A Reflection on Being an Alien
by LewisWhen I told a friend of mine I was going to speak on the topic “Aliens and Strangers,” she suggested that I show something from the movie “E. T.” That was an excellent idea, and although I didn’t use it Sunday it certainly could have worked.
The movie’s full title is “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial” and I saw it shortly after it was released in the summer of 1982. Now, almost 25 years later (will there be a 25th anniversary edition?), the movie and its famous “phone home” line still gets to me.
Somewhere along the way I realized that E.T.’s story had many similarities to my own story as a Christian. E.T. was here on earth as a botanist, exploring the flora and fauna of this little blue planet with some other botanists. But his group was almost discovered by some humans, and in their rush to take off they left E.T. behind. It was E.T.’s choice to come to earth on this mission, but it was not his choice to stay. He wanted to get home in the worst possible way.
As children of God we are sometimes looked on by the rest of the world as aliens. In one very real sense we are aliens, because while we may be citizens of the United States or some other fine country, our real citizenship is in the Kingdom of God. Once upon a time we were citizens of earth and therefore aliens to God, but now our roles have reversed and we are aliens to this world.
So we have that in common with E.T., but there is one thing that we usually do not have in common with him — we have little desire to get home.
And why should we? We speak the language of the world, we understand how to get along in the world, and, for the most part, the world wants us to stay. But more and more I “feel” the truth in the statement that this world is not my home, and as I await my transportation my longing for home grows.
Under the mercy,
Lewis