Supergirl

The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 4:7-11 ESV). At 12 years old, Kara Zor-El escapes doom on planet Krypton to find protection on Earth with the Danver family, where she grows up in the shadow of her foster sister, Alex, and learns to hide the extraordinary powers she shares with her cousin, Superman. Now an adult living in National City and working for media mogul Cat Grant, Kara finds her days of keeping her abilities a secret are over when super-secret agency head Hank Henshaw enlists her to help protect the city's citizens from threats. Finally coming into her own, Kara must juggle her new responsibilities with her very human relationships. Perhaps one of the most interesting story lines of this series is how Kara discovers she can no longer keep her powers a secret from the world. In the premier, her foster-sister with whom she is very close, is on a plane that gets into trouble and is about to crash. She sees it falling from the sky and is forced to make a decision whether to save the people on the plane and risk exposure of her real identity or continue to hide her powers and let them all fall to their death. Of course she decides to save her sister and the others and begins her journey of becoming the superhero of the city defending it against all sorts of villains and disasters. We may not be superheroes with superpowers, but we do live in a world of privilege. If you have enough clothes, food to eat, a warm place to sleep, an education and a decent income, you are among the privileged minority of the world’s population. All our possessions and all our knowledge and abilities give us so much power. The question of Supergirl then comes to us: How are we using this power? Jesus put it this way, “to whom much has been given, much will be required” (cf. Luke 12:48). In the Bible, God repeatedly calls us to use our power and privilege on behalf of those less fortunate. His gifts aren’t intended just for us. They are for us to use wisely, responsibly, and selflessly. The real heroes are those who do that. We may not be able to fly faster than a speeding bullet, or leap over tall buildings in a single bound, or be stronger than a locomotive; but we can all use the gifts God has given us for the good of those around us. That will make us “super.”