I think I witnessed a cultural phenomenon last night.  I went to watch Twilight: New Moon at midnight with about 15 other women.  There were five showings starting at midnight at the theater we went to – they were all sold out.  When we stumbled out of the theater at 2 a.m., there was a lobby full of people waiting to watch a 3 a.m. showing.  We chatted with the manager briefly while we were waiting in line (for three hours before the movie started, to get good seats) and asked if there were other movies that had been like this.  He said that both Harry Potter and Dark Knight had created this kind of frenzy.

The obvious question that we should ask ourselves is, “Why?”  I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what is happening when we see droves of people become obsessed with something – be it a movie, book, sport, diet, pornography, etc.  This is the conclusion that I’ve come to – when people are flocking to something – it is as close as they can get to meeting an aching need for the Gospel.

Take Twilight for instance.  We love Edward, don’t we?  (I hear that there are people that are crazy about Jacob – I don’t quite get that . . . You must not have read all the books.)  But what is it about Edward that we love?  He’s written to be beautiful, passionately in love with Bella, immortal, never-sleeping, never-eating, incredibly powerful, able to read thoughts.  God-like attributes.  Edward could obviously love anyone, but he chooses a girl that is absolutely ordinary, even a little broken and awkward.  And she can’t get over that he, being so perfect, would choose to love someone like her.

And so girls go crazy over this.  The books create this euphoria and this longing to be loved by someone that is so perfect.  Can Edward withstand the great expectations and hopes that are placed on him?  Sure, because he’s fictional.  But because he’s not real, there is a grasping that takes place to make him real.  And so the movies are made.  And there is a frenzy – waiting in lines and counting down the days to watch this story and this person come to life.  The movie enables you to get a slightly tighter grasp on this hope, but  . . . a movie only lasts a few hours.  And then what?  More grasping.  Fans stalk Robert Pattinson hoping that he will fulfill all the dreams they have of Edward.  The hard-core Twilighters make their pilgrimmage to the town of Forks, WA – hoping that being in the place where the story is set will make it more real.  But Pattinson won’t hold up under the burden of projected deity that is placed on him.  He’s not Edward – he’s just a regular guy.  And Forks isn’t a magical place where Edwards grow on trees and suddenly you can experience perfect eternal love.

And so all of the grasping comes to naught – and so the search must begin again for something else, something new, something that will be able to fulfill and satisfy the longings of the soul.

But why are these longings even in your heart?  Why does an ordinary person, like you or me, long to be loved by someone who is perfect?  Why do we hope to find someone that can love us in a way that makes us feel whole?  And why do we all feel this?

God created us to long for His love.  We know we are broken, we know we don’t deserve to be loved by Him – but we still hope for this love.  And He does love us like that – even though we’re broken.  And He is perfect.  And He is satisfying – in an always and forever way.

Jesus is better than Edward.  He loves you with a love that is infinitely superior to anything that we have read about or watched in a movie.  He gave up much more for you to be His than any price you have ever seen paid – much more than any Edward or Mr. Darcy.  And it’s not something that we grasp at with no hope of seeing it come to fulfillment.  Now we see in a mirror dimly, but some day we will see face-to-face.  There is a day that is set when He will come back for His Bride – and we will behold Him in His perfection and be joined with our Bridegroom.  And heaven will come down.   And it will be way better than Forks.

(Now I must go to sleep because I was up until 2:30 a.m. watching a movie about teenage vampires.)