Belief

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7)

Young voice: Harry's also referred to as the chosen one. So are there religious--
J.K. Rowling: Well, there-- there clearly is a religious-- undertone. And-- it's always been difficult to talk about that because until we reached Book Seven, views of what happens after death and so on, it would give away a lot of what was coming. So … yes, my belief and my struggling with religious belief and so on I think is quite apparent in this book.
Meredith Vieira: And what is the struggle?
J.K. Rowling: Well my struggle really is to keep believing.
Meredith Vieira: To keep believing?
J.K. Rowling: Yes.

Although I don't know Rowling's specific religious beliefs, other than the fact that she does believe in God and calls herself a Christian-which can mean anything-she does rightly grasp the difficulty with living a life of faith that is inherent in our world, to keep believing. The struggle to believe and to live out that belief is one that Scripture acknowledges and gives us encouragement to deal with it. Our pastor preached on this during his July 29th sermon. Just click on the link to listen. I have no idea of our pastor's thoughts about Harry Potter but his sermon dealt with the difficult, but necessary task of maintaining belief and the role that patience, community support and not bargaining our way out of difficulty play in living a faithful life. All themes creatively embodied in the Harry Potter series.