Parables and Potters

I read an article in the paper today about the Smurf movie coming out. It talked about the importance of story and the impact stories make on people. I agree, and I think Jesus agrees. He talked in parables right?
I went to see the last Harry Potter movie tonight. It was funny to see everyone dressed up, trying so hard to look like the characters in the movie. People sizing other people up and making sure they had the best costume. I couldn't help but think about this on the drive home. We all wanted to be part of that story. We all want to be Harry, Ron, or Hermione. But we're not. Leaving the theater all of my friends and I agreed that we were thankful we didn't dress up because it was over now and we would have felt like idiots walking out of the theater in capes. And maybe those people did feel that way walking out, but they sure didn't feel that way walking in. They were a part of something. They were (in their brains) part of the Harry Potter story. They were making every effort to be a student at Hogwarts. But what's really there? What story did they REALLY want to be a part of?
When I was a kid I wanted to be part of Star Wars. I seriously wanted to be Anikan Skywalker or Princess Leah. And if I couldn't do that, I at least thought it would be cool to be at the premier for the movies. I used to ask my parents if they went and if people dressed up and if it was cool (They were too cool for Star Wars, they didn't go). And tonight I found myself a little proud that I get to tell my kids I was there when the last Harry Potter movie came out. I wanted so bad to be part of the Star Wars story. It was weird. I know it now it was weird. I didn't know it then, but I do now.
But isn't that what we do? We watch movies, play games, do things that make us feel a part of something? But when we are honest with ourselves, when we leave the theater, we're really just us. We have a story. We live a story (I am sounding like Donald Miller right now). We always want to be a part of something, but what is that SOMETHING we want to be a part of?
I'm a big fan of the idea that all stories point to the ultimate story teller (God). I don't want to give the Harry Potter movie away, but there is a sacrifice made, a self-less sacrifice. Who DOESN'T want to be a part of a story of such noble character (Now I sound like my dad, making sermon illistrations out of a cupcakes)!?
If I remember correctly, we are invited to participate is such a story. Christ wants to live in us. He wants us to not only know His story of self-less death and resurrection, but also to partake in His story and be the church, the body of Christ. We want to be a part of something because we were made to be a part of something. But if we don't realize what that something is and take part in THAT story then the things we try to be a part of will never fulfill us. We will walk out of the theater feeling like idiots in capes.