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A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Chine McDonald, director of Theos - the religion and society think tank

Good morning,

On this day in 1936 – The Phantom, the world’s first superhero, made his debut appearance in a daily newspaper comic strip. Created by Lee Falk, The Phantom is a fictional costumed crime-fighter who is enjoyed to this day, having been published in 583 newspapers worldwide and at its peak been read by more than 100 million people daily. The Phantom, whose crime-fighting takes place in the fictional African country of Bangalla, is unique in that he doesn’t actually have any superpowers. Instead, he’s reliant on his strength, intelligence and the myth of his immortality to fight the baddies. So in fact, this superhero isn’t too dissimilar from us.

I’m reminded here of another fictional superhero from another fictional African nation – Wakanda. Black Panther was the first time I had ever seen a superhero who looked like he could be from my family. I remember a few years ago trekking along with my son, who was only a few months old, to a Baby Cinema screening of the film. I watched with tears in my eyes as I realised that my baby boy would not have to grow up in a world where superheroes did not look like him. The Phantom and Black Panther speak profoundly to me about the theological idea of incarnation.

The message foundational to the Christian story of God becoming like us; not some distant superpower, who calls us to the impossible. God through Jesus steps into our ordinariness and in so doing, in a sense, we all become superheroes – no matter who we are – because of God’s power within us. There’s nothing we could do to make God love us more. We don’t have to be extraordinary. God of love, thank you for stepping into our ordinariness. Thank you for your extraordinary love for us. May we know it this day and every day.

Amen.