“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2). I have been thinking about what it means for Jesus Christ to be the author and finisher of our faith. One of the ways that might help us to understand just what this means is by considering the phenomenon of Fanfiction. Fanfiction is not entirely a modern concept but it has certainly come into its own with the proliferation of online communities that facilitate the ease with which it is produced and shared. To briefly define it, when an author produces a popular story, certain fans become so enamored with the world and its characters that they write their own stories set in that world and featuring those characters, often writing themselves into the narrative. Writers of Fanfiction are primarily motivated by a desire to emulate the original author and to be drawn in once more to inhabit that world that they fell in love with. Jesus Christ is the ultimate Author. He lived out the Greatest story ever told and continues to live that story and to add new chapters all the time. He invites us to follow His example, to write our own fanfiction as it were, especially to write ourselves into the same great story. Our efforts to emulate the Master Author may feel clumsy and poorly plotted and mired by uninspired characterizations, and may seem to be of little interest to anyone but ourselves. Indeed, we're often our own worst critics so we especially may not like our attempts at Fanfiction. But Jesus is not only the Author but also the Finisher of our faith. It is as if we wrote a piece of fanfiction for our favorite book and then somehow the author shows up and tells us they read what we wrote and want to collaborate with us and make our little fanfiction story into something really amazing. Christ gave us a perfect ideal to strive for but He is not content to beckon imperiously from the top of the Hill. He may be the original source of inspiration for our journey to try to make a better life for ourselves, but He is also a constant presence by our side giving gentle and loving correction and encouragement as we write and rewrite with His help our own little fanfiction of His original story. As much as Christ is the perfect author, He literally died for the pleasure of reading the story that we and only we ourselves could write.
