I recently finished reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Now, I know that there has been some controversy around the Harry Potter books related to the images of witches and wizards. Personally, however, I see the novels as classic tales of good versus evil using the fantasies of magic and wizardry as the platform with which to tell the story. That point came home to me again in The Half-Blood Prince.

For those of you who are not familiar with the Harry Potter stories, let me set the scene. Harry Potter, now a teenage wizard in his 6^th year at "Hogwart’s School of Witchcraft and Wizardry" is, by circumstances beyond his control, engaged in a continuing battle against the Dark Lord, Lord Voldemort. Under the tutelage of the school’s headmaster, Professor Dumbledore, Harry is gaining the skills and knowledge that will be necessary in order to defeat Voldemort.

It is as a part of this learning process that Harry learns the most significant difference between himself and the Dark Lord. Voldemort is an exceptionally skilled wizard, perhaps without compare in all the magical world. But all of his power is used for his own self-gain. Voldemort is not now, nor ever has been, concerned about anyone but himself. He is pure evil.

But, Professor Dumbledore points out, Harry has one tool at his disposal that Voldemort does not. It is a tool that Voldemort cannot use because he cannot even imagine what it is. Harry, Dumbledore teaches him, has love. Harry has the capacity to care about others. Love is the one thing that ultimately distinguishes Harry from the Dark Lord. And, I have a sense, it is the one thing that will ultimately give Harry success over Voldemort.

The fantasy story of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has, I believe, captured the essence of the Christian faith. In the eternal struggle between good and evil it is ultimately the love of Christ that wins the battle. It is Christ’s love, which led him to the cross, that secured the victory over death and the devil for God’s people.

And it is that same love that distinguishes us, as God’s children, from the rest of the world. We have been given the one tool that evil cannot overcome. It is only in the love of God, expressed in acts of love by his children, that we can and will overcome the evil of the world. The love of God is a power that has no equal.

In Christ’s Love,

Pastor Knowles