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Faith Odyssey - A
journey through Lent
Richard A. Burridge
Wm.B.Eeerdmans, 2001, 226p
As the cover says, the book invites readers on a
Lenten journey like none other taken, a truly unique devotional
experience. I would emphasise unique, for it certainly is that; and it
most certainly is not everybody’s taste for devotional reading. To
appreciate this book, you will need to be familiar with all the Star
Trek movies, Star Wars films, X-Files, have read the Harry Potter books,
be versed in the writings of C.S.Lewis, J.R.R.Tolkien and Arthur
C.Clarke and have seen Armageddon, Close Encounters of the Third Kind,
E.T., Stargate, The Matrix and Galaxy Quest, etc. In other words, you
need to be a great lover of fiction, especially science fiction.
For each of the fifty days of Lent, Burridge begins with a Bible reading
and follows this with one or more readings or quotes from the above
mentioned variety of books and films. He then analogises from them in a
way that calls for extensive stretching of the imagination. For example:
After quoting 1 Cor 11:23-26 which is the Apostle Paul’s version of the
institution of the Lord’s Supper, Burridge immediately goes on to quote
from Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings as follows: “After Gandalf falls to his
doom fighting the evil Balrog, The Company of the Ring rest and
recuperate in the elf-land of Lorien where Galadriel and Celeborn make
them welcome. When it is time to resume their journey, the elves bring
them food consisting of thin cakes of brown meal called ‘lembas’, more
strengthening than any food made by Men.”
He then quotes from The Next Generation (Star Trek T V Series) - Captain
Picard, while his spaceship ‘The Enterprise’ is being repaired in
spacedock, goes home and fights with his brother Robert. But their
relationship restored, they share a bottle of fine vintage. Fully
recovered, Captain Picard returns to his spaceship with a bottle of 2347
vintage given to him by his brother Robert with the instruction ‘Don’t
drink it alone’.
Burridge, after giving some theological exposition, draws the lesson to
a close as follows: “As the elves gave the Lembas as bread for the way,
and Robert Picard gave wine for sharing with others, so Christ feeds us
and gladdens our hearts on our journey. But now that journey is bringing
us to its climax, where we discover that all his gifts come from his
giving of himself for us upon the cross.
It is a strange mix – biblical scenarios and concepts analogised with
sciece fiction, especially for Lent. To say that I found it distracting
is probably understating it. If it is attractive in any way at all, it
will be that to a very exclusive readership.
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