Buffy The Vampire Slayer: A Matter Of Good Vs Evil Series

Psalm 10:1-14

"In every generation, there is a chosen one! She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons, and the forces of darkness! She is the Slayer!"

I’ve got bad news Buffy; one is not going to be enough. If we are going to stand against the forces of darkness it is going to take more than one slayer. This past Tuesday has shown the world a new face of evil, but it certainly doesn’t register as the most horrific event in the history of the world. Even during the past quarter of a century the genocides of Eastern Europe and Africa eclipsed by many times the death toll of September 11, but this happened so close to home. I’m sure that significance of it happening on that date was more than coincidence, and in the western world 9-1-1 will have a very different meaning then it had on September 10. If evil had a face what would it be? In Buffy’s case it might look a little bit like this, this week popular opinion has decreed that it looks like this. In the past it probably looked a little bit like this. (photos of Idi Amin, Hitler, Stalin, etc.)

Unless you’ve watched the show at least a couple of times, you probably haven’t got a clue what I’m talking about. So here’s a quick synopsis: "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," is an appropriate title, considering it’s main character is Buffy Summers. Buffy is a high school student with major problems, like bigger than no date for the prom and skin problems. Fate has decreed that she should be "the Slayer," a girl with special powers to rid the world of the vampires and demons that she regularly encounters. Unfortunately, this special gift got her into so much trouble at her old school that she was expelled. She was forced to move to Sunnydale, California. What she doesn’t know right away is that the quaint town of Sunnydale is actually "the Hellmouth." In other words, it’s where most of the supernatural action is going to be at.

On top of this unasked for job, Buffy must face the everyday pressures that every teenager must encounter. Not only does she have to worry about her SAT’s and her driver’s test, but she also has to deal with the issue of fitting in. Because she is so distracted with her slaying job, everybody thinks she’s kind of weird. And as a teenager it’s no fun for people to think she’s weird. Finally she finds a few people (the class outcasts, to a degree,) who accept her position in life. From there on all three of them manage to get themselves into weekly mishaps. And believe it or not, Buffy and her friends have saved the world more than once. So what can we learn from Buffy the Vampire slayer?

1) The Battle is Real. Evil is nothing new, and the battle against the forces of Darkness is nothing new, it didn’t start with Buffy the Vampire Slayer the Movie nor with the Buffy the Vampire Slayer the TV series. It is as old as time itself. When man and woman first decided that they had no need of God and his regulations, no need God and his direction. When they deliberately chose to disobey God they stepped from light into darkness and darkness became a force within this world. In the scripture that Bonnie read this morning we hear David asking why is there evil? Why aren’t wicked people punished? Questions that are still being asked today. I’m sure those questions occupied the thoughts of people around the world on Tuesday. Why God, Why?

Sometimes we forget the extent of evil, we forget how wicked mankind can really be. Society tells us that evil doesn’t really exist, but suddenly it becomes a reality as CNN plays the images of airplanes crashing into the World Trade centre over and over again.

Giles, Buffy’s watcher made a statement to Buffy once that said "Just because the paranormal has been more normal and less.. para lately, is no excuse for tardiness or letting your guard down."

The battle is real and the Church and the people who make up the church were told in Ephesians 6:12 For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms. I know it’s a bit of a stretch but what can we learn from Buffy if we are going to win the battle?

First of all We Need our Watcher. Early in the first episode of the series we discover that Buffy and her mother have moved to Sunnydale and that in the move Buffy has hoped to put behind her the unwelcome discovery that she is a chosen one, a slayer. That hope is dashed as she meets the new Librarian of Sunnydale High School, Rupert Giles. Much to her consternation she discovers that he has been assigned as her new watcher. And well Buffy in her 18-year-old wisdom looks upon her watcher with disdain it becomes evident that she needs everything that Giles can bring to the table.