Blog Posts
What does UNITE mean to you?
Zach Lee, intern at Covenant Offices, shares his perspective inspired by two pop culture favorites.
UNITE: The Defenders
The Marvel Netflix TV show The Defenders focuses on four heroes: Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist as they come together to defeat the sinister Alexandra, with the fate of New York hanging in the balance. All of the characters are from different parts of the Big Apple: Daredevil and Jessica hail from Hell’s Kitchen, Luke from Harlem, and Iron Fist from Matthatan. Everyone comes with their own life and shared experiences and are shocked to see each other. Shock quickly turns to conflict as the four quickly realize that they do not want to be a part of a team. They all have their own ideas for how to stop the villain and everyone is concerned with their own part of New York. Yet eventually, everyone sacrifices their vices and preferences for the greater good to come together and defeat the villain.
Unity is not always pretty. Unity requires sacrifice; it can be hard to want to talk and interact with people who think or look differently than you. But this is what God calls us to do; no matter our differences, we are united in the fact that every human being is made in the image of God. So at CHIC, expect the same excitement and fun of years past, but come with an open mind. Meet someone new. Rub shoulders with people. Have friendly arguments. Be exposed to new ideas. But know that these differences don’t divide us, they make us stronger.
UNITE: The Lord of the Rings
Although Gollum haunted my dreams and nightmares for the good part of childhood, I was and still am, an avid fan of The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. From a purely cinematic perspective, it is not hard to see how why the series is regarded as one of the best movie series of all time; relatable and compelling characters, grand action sequences, all set to a classic backdrop detailing the struggle between good and evil. Yet as I got older, one of the other wonderful things I realized about the series was that there was a plethora of characters and each character, no matter how insignificant or important, contributed to the destruction of the One Ring. From Pippin and Mary convincing Tree Beard to have the Ents attack Saruman’s tower to Sam fighting off Shelob, each character did something different yet it all pointed towards the same goal. In the same way, at CHIC, you will meet students from a variety of different backgrounds yet this is the beauty of the body of Christ; the way we worship can be different yet we are all tied to Christ’s redemptive work.
What does UNITE mean to you?
Where do you see great examples of how to UNITE? Tell us in the comments below.
Zachary Lee is a student at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, where he is studying English literature, creative writing, and Spanish. This summer he is thrilled to be working as an editorial intern for Covenant Communications for the second year. Born in Los Angeles, he grew up in Chicago, where you can find him performing poetry at open mics, analyzing summer blockbusters, reading Dostoevsky, and listening to the latest Christian hip-hop. His poetry can be found in the Great Lakes Review and 95th & King, and he is a journalist for the Cornell Daily Sun.