ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
October 20, 2026
There is a new series from the Marvel Comics called Vision. It is based on a character that was first introduced into the comics in the late 60s. Vision came to the big screen in 2015, in Avengers: Age of Ultron. I’ve only watched one episode of the new series, but there was a line that caught my attention. In a moment of struggle between love and loss, Vision says, “What is grief, if not love persevering?” If God is love and God is eternal, then the equation assumes love is eternal. And when you have known love, it’s not something you simply get over. Despite many people attempting to do so, it is not something one can pack away inside a chest and lock in the attic. That simply doesn’t work because love never ends (1 Corinthians 13:8). As my imagination plays with scripture and faith, heaven is not about angel choirs, halos, puffy clouds, or St. Peter with a checklist. Instead, I imagine meeting God as love, a power capable of binding together all things in life, death, and life beyond death. Vision’s description of grief as love persevering might be accurate from a human standpoint. That gut-punching ache after a loss might be the human body trying to hold onto love, as if love is finite. Healing is never getting over it, but reconnecting ourselves to God and love and the eternal nature of both.
In times of immeasurable joy and in times of inestimable loss, by faith, I trust you to be there, Holy God. As you journey with me, I celebrate how love is victorious in all things. Amen.
