That element to which I am referring is some form of gathering to worship the "God figure" in your novel/short story. Whether God is named Elyon (Ted Dekker's Circle) or Trand/The Fire (Brian McBride's Paradox) or Ellos (Wayne Thomas Batson's and Christopher Hopper's Berinfell Prophecies), it doesn't matter.
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| St. Alban's Cathedral in England - I modeled the "church" in Paradox after this building. |
The reason that I think a form of worship or some kind of "church service" is important in a good Christian fantasy is because of two reasons.
The first is one that I have taken directly from the Bible: we are made to worship. God created us to worship Him. Why then should we not include a form of worshipful gathering in our Christian fantasy stories?
Another reason is this: how can followers of your fictional "Christ figure" be unified with each other when they don't come together for fellowship once in a while? The Bible says that we are one body with many parts. What would happen to a body if the heart decided it wanted to be its own self? It would stop working, right?
Well, those are just two of the reasons I could think of as to why we should include elements of fellowship and worship in our Christian fantasy stories. I'm sure there are many more reasons. I just can't think of them right now. ^_^
Feel free to share your thoughts and opinions and disagreements in the comments below!
God bless,
Brian
Worship doesn't just mean to gather and sing. It also is a lifestyle, letting everything we do serve God, like servants. Thanks for this post! It gave me an idea for a scene for a book. :)
ReplyDeleteGood thoughts, Brian. Rather convicting, in fact, since in my first novel I really didn't have anything like this. That's mostly due to the fact that I was struggling desperately to keep the word count under control, so anything that was not absolutely essential to the plot didn't get put in. Thankfully in the sequel the plot is a little less complex, so I'm hoping to include and explore this aspect of my fantasy world a little more.
ReplyDeleteAgain, thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Writer4Christ: You are right. It isn't just a ritual. It's a lifestyle.
ReplyDeleteMary: I'm glad that I've inspired you in some way! You're welcome. :) That is, after all, why I made this blog.