Watching the Power Rangers, you might wonder if the writers were followers of Brené Brown and her teaching on the power of vulnerability. You night also wonder if it ever crossed their minds that the Power Rangers made for a great visual illustration of the body of Christ. Maybe so. Maybe not. Either way, the messages are there for those who would see them.
Five teens who had no real connection to each other (previously) found themselves thrown together as they were selected to become the next Power Rangers. They were suddenly united by a calling and purpose, just as they were also united by unique experiences and powers. Those things go a long way towards unifying people, but unity is more than just common ground.
Unity is about vulnerability (as Brené Brown teaches). You can never truly connect with others unless you are willing to be vulnerable and exposed. You can’t truly connect when you are in self-protection mode. So, the young Power Rangers were limited. Ironically, they couldn’t access or use their armor when they were protecting themselves. They had to give up their personal armor and self-defensiveness in order to gain a better kind of armor.
Unity is also about love. It’s about putting someone else’s needs above your own. It’s about being willing to die to yourself so that someone else may live. Greater love has no one than that, as the Bible says (John 15:13). And isn’t being willing to die for someone the ultimate form of vulnerability? It was when the Rangers were finally truly open and vulnerable that they began to truly love each other. And, when they were so full of love for each other than each realized he/she would die for the others…that is when things changed for them. Literally, they morphed. They changed into more powerful Rangers with full access to both their armor and their weapons.
That was the first step. It was like when the Bible says that we already have all things we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). They had those things already, but hadn’t learned to access them. We have all we need for life and godliness, according to the Bible, but I dare say we also need to learn how to access them. And our way will likely be the same—it will involve vulnerability and putting God (and others) before our own interests. Seek first the Kingdom of God and then all these things will be added (Matthew 6:33).
The second step for the Power Rangers wasn’t just accessing their armor and weapons, it was learning to be one body. This, again, came through a willingness to die together. When they each decided to lay down their lives, together, in a last stand against the enemy…that is when they found a new level of power given to them—the power of perfect unity. Their vehicles each merged, transformers style, into one massive body. The five of them became one body—two legs, two arms, one head. That body would not have worked with any part missing. It would not have worked with any part acting independently. The legs had to work together if it was to walk. The hands had to work together if they were to slay the enemy. The head had to hold them all together and work on strategy.
THIS is the body of Christ! We are all needed. We each have a unique function, but one that only truly works when in unity with and submission to the rest of the body. Those Rangers gave a great effort fighting together, but independently. It was a great effort, but a failed one. True victory only came once they became one body. This is God’s heart for the body of Christ.
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good…
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves[d] or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts,[e] yet one body.
21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. (1 Corinthians 12:4-26)
Power Rangers may not be the best movie you’ve ever seen, but it may be one of the better illustrations of the body of Christ you’re likely to see. And, as we’ve seen, it has a lot to say about vulnerability and connecting with others as the way to unity. There is actually quite a lot more that you can connect to the Christian faith if you want to look for it—like two baptism scenes…one of water and one of fire. Have some fun with this one! I have found that finding these Christian parallels can take a mediocre movie and make it a great one. What might have been a forgettable movie for me is now one I would see again just because there were so many rich parallels to the Christian life, I think I missed some!
Questions for Discussion:
- Before the Power Rangers could morph, they had to first think of each other before themselves. What things helped them begin to do that? What helps you think of others before yourself?
- How does a lack of vulnerability impede unity?
- Why do you think it is so hard to be vulnerable?
- The Rangers already had their powers, but they couldn’t access them. How does that compare to 2 Peter 1:3 that says we already have all things we need for life and godliness?
- Could the Power Rangers have been one body if they were acting independently?
- When did they get their greatest power? What does that tell you about when you might be at your most powerful?
- How does watching the Power Rangers make you think differently (or freshly) about the passage in 1 Corinthians 12 about the body of Christ?
Click here to read quotes from Power Rangers.