Slipper-Shod Pastor

Superman and Sacrament

Every day after school I would hurry home to watch re-runs of George Reeves as Superman on our black and white TV.  I couldn’t remember all the state capitals (is Pierre the capital of North Dakota or is it South Dakota?) but I had memorized the opening narration of those Superman episodes.  I knew that Superman was ‘faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.”   He was a “strange visitor from another planet, who came to Earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men.”

Long before there were Close Encounters of the Third Kind or before E.T. was racking up interstellar long-distance phone bills, I was being entertained daily by the portrayal of an alien invasion.  But this alien was as prosaic as Clark Kent.  Even when he tore off his glasses and high-tailed it to a phone booth to re-appear as Superman, he still seemed more familiar than alien.  He was not like the little green men portrayed in comic books or described by those who reported close encounters with alien life. [more]