A recent article (link below) about The Odyssey had some sticky quotes that I thought were worthy of stockpiling and sharing.
“Something ancient suddenly looks urgent again.”
“Some of us are pulled toward nostalgia, looking to something better in the past. And some of us are pulled toward discontentment, looking to something better in the future. Regardless of where we turn, we all recognize something is missing. And all kinds of people—politicians, marketers, tech lords—are there to say, “You want to get home, and I can get you there. But it never works. That’s because homesickness points in contradictory directions all at once… We’re either trying to get back to something (to re-live some place or situation where we once were happy) or trying to get away toward something (a new job, a new love, a new identity that will fill the void of the emptiness we feel). We become bored of what’s familiar and scared of what’s not.”
“The ancient problem says ‘I can’t get home.’ The modern problem says ‘I got home—it isn’t home.’ One longs for return, and one longs for escape. These are not two problems but one. No matter which way we turn, we don’t know what home is. ”
“Odysseus spends 20 years trying to get back to Ithaca… The Bible is full of odysseys: Abraham leaves Ur. The Israelites leave Egypt. The apostles set out to the ends of the earth… [but] Jesus has spent 2,000 years (so far) telling us to stop mistaking Ithaca for Eden.”
“We want a place prepared for us, a place to belong, a place to be known, a place to be loved. But our longing for that can sometimes leave us nostalgic for the wrong thing… The Odyssey, Homer’s and Nolan’s, assumes the greatest human tragedy is losing the home you once had. The Bible says Abraham was looking for a city he had never seen. The Odyssey doesn’t answer the question; it reminds us how to ask it. And that’s not nothing. But once we start asking those questions, we might find a whole Trojan horse full of meanings. Asking those questions just might lead us somewhere else, to a better story than even Homer or Hollywood can tell.”
Growing Godly Generations 