As you may be aware, with the release of the Man of Steel movie earlier this year there was a major push by evangelical marketing types to get preachers to focus on the messianic imagery that had been intentionally spliced into the movie. 
This is not my concern (although insights about that whole phenomenon would not be discouraged).
My concern is with the real and inherited christologies that show up around both Christmas and Easter. I am content most of the year to naively pretend that we all are basically talking about the same thing when we use the name of Jesus. That fiction is often shattered in Advent and Lent as we build up to the high holidays holy days.
I have often been given opportunities in recent years to introduce lay people to the concepts of ‘christology from below’ (instead of the dreaded ‘low christology’) and to illuminate the dangers of starting – not with a cosmic christ – but with a pre-incarnate Jesus. [selah]
Most people have never thought about the difference and the importance that it might make in how they both believe and worship … let alone live their christianity.
What I am hoping to do here is to offer you a gift exchange: you get something from Homebrewed and in exchange you help me out with something!
The offering: The current ‘Barrel Aged’ Homebrewed Podcast is a chat with John Cobb about Advent and Incarnation. It is in my top 10 favorite episodes that we have ever done and I got Tripp to post it specifically for this conversation. It is a delicious audiological delight.
The request: What I am asking in exchange is for ya’all to help me come up with and clarify a list I am working on for the conversation this week at my church. We are starting a new series called ‘Jesus Isn’t Superman’ and I am coming up with tweets to get people thinking.
Here is what I have so far:
Jesus didn’t crash on earth sent from a distant planet – Jesus was born of a women. #JesusIsntSuperman
Jesus doesn’t get powers from the yellow sun – Jesus’ power is in his relatedness & availability to God’s spirit. #JesusIsntSuperman
Jesus isn’t Christ’s Clark Kent secret identity that can be taken off when its time to walk on water. #JesusIsntSuperman
Jesus wasn’t an alien pretending to be human & secretly had a fortress of solitude to retreat to. Jesus was fully human #JesusIsntSuperman
So you can either post your thoughts or tweets here – or if you tweet them I will try to move them over here later.
Thanks in advance, I look forward to hearing your contributions!