true story

 

What is not to like about Greek mythology? It is full of tales of gods and mortals that have stood the test of time, and many re-tellings (say hi to Percy Jackson from me). They do so because they reveal to us something of what it is to be human in this world, a world in which we see rapacious men seek to claim and consolidate power for themselves, and neighbours caught up in generational wars.

And that is what myths do. They are stories that are true, a true reflection of the world. When we dismiss them as nonsense woven by people who profoundly lacked our knowledge of the world, we show our ignorance, our failure to understand their purpose, the difference between a thing (the cosmos, say) and its significance. When Christians dismiss the gods of Greece, or any other culture, as not real, we diminish our understanding of the created order, which is both seen and unseen.

I believe that the Olympian gods exist, or existed. I am not a monotheist, that is, someone who believes only one God exists. I am a monolatrist: that is, I believe in the existence of many gods — we might also call them angels, demons, powers, principalities — and I even revere some (this afternoon I shall attend a neighbouring parish church dedicated to the archangel Gabriel) but I only trust my life to (believe in) one God; I only offer my existence, as a living sacrifice, to one God.

The issue that I have with the gods of Mount Olympus is not that they are false, so much as that they are inadequately true.

Their stories reveal much about the world, but leave us at its mercy. And while we are blessed by the earth, we also suffer. When it comes to human dealings, we both suffer evil at the hands of others and inflicted evil on others by our own hand — whether imposing vengeance for some real or imagined slight, or withholding good from those in need.

The story of Jesus is the best story I know. It is the story in which all stories find their fulfilment, in which all life can find its fullest meaning and purpose.

It is the story of the restoration of all things, the healing of every relationship, however torn they have become.