Engaging The Gospel as a Fairy Tale

Upon reading the final chapter title, The Gospel as a Fairy Tale, I was a bit concerned.  I could view the Gospel as a tragedy and as a comedy just fine, but as a fairy tale?  Surely Buechner did not intend to compare Moses to the Easter Bunny or Jesus to a unicorn.

My fears were quickly dissolved as Buechner did not imply the Gospel was a fairy tale in the sense that it is primarily fictitious, but that the Gospel should be approached and engaged as if it was a fairy tale.  Fairy tales are designed to inspire wonder, awe, and joy.

There is a great battle between the magical forces of good and evil. A lion commands an army against a white witch, a valiant knight seeks to slay an evil dragon, a battalion of elves and men fend off a horde of orcs. There is pain and grief, but we know that the good always wins at the end.  Buechner states that it is this ultimate victory is what we seek in fairy tales and what provides us with a glimpse of joy in our lives.

There is also a sense of awe provided by fairy tales.  In a typical fairy tale the extraordinary becomes ordinary. Animals talk, swords have magical properties, and mystical creatures roam about.  This is another aspect of a fairy tale, the story is bound to create a sense of awe or wonder. It is this awe that inspires us to hope for something beyond our day to day lives.

It is in this manner that we are supposed to approach the Gospel.  It is a story designed to cause awe and wonder.  We are provided with countless miracles from the beginning of Genesis to the end of Revelations.  Furthermore we are supposed to take great joy and hope in the end of the story, because it is also our story.  Darkness is defeated and the light triumphs.