(This was the sermon I gave at my baptism, which occurred on Saturday, July 26th, 2014.)
Friends, we gather here today to talk about a very special man. A man who came from a place far from here...millions of miles away. He was sent from a dying planet and landed on ours. Thanks to his adoptive parents and the amazing powers he gained by absorbing light from our yellow sun, he grew into the greatest hero the world has ever known.
For more than seventy-five years, he fought against the forces of evil. Whether it be intergalactic despot or permanently bald mad scientist-slash-captain of industry, he stood bravely against anyone who would do harm to the innocent. Whenever truth, justice, or the American Way were threatened, he would be there to save the day.
Sometimes, when the pressures of life weigh down on us, we think about those amazing battles. And there are times when our burden seems too heavy for us...but not for the Man of Steel. So we look to the sky, holding out for that streak of blue...the promise of a savior. That if we can just hang on until he gets here, everything's going to be all right.
Here's the bad news: he's not coming.
He's a fictional character. He's not real. He can't help us.
Or maybe he can...
Think back to when you were a kid. At some point, someone told you that you could be whatever you wanted when you grew up. Imagine all the possibilities! Doctor, fireman, rock star, astronaut...anything you could imagine. But if you said you wanted to be a superhero, you got some funny looks and probably a Very Serious Talk.
The thing is, it's not such an impossible dream.
OK, maybe we don't have super strength, or flight, or the ability to shoot laser beams from our eyes. But those are just tools. And on occasion, the Man of Tomorrow has lost his ability to use those powers...and it is then that his greatest strengths shine through. His intelligence... ingenuity... compassion... courage. Those are his true powers. Those are what make him a hero. And those powers are inside all of us.
Maybe we've never faced off against a supervillain, but that doesn't mean we don't have our own monsters to fight. Bitterness, anger, doubt...and the biggest of all, fear.
They're more powerful and deadly than Darkseid, General Zod, Brainiac, or anyone else taken from the four-color pages of a comic book. And unlike those comics, our battles don't take month-long breaks in between issues. Our fight is constant, and at times overwhelming. There are even some of us who are convinced that we've already lost, and that the rest of our life is just a matter of running out the clock.
I've got two reasons why that's not true.
First: those monsters are lying bastards. They need us to feel weak and powerless; they need us to be trapped. And if we listen too long, we become trapped, because that's how powerful our minds are. But if we turn that against whatever holds us back, we can free ourselves. It may take some time, but it can happen.
Second, and most importantly: you don't have to do this alone.
Everyone you know is fighting this same fight. And if everyone realized that, they might understand something bigger--we've got the monsters outnumbered.
That's why compassion is so important. When you are a positive force in someone's life, it makes their fight a little easier. Every act of charity, encouragement, and support helps them push the darkness back that much farther. So that person can go on to help someone else, and on, and on...and before you know it, the forces of evil are running scared. Inch by inch, person by person, we can save each other. We can save the world. And we can save ourselves.
If that isn't what being a superhero is all about...well, I don't know what is.
It is with that in mind that I undertake this ceremony, to baptize myself in the name of the Last Son of Krypton. It's not about praise or worship for a fictional character--it's about inspiration. I'm making a choice to use my powers for good, to make a positive impact on my life and the lives of others. It's taken almost thirty-six years, but I finally know what I want to be when I grow up.
I hope some of the rest of you are similarly inspired, and make the same choice. If we stand together, there is no enemy, no supervillain, no evil force in the world than can stop us. We can greet every day, and meet every challenge, by saying, "This looks like a job..."
"...for Superman."
