| Someone once told me that there are many stories, from ancient myths to current films, which tell the same story as the New Testament.
From Hercules to Harry Potter, the broad strokes of the story are very similar - a young man with supernatural powers conquers evil and saves the world, overcoming external opposition and nagging inner doubt, and experiencing much suffering before transforming into the heroes they are destined to become. The story of Jesus is just another one of these tales we love to tell, my friend implied.
When someone pointed out the similarities between the Christian story and ancient myths and legends as possibly discrediting Christianity, C.S. Lewis responded that the difference is that the Christian story really happened. In other words, if myths and legends depict what humans dream of and aspire to, then it makes sense that the realization of those dreams and aspirations in a real person would be something to celebrate.
When we practice the rituals of the church, we connect to the experience of something that really happened - Jesus Christ really did live, suffer, die and rise.
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This is, in a way, what we do on this Sunday. We celebrate the fact that, in Christ, God did live among us and fulfill centuries of human longing for forgiveness and redemption. We longed for renewal, rebirth and cleansing; we wanted to make sense of the pain and suffering that seems to randomly and brutally afflict us, and God answered those longings in the person of Jesus.
Jesus Christ came to the world as real flesh and real blood. There is little dispute about the existence of the historical Christ, or that he taught a message of radical trust in the God of the Hebrew Scriptures.
Certainly humans will continue to dream of dramatic, benevolent intervention by a loving God into the affairs of humans. The fact that we have these collective dreams does not prove any religion right or wrong. If a fish dreams of dry land, this does not mean dry land does not exist. Perhaps these dreams suggest that the fish possesses a vision of a world it cannot see or experience directly.
We continue to dream of a world where good overcomes evil, where generosity is more valuable than greed, and where forgiveness is more powerful than revenge. Why do we harbor these dreams? Why do stories of supernatural goodness - from Spartacus to Star Wars, as well as our annual repetition of the great Gospel stories - continue to capture our imaginations with such a powerful grip? 
The New Testament is not a mere story book, and the celebrations and sacraments of the church are not mere theater. When we practice the rituals of the church, we connect to the experience of something that really happened - Jesus Christ really did live, suffer, die and rise.
Today's feast reminds us that our dreams have come true, that God has come to us in human form to transform our lives and show us the way to transcend the natural world. Because we continue to struggle to achieve this transcendence, we still dream of a complete transformation, a complete victory over the darkness and evil and imperfection in the world and in our lives.
Each time we celebrate the Eucharist, and receive the Body and Blood of Christ, we move a little closer to that completion. Bill Peatman writes from Napa.
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