Domestic Churches

I was driving my daughter to her First Communion rehearsal. I turned on my contemporary Christian music playlist and started singing with the radio as we were driving. Soon after, TobyMac’s Help is on the Way started playing. I bobbed my head to the beat of a catchy song, watching the road and not paying a lot of attention to the words of the song. Suddenly my daughter said, “Daddy, you know what this makes me think of?” I started listening to the song and heard TobyMac repeating “help is on the way”. My daughter continued, “it’s like when were on that Star Wars ride in DisneyLand!”

For spring break this year, we brought the family to California. We spent a day in DisneyLand, and we got to ride the Rise of the Resistance ride. This immersive ride gives riders the chance to experience a Star Wars adventure. The premise is that riders have been captured by the First Order, but at different points in the ride someone from the Resistance appears to reassure riders that help is on the way until they get rescued. While it is all a simulation, it simulates being in real danger and waiting for a hero to come to the rescue.

In our domestic churches, we can find opportunities to reflect on our faith through our experiences. My daughter made a connection with the phrase “help is on the way”, but I quickly realized the connection was deeper than a handful of words. While we are not oppressed by a dark force user like Kylo Ren in real life, we do experience fear, anger, hate, and suffering. We can find freedom from sin’s grip on us in the grace of the sacraments.

As my daughter was days away from receiving the Eucharist for the first time, I told her that she made a great connection. Jesus is on the way to help us resist temptation to sin just like the Resistance was on the way to set us free from the First Order on the DisneyLand ride. As we finished bobbing our heads to TobyMac’s catchy repetition of “help is on the way”, I told her that for the rest of her life every time she receives the Eucharist she could imagine a transmission from Jesus announcing “help is on the way”!