Wild About Harry

On Friday night, July 20th, at 11:55 p.m., I was sitting in the Hilltop Mall on one of those hard benches waiting for my family. Most of the stores were closed, mind you, all except for Walden Books. There was a long line full of people, old and young, some dressed in black robes and neckties, many teenagers simply dressed as teenagers do. Larry was further up in the line than Sarah and her friend Erin, so he came back to me with the orange-covered book earlier, giving me the chance to look on the last page for the last sentence: “all is well.” That’s all I needed to know ahead of time. All is well in the end.
Yep, I’m 42 years old and I stayed up for the Midnight release of the final book in the infamous Harry Potter series. Was I just being one of the good, supportive parents who often make such sacrifices for their children? No—well, partly, I suppose, but I was there as much for myself as for Sarah. I have loved Harry for 6 years. During the Fall of 2001, in anticipation of the release of the first HP movie, I decided as a pastor and as a parent, I ought to check out this phenomenon. I read the first book in the series. Within three weeks, I’d read all four of the then-existing books. I couldn’t put it down. I was hooked. In a world that had recently been shattered by 9/11, Harry took me off on his magic broom and reminded me that love conquers all.
There are 7 books in the series, and 7 is a biblical number of perfection. Completeness. And Harry’s story is indeed complete. The story is written with enviable brilliance. There are many biblical undertones throughout the books. If J.K. Rowling has no background knowledge of the Bible and Christian tradition, then her writing is even more magical. Harry has been a big part of our family’s life over the last 6 years. As of Friday night, Sarah and I had some disagreement over details in the final story, and waited to see who was right (I won’t say who was right). But through these 6 years of following his enchanting story, Harry has reminded us delightfully that love is the most powerful force in the universe. Friendship and loyalty, to the point of laying down your life for a friend, are some of the most important gifts there are. Ultimately, it’s about the struggle between Good and Evil, as any good fairy tale, and in the final book, there is an Armageddon-type battle between the two forces. Seemingly bad people turn out good. Nobody is perfect, but they all have their stories, and knowing their stories helps you understand who they are and why they are the way they are, and elicits sometimes reluctant compassion toward them. The story is very dark in places, as you’ve most likely heard, as Evil gets a foothold on the world for awhile and it seems very likely that Evil will dominate and win. As is painfully true in our own world, the fight for Good to win involves sacrifice, losses, and an ongoing commitment to keep fighting for what you believe in even when it looks like the world is coming to an end and Good is losing. The darkest parts of Harry’s story are simply as dark as our own reality. Harry, in the end, is a Christ-like figure, whose greatest power is not magic, but his ability to love. And it is that relentless power to love and purity of heart that defeats evil in the end.
I’ll miss Harry. There are few books of fiction that compare to Rowling’s level of writing. She is simply brilliant. But Harry gave me something to share with my daughter as she grows into adolescence. He’s given us something to talk about together, care about together, wonder about together, and journey with together through our own dark and difficult times in this post-9/11 world. And he has let us ride off on a broom with him for many hours at a time, step back, and remember that God reminds us that the world may seem dark, but Love as we’ve seen it in Jesus Christ-God Incarnate, is the only thing worth fighting for and hoping in. The Kingdom of God, Jesus promises, will come in the end. Love will win in the end. Good will triumph at last. And in that day, when there are no more tears, no more death, no more wars, no more terror, no more blatant evil and chaos, we can say, finally, “all is well.” And it will be. Jesus said so.