{"id":2420,"date":"2017-07-21T09:46:27","date_gmt":"2017-07-21T14:46:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/?p=2420"},"modified":"2021-01-28T16:22:37","modified_gmt":"2021-01-28T21:22:37","slug":"wonder-woman-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/wonder-woman-love\/","title":{"rendered":"Only Love Will Save the World"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

*SPOILER ALERT: Don\u2019t read on if you don\u2019t want to know plot points of Wonder Woman <\/em><\/a>(2017 Film)<\/p>\n

Last Saturday evening, my mother and I went to see Wonder Woman<\/em>. I was glad I saw it while on vacation. Otherwise I would have been up half the night re-writing my sermon. Wonder Woman <\/em>asks the same theological question I ask my congregation most Sunday mornings: Why must we love those who don\u2019t deserve it?<\/p>\n

Wonder Woman<\/em> begins on the island of Themyscira. Home to Amazon warrior women created by the gods to protect humankind. Long ago Ares, god of war, killed all the other gods, including his father, Zeus. Before Zeus died, he and Queen Hipplyta (ruler of Themyscira) had a daughter, Dianna, aka Wonder Woman. Though she doesn\u2019t know it, Dianna is the only one capable of defeating Ares.<\/p>\n

One-day General Steve Trevor\u2019s plane crashes in the waters near Themyscira. He tells Dianna that he is an Allied spy. He stole a notebook from Isabel Maru, a German chemist, who\u2019s trying to create a deadly gas. Dianna believes that her superior, General Ludendorff, is Ares, and she thinks killing him will end \u201cThe War to End All Wars.\u201d<\/p>\n

Except it doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Dianna realizes that General Ludendorff isn\u2019t Ares. And the real Ares creates war by manipulating people\u2019s free wills. He doesn\u2019t make anyone create poisonous gases. He merely tells them the recipe. It\u2019s up to them what they decide to do with it. And they constantly chose war over peace. He invites Dianna to join him. Because why save the despicable human race?<\/p>\n

As a preacher, I ask some variation of this question most Sunday mornings. Why must we love those who don\u2019t deserve it? Dianna believes we should love because \u201conly love will save the world.\u201d As Christians, we believe that Jesus\u2019 love saved the world. It was love that sent Jesus to the cross on our behalf. And it is love that sends us out into the world to heal the sick, welcome the stranger, and protect the widow.<\/p>\n

Wonder Woman <\/em>ends with Dianna recommitting herself to her mission to save the world. She recognizes that there is light and darkness in every human being. Her mission isn\u2019t to eradicate the darkness, but to love in the midst of darkness. I think that\u2019s a mission all Christians can get behind. We can\u2019t eradicate the darkness. Only God can do that. But we can participate in the inbreaking of the kingdom of God here on earth by acting justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with our God.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Rev. Rebecca DePoe \u201916 is the pastor of Mt. Nebo United Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, Pa. She earned her <\/em>MDiv degree<\/em><\/a> from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. A member of Pittsburgh Presbytery, she served on the Administrative Commission for Transformation (ACT). Rebecca blogs at <\/em>mtneboupc.com\/pastor-s-corner<\/em><\/a> and tweets <\/em>@RebeccaDePoe<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  *SPOILER ALERT: Don\u2019t read on if you don\u2019t want to know plot points of Wonder Woman (2017 Film) Last Saturday evening, my mother and I went to see Wonder Woman. I was glad I saw it while on vacation. Otherwise I would have been up half the night re-writing my sermon. Wonder Woman asks…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2421,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,7],"tags":[315,314,316],"series":[],"class_list":["post-2420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ministry","category-theological-reflection","tag-love-can-save-the-world","tag-wonder-woman","tag-wonder-woman-movie"],"yoast_head":"\r\nOnly Love Will Save the World - 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