The predominant narrative in the Winters family is Christ’s narrative, however, our secondary narrative seems to be shifting. We had been a “Sofia the First” household, but we are steadily becoming a “Care Bears/Care Bear Cousins” household. 
I appreciated Sofia, but I actually like the Care Bears. I’m talking about the new Care Bears that you can find on Netflix. Some of the big changes I noticed right away is that the old 80’s Care Bears (now deemed the “Classic Care Bears”) lived in the clouds. They even had cars made of clouds. Of course all of this seemed to perpetuate one of my theological pet peeves, the idea that heaven is the final destination for a Christian, to the exclusion of the Resurrection. Today’s Care Bears are much more Resurrection oriented and while they still live on an island that floats in the air, it’s real dirt they’re plodding around on, and I choose to see that as a Resurrection move.
I also appreciate the focus on virtue in the show. These new Care Bears do a much better job of making a reasonable case for living one’s life according to a set of virtues than the last ones. I even heard the Care Bears utter the words “I forgive you” to one another – which is something that is so difficult to teach humans to say that apparently the only way to get it done is to create CGI Bears – “I forgive you”! Not “it’s ok,”, not “don’t worry about it,” but “I forgive you!” Woah! It made my head spin when I heard that. Right on, Care Bears!
Of course, every show has its flaws and I’m a little disturbed by the lack of any pure evil in the new Care Bears. The Classic Care Bears of yore waged adorable battles with now absent characters like Cold Heart, No Heart, and Dark Heart (notice a theme?), as well as a Beastly who looked…well…beastly. The new Beastly is so sanitized that Tempest (my 1.5 year old) consistently points to him on the screen and confidently says, “cat”. In the new Care Bears, the battle against evil is much more a battle against self, which I suppose isn’t terrible, but does seem to neglect some theological and human realities.
So why bring this up? Because this is what we do as Christians. We live with our secondary narratives. Whether that is Care Bears or Game of Thrones, or Stranger Things, or the All Star Game, or the baffling absurdist/surrealist display that politics has become, or whatever it is that you are about — as Christians, we set that all through the interpretive lens of Scripture and of Christ. Because to us, all things point to Christ. Where we see evil, it points to the evil that Christ has waged holy war against on the Cross and has won. Where we see good, it points to the nobility of Christ, and what we have been saved into as Christians. Because in Christ, we believe we see life so clearly that when we see life, we see Christ.
So go, watch some Care Bears, and remember to see Jesus.