"If the Doctor is still the Doctor... he will have my back.” - Clara Oswald, Doctor's Who Companion, Doctor Who, Deep Breath, Series 8, Episode 1, 08/23/2014 BBC America
Most people should be aware by now that I am a geek. I freely admit it. I can't hide it. I have been one since my childhood and now
that I am in my 50's, I finally feel like I don't have to hide it. Not that I ever did. Although there have been times when, as a
Christian and Pastor, some might have wished that I had. More than once, I have had to answer the
questions: How can you watch that garbage?
Doesn't many of the themes and images of these types of shows upset you?
Doesn't that stuff hurt your faith?
I usually change the subject when these questions come up because I doubt
that the one asking the questions truly cares to hear my answer. They have already judged me by how they judge
these shows. It is the old guilty by
association trap.
Somewhere along the way, I learned to see the best in most things including
people. I am inclined to trust what
people tell me and to take them at their word.
And when I watch a TV show, attend a movie, or listen to an album, I
seldom see the things that others often critique. Perhaps it is as simple as
"Judge not less ye be judged".
When others are looking for things to pick-a-part or to complain about, I
am usually look for God in it. I have
learned that one can see God and learn Godly things from anything, even those
things that appear to be agnostic in form, style, and/or content.
Here is the most recent example of what I am talking about. The most recent addition to my geek-dom is the
premiere of the latest edition of Doctor Who, complete with a new Doctor. The episode, called Deep Breath, finds the
Doctor's long time companion, Clara Oswald, trying to deal with the new face
and personality that has replaced the person she had learned to trust and even
was willing to die for.
As the two of them find themselves in the lair of the episodes bad guy, the
leader of a group of Clockwork Robots made from human parts, the Doctor and
Clara are separated. In fact it appears
that the Doctor has abandoned Clara and left her to face death at the hands of
the villains. As Clara fights a war of words with the leader of the robots,
scared to tears at the terror that is threatening her, she reaches her hand back
behind her and says,"If the Doctor is still the Doctor... he will have my back.” She push her hand back farther and says a
prayer, "please, please be there."
Her prayer is answered as the Doctor takes her hand and reveals that he
was in the room all the time, disguised as one of the human robots. Answering
Clara's prayer.
As I watched that scene, I wondered about what we put our faith in. When we are facing disaster who is it that we
reach back for. Who is it that we are
counting on to always have our back. Is
it a person like a pastor? Is it a group
of people like the members and friends of your church or your family? Is it a best friend, a spouse, or significant
other? Who or what do you put your trust
in? Who are you reaching your hand back
hoping to find there to support and rescue you?
In the Science Fiction world of Doctor Who, the Doctor is the one Clara
has put her trust in, especially when she is alone facing the "Big
Bad" of the episode. Clara's faith
in the Doctor is the kind of faith we are to have in our savior. Who else can we truly count on when we face
our "Big Bad" all alone?
So as I watched and thought about this SciFi TV show that has nothing to do
with church, or God, or faith; I find within it a lesson about having faith in
God.
God is everywhere; in everything; and everyone. All you have to do is have eyes to see, ears
to hear, and a heart open to the revelation of God in our world.
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