My nine-year-old grandson is Spiderman mad at the moment, I try desperately to have meaningful conversations with him, but have never watched a Spiderman film or read the comic strip. I listen intently as he tells me the plot of the film in his inimitable expressive way. I have endured this experience several times before when it was Ghost Busters, Ben Ten, and Paw Patrol, he loves superheroes and watches films over and over again. I have become obsessed with the belief that I am becoming (or maybe have already become) a grumpy old man, harking back to the olden days and much as I want to be accepted as a part of the twenty first century and long to be “down with the kids” I find myself an alien in my own place and time. I have never really understood the obsession with Superheroes, and yet in my childhood days, my contemporaries talked constantly about The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Batman, Thunderbirds, and James Bond.
There is something in our culture that drives lads in particular to this need to hero worship, whether it is characters from comics and films or footballers, we seem to have a desire to admire people. Before anybody gets upset by my exclusive language, it isn’t just boys, showing my age somewhat, I remember girls talking endlessly about the likes of Donny Osmond, David Cassidy, or David Essex. Tartan ribbon started selling out in the mid-seventies as the Bay City Rollers were the heart throbs of their day, crowds of girls gathered in airports and city centres, screaming, crying and even at the extreme, passing out as they caught a glimpse of their superheroes.
The biggest attendance I ever remember at our chapel when I was a teenager was the Saturday at of a talent’s festival at Church, the big three-hundred-seater building was filled to capacity, way before we even considered health and safety as a major issue. Somebody had managed to get Joe Sugden from the new Emmerdale Farm, which was the first serious competitor to Coronation Street. The actor Frazer Hines was famous in his day and came into most homes at teatime and it felt as though the whole village turned out. I can even remember the excitement I felt as the chocolate Rover pulled up outside and Mr Hines alighted with two beautiful women accompanying him, who stood and added some glamour as the TV star awarded all the prizes.
Today is Palm Sunday and in Churches around the world, people will be reflecting on the whole issue of hero worship. I guess that like a lot of people in the world this year, I have come to respect and admire the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, I appreciate those who are giving of time, talents, and money to support those who are seeking refuge. As the poorest people in our nation struggle with the dilemma to eat or to heat their homes, my heroes today are ordinary people who are doing extraordinary work to give the best they can to offer some relief. As we pull out of the pandemic, I admire all of those who have looked after people during periods of lockdown, doing shopping, making telephone calls, writing letters, delivering flowers, they are my superheroes!
The following prayer is from the United Reformed Church:
God of All,
On this day of celebration and triumph, of palm waving and hosannas,
we pause, as Jesus did, to cry for peace in Jerusalem, and in the Holy Land.
Lord, bring your peace and make us peacemakers.
As Jesus wept over the city, we think of families that weep for loved ones
in Be’er Sheva, Hadera, Bnei Brak and Tel Aviv, and pray for peace to prevail.
Lord, bring your peace and make us peacemakers.
In every place of conflict, far away or nearby,
on our screens or hidden from view, protect the vulnerable, we pray.
Lord, bring your peace and make us peacemakers.
Amen