat well with me. Like children's movies – Beauty and the Beast, Little Mermaid, etc – I have always believed that there is always something you can learn. You can connect with characters, learn from them and have your mind opened to perspectives other than your own. And the best way to do that is to look at a story that is so very different from your own life – like fantasy stories. For example, I'm one of those people who not only thinks that reading Harry Potter in NO way teaches a child to pursue witchcraft, but also believes that there are so many lessons to be learned from Harry Potter, even for Christians. Not the least of which is learning to love reading.

So, that brings me to my story. My FANTASY story. Well, okay, it's not just mine. Ladyreason and I have been working on it for years. I won't go into all of it, because there's one part that I've been thinking about for a long while, and that is our faith system in this world. Our world is overseen by four gods – Lunos (moon), Solarus (sun), Aquios (water) and Vulcos (earth). Lunos and Vulcos are female, Solarus and Aquios are male. Lunos and Solarus have been consorts forever; Aquios and Vulcos used to be consorts until they got into an epic argument and are just starting to make up. But for the most part, Lunos is our primary god(dess), followed by Solarus.

Now, here's where things get a bit philosophical, so bear with me.

I believe, have always believed, that by looking at these four gods, especially Lunos and Solarus, we can see vital and very special parts of God the Father. Solarus is the obvious connection, but what about Lunos? I remember hearing a sermon on Mother's day a few years back that talked a bit about the virgin mother. No, I'm not Catholic, so this was an unusual topic and a very interesting one. One that I made a lot of connections to. Now hold that thought and let me add another idea.

Night. Darkness. Evil, right? That's what our cultures always seem to believe. It's just in our psyche that darkness represents danger. But it goes the other way, too. You'll remember that Christ wasn't born in the middle of the afternoon. Without darkness, without the unknown, where would the miracles be? And it is in our darkest times that we are carried by God. When I was having the hardest times in my life, I could close my eyes and I had this mental picture of God wrapping His arms around me and just holding me. And I don’t know about you all, but that's something my mother would do when I was a little girl. So, when you think about it, at the darkest points in our lives, God is pretty good about holding us close, supporting us, loving us unconditionally, just like a mother.

Thus is where I made the connection with our story. It's why Lunos, our god of the night, is a female. A mother. She is protective and loving and compassionate. She is actually the goddess of the moon which, while not as bright as the sun, shines brightly at night when we need the light to guide our footsteps. She is, to look at it another way, the essence of hope.

If you can't tell from all that, I'll tell you that I love Lunos. She's one of my favorite characters in our story. And yet I know that if I were to mention this story to my more traditional Christian friends or colleagues, I'd get criticized. You know, thou shalt not have any gods before me? But, when I think about Lunos, I feel like I am seeing a very special and very important part of God. She is just one of God's many faces. So… where's the line? She's not pulling me away from God, but rather bringing me closer to an understanding of how much God loves me.

I guess, maybe I'm just too concerned with what other people would think. But it does bother me to know that if I made a really close friend, I couldn’t mention this story without them judging me and my faith by it. When, in contrast, this story has actually helped me crystallize my faith.

Okay, I'm done rambling. I'm curious if any of you think less of me after reading all that. Does this make me a heretic? I don’t think so. And… I guess that's all that matters.